Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

I went this afternoon on a early date with my husband and saw the new Harry Potter movie.

This may be the first Harry Potter movie that cannot stand on its own. There are too many references to past events and too many characters from the earlier films. Michael Goldenberg does an admirable job as a screenwritter. He streamlines the overstuffed novel into a compact package that fills only about 2 1/4 hours worth of screen time without losing any of the main plot points. To be sure, much is lost, but fans of the books will find that the movie is faithful, to the text. For those who have gotten their Harry Potter fix entirely through the movie, the script is understandable and fast-moving. There's no sense that reading the book is necessary to the understanding of the plot.

The character, I loved the most in this movie is Luna Lovegood. She was played so well. She could have been overplayed but she was done just right. Luna was played very sympathically.