Well, we saw it yesterday and all of us liked it.
Stuff we liked:
Michael Gambon finally hit the right note playing Dumbledore (even daughter #2 was making fun of him after Goblet of Fire). He came across especially good in Harry’s hearing scene at the Ministry.
Luna Lovegood: Not quite as loony as in the book, but still fun.
Thestrals: Best looking CGI creatures in the series.
Nods and winks to the book readers; Little things like Tonks looking at Lupin at the dinner table, or Ginny lagging behind with a miffed look when Harry stayed with Cho.
My wife (who has not read the books) thought they caught Harry’s angst especially well, as well as his frustration with Dumbledore for not having contact with him.
Snape’s lessons: While not line for line from the book (no Pensieve), they certainly covered all the ground…..though there was one technical flaw. Harry learns of the “Levicorpus” hex (in the book) from the Pensieve with Snape’s thoughts, and in the movie directly from Snape’s mind, but he is teaching the hex in the room of requirement to the D.A. before he ever sees it performed by his father in Snape’s mind.
Bellatrix Lastrange: A bit over the top (but we expected that), very convincing except of her appearing to be afraid of Harry until Voldemort showed up.
Things we wanted to see that were left out:
Sirius’ Mothers portrait: Why even have Tonks trip over the Troll foot umbrella stand if you’re not showing the portrait?
Fred and Georges Swamp.
Firenze teaching Divination
Other rooms in the Dept. of Mysteries (Baby head and Brains in particular).
Things that we expected to see, but were left out:
Harry’s rage at Ron and Hermione.
Harry’s rage at Dumbledore (while well capsulated, it was still unreasonably short).
Some indication that Kreacher left Grimmauld Place (Reports indicate that JKR told Warner Bros. That they MUST include Kreacher in the movie, because of his upcoming importance in the Deathly Hallows).
Umbridge’s admission that she sent the Dementors to attack Harry.
Things missing that we didn’t miss until after the movie:
Ron and Hermione being prefects.
Dumbledore’s Howler to the Dursley’s
Still, no show that Harry gave his TriWizard Cup winnings to Fred and George.
No mention that Madame Maxine was ever with Hagrid.
The Quibbler interview.
Harry Potter Games:
After seeing the movies, we have often played name games with the characters (i.e. Snape the Ape, Moldemort, Sadrig etc...). Yesterday, it was Dumbledore and his many (imagined by us) brethren: The girls started saying they were all his brothers, so that’s the convention we’ll stay with.
His clumsy brother: Bumbledore
His (former and failed) Quidditch playing brother: Fumbledore
His grouchy brother: Grumbledore
His modest brother: Humbledore
His puzzle playing brother: Jumbledore
His logging brother: Lumberdore
His hard to understand brother: Mumbledore
His “pins and needles” brother: Numbledore
His pugilist brother: Pummeldore
His other clumsy brother: Stumbledore
His acrobat brother: Tumbledore
His slow on the uptake brother: …umbledore
His “Weeble” brother: Wumbledore
We had a few others, but these were the ones we all laughed at the most.
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