re: the order of the phoenix

Overall, I was disappointed with most of the book. It's 870 pages long, and in 75% of it nothing of any consequence occurs. Where as the previous books all had a clearly defined plot - getting the Philosopher's Stone, finding the Chamber of Secrets, looking out for the "mass murderer" Sirius Black, and competing in the Triwizard Tournament - here it's "What's up with Harry's dream?" The only thing that kept me going was the commitment I already gave to the story and characters by reading the other books.

That said, the last 1/5 of the book made the manically drawn out buildup all worth it, because it's absolutely incredible. We finally get a real goodies-vs-baddies Wizard showdown, which was awesome. The exploration of how Harry's psyche is breaking down form his constant life-and-death situations was also very well-done.

Now to the gripes. The first one is just too big for a bullet-point.

Harry's hearing at the Ministry was ridiculous. So many basic fundamentals of modern law were being violated at once my legal mind could barely keep up. Where to begin? Well, first, why was Cornelius Fudge running the hearing? He's the Minister of Magic - which I'm assuming is the chief executive position of the Ministry - and he's running a courtroom? Can you imagine a President or Prime Minister also acting as judge for a juvie court? Haven't Wizards heard of a little thing called "separation of powers?" Second, why was Harry not offered representation or allowed to present a defense? I know Fudge had an anti-Potter agenda, but the other twenty or so wizards on the court were just like "whatever" when Fudge cut off all of Harry's statements. Third, Fudge actually tried to prevent Harry from even presenting witnesses on his behalf. And who corrects him? Not one of the other judges, but the witness himself, Dumbledore! And fourth, why did the "witness" Dumbledore suddenly turn into Harry's lawyer, making all these legal arguments for acquittal?

Like I said, those few pages left me with a giant headache.

Okay, the rest:

• What is up with Harry Potter turning into an unceremonious asshole? I can't get into a book where the protagonist snaps at his friends for dumb reasons, and sometimes no reason at all. I'm pulling for Malfoy this year. (OK, well, it seems Voldy was semi-possessing him, so at least this one is explained).
• Ah, Professor Umbridge. Another character we're supposed to hate and - shockingly! - she's fat.
• Umbridge sentences Harry Potter to self-inflicted torture for detention and he just... goes along with it? Peas and rice, Harry can be stupid sometimes. This bears repeating: a teacher violates his basic human rights and he doesn't tell anyone else on the staff. Atta boy, Potter.
• What do they mean Fudge is "behind" all this legislation? So he's the chief executive, a judge on the highest wizard court, and drafts laws, AND has his own private army, AND HE CONTROLS THE PRESS?! In other words, he's Hitler. Only worse, because no special circumstances led to these all-encompassing powers. Wizards just thought it in their best interest to be governed by a dictatorship. Heil Fudge!!
• Also, I seriously hope that Hogwarts is a public school. Otherwise, the Ministry of Magic really is a police state.
  
• I get it, Rowling. Malfoy likes to provoke people. You've written this a hundred times over, so for Merlin's sake, find something else for Malfoy to do. It's getting really, really annoying.
• And while I'm at it, I also get that Umbridge is an evil, soulless, annoying tool. I get it. You don't have to give us a new example of her bitchiness ever few pages. JUST GET ON WITH THE DAMN PLOT.
• Thank you, Sirius's great grand dad or whatever, for finally telling Harry how incredibly dense he is. At last, my voice has found its way into this text. And really, Harry is pretty stupid. His logical conclusions and assumptions about what other people are thinking are just horrendous.
• Harry is desperate for some means of communicating with Sirius. Apparently he has already forgotten about the mysterious package Sirius gave him a hundred pages ago (not very long ago at all in this book) that allows for some kind of communication between them. Again, I must ask, why does Rowling make Harry so incredibly stupid?
  
• As I said above, almost no flaws in the last 200 pages. That was all very well done. Too bad it took 670 pages of pointless, mind-numbing filler to get there.

The movie:

I think this is the first time where the movie is clearly superior to the book. They must have left out half of the text, but it was the boring stuff, so you can barely even tell. Some events were shuffled or simplified to keep the pacing up, which was much needed. Harry's temper tantrums toward his friends were blessedly toned down. The subtle buildup to Ron and Hermione's clearly impending romance was realistic and not forced at all, which I feared it might. Speaking of Hermione, my word. The 5th movie was when the beauty really hit the fan. Yowza.

The action at the end was just as good, if not better, than the book. Seeing Sirius and Harry fight along side each other was just heart-wrenching when you knew what was about to happen. Especially when Sirius said "Nice one, James!" Ugh, that made me want to cry. I would have liked to have seen and heard more of Lupin, though, as he's my favorite character in the whole series. It's also a good thing Michael Gambon plays Dumbledore now, because Richard Harris (God rest his soul) would have looked silly fighting Voldy.