Harry Potter And The Order of The Phoenix

I took the Daughter and my baby sister (18) to see the new Harry Potter movie on Thursday night. My sister was here for Freshman Orientation at our local university, which she will be attending in the fall. We were so excited to be going to see this movie!

It has been a good while since I read Harry Potter And The Order of The Phoenix, so it is hard for me to say how true the movie was to the details of the book. The bit with the prophecy at the Ministry of Magic was quite different and, of course, the movie abbreviated the book's specifics a good bit, but I felt it was true to the spirit of the book and the high points, to the best of my memory.

I thought the movie was quite well done. It was very much darker than the other films, as it would have to be in order to be true to the book. It is not a film for the little ones. I remember being rather annoyed with Harry's adolescent rebellion in this book when I read it, this being the first installment in which he was a much less biddable teen than the sweet boy of earlier books and movies. Reading the book, though, I knew his adolescent angst was necessary to his age and the movie impressed me even more than the book that it was necessary to his circumstances, regardless of age. He was a tortured young man.

I heard that this movie had a new director and I think he did a very good job. The characters were all spot-on as far as I was concerned and the storytelling captivating. The dark mood was perfect. The Daughter and my sister liked it very much as well. I highly recommend this one for the over-ten set.

Nancy Drew

The Daughter and I finally went to another movie! We went to see Nancy Drew, which was very exciting to me, as I was a great Nancy Drew fan as a girl. My favorite childhood mystery series was Trixie Belden, but Nancy Drew was a close second, even though both series had been around since my mother was a girl...they seemed timeless. The Daughter has never really gotten into the books, but she wanted to see the movie. We went with my sister when visiting her in June.

The movie did not disappoint. Nancy was a smart, independent, curious and courteous girl. I really loved how polite she was. The movie dealt with the "timeless" issue by having Nancy and her dad move from the universe of the well-loved books, complete with old-fashioned Bess and Ned, to modern-day LALA Land, where she was a bit of an oddity. Nancy was not much troubled, however, by not fitting in at her new school. She stayed true to herself and solved her case, as usual. The Daughter and I both really enjoyed this modern adaptation. I think there is supposed to be a TV series soon, as well, although we do not have cable ourselves.