Movie review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

I promise, my next post(s) will be my summary of the trip to Korea.

But first - a movie review.

Before I begin my rant, however, you should be aware that Order of the Phoenix is my least favorite book. There are so few likable characters, and Harry himself was such an ass through most of the mammoth fifth installment of this amazing series that I really can't enjoy it. Not because the writing wasn't great - J.K. Rowling writes exquisitely well the absolutely horrific period known in a human's life as puberty. It is probably because it is so well-written that it annoys me so much.
And yet the movie still didn't do justice to the story. Sure, Harry isn't nearly as annoying on the screen as he is on the page, but that side of his character was crucial to the book.
Not to mention the glaring errors and the gobs of details that are neglected.
First, and this bothered me to no end - Harry doesn't learn levicorpus until the sixth book; it's a small detail, but it's important to his sixth year, and to his dealings with the Half-Blood Prince. Secondly, RON BECAME A PREFECT, AS DID HERMIONE. That was entirely ignored. Also, not one game of Quidditch was played at all during the movie, the sequence of events was absolutely destroyed, Cho is made out to be the traitor when it was her bitch-friend (which also left out a rather nasty charm of Hermione's, which I loved) who spilled the beans, and - most importantly, in my opinion - it neglected the Howler that was sent to Aunt Petunia straight from the beginning. That is important to understanding Harry's family, and why he HAS to return to the Dursley's once a year.
Also - Moody gives Harry the picture while at Grimmauld Place, not Sirius at the train station. Sirius never transforms back into his human form at Hogwarts Express, in the first place. They left out all of the cleaning that took place in Sirius' loathed home (important details for the sixth and for the final book, I think), they ignored Kreacher's treachery (once again, important in the sixth book), and they completely ruined the O.W.L exams.
Finally - the movie completely undermines the utter havoc the Weasley twins wreaked on Hogwarts before they left. I mean, in the book, it is sheer hilarity and a great demonstration of how nearly everyone at Hogwarts absolutely loathed Dolores Umbridge, but in the movie, it's reduced to a few fireworks.
They threw in a bunch of pretty speeches that Harry never makes, they ruin the battle between Voldemort and Dumbledore, and Voldemort's ensuing possession of Harry, and there was very little Draco in the movie. I'm not much of a Draco fan, but his obnoxiousness is necessary to Harry's Good Guy character.
Anyway. I did enjoy the battle in the Department of Mysteries; Sirius' death was very poetic. And Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix was just brilliant casting.
But, once again, I had prepared myself for disappointment, and I was right. The movie cannot hold a candle to the book, and those who watched it without reading the book first are really missing out.
I will say, however, that it was a well-done movie; it's only failure is as an adaptation of a book.

Oh, and the trip to St. Mungo's was entirely left out, the audience gets a misunderstanding of Neville's parents' fate, Harry did NOT hear the prophecy from the ball in the book nor did he ever hand it to Lucius Malfoy, and almost all of Dumbledore's crucial explanation to Harry was left on the chopping block. Very disappointing.
But they were wearing their uniforms for a decent percentage of the film.