from page to screen

so last friday, the ominous 13th, i saw harry potter and the order of the phoenix on the IMAX at KoP. it was entertaining, despite the concern of sitting behind 19 children and their parents, but once the movie started they hushed.

the IMAX experience was interesting (i haven't seen anything on an IMAX in years), but the 3D battle in the ministry of magic was well...all right. like, seeing it on a regular screen would have been perfectly fine by me. plus the main complaint in my group of friends was that the glasses fit funny and the whole experience was a little distracting.

but no biggie. we'll just see it again and make emma watson and daniel radcliffe a little richer (ha, who am i kidding? i meant we'll see it again and make warner bros a little richer!).

so. the movie. i was a little bummed about what they left out (don't worry, i won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet), but then i had to remind myself this: the book is over 800 pages long. the movie is just over 2 hours, and it's the shortest movie of them all (whereas the book is the longest). was stuff left out? yes. were some details changed, most likely to make things more affordable for the production of the film? yes. however the most important question is this: does the movie still tell a good story?


yes.


my initial problem was that i had finished reading the book for a second time a day before we went to see it, so things were very fresh in my mind. that, and i'm a purist. the class i took in grad school on film adaptations of literature nearly killed me, in the sense that i would get all huffy when stuff was drastically changed or left out. i'm getting better though.

so all in all, it was a fun way to spend a friday night after work. but...i can tell you one thing: you are going to find the complete harry potter book series on my shelf before you find the complete dvd series...not just because the last book comes out this saturday, but because in the end, the books are the stories that i really enjoy.