It was a toss-up between Shrek the Third and Potter the Fifth, but the boy wizard won out as our cinematic choice of the weekend.
I have read the first six instalments of Harry's adventures, and will buy the last next weekend, but having failed to catch the movie version of Goblet of Fire, I wasn't sure if there was much point getting a ticket for Order of the Phoenix.
I needn't have worried. Each director who move on to the franchise seems determined to make their contribution as self-contained as possible (which would surely look better on the CV), hence no mention of Aunt Petunia's knowledge of what Dementors are and where they come from, or the last scene of the novel, where the Order issue a stark warning to the Dursleys over their treatment of Harry.
Imelda Staunton was deliciously evil as prescriptivist tutor Dolore Umbridge, and it shows the strength of the franchise that Helena Bonham Carter turned up for about three scenes and five lines of dialogue.
I just feel a little sorry for the celluloid version of book six, The Half-Blood Prince.
By late 2008/early 2009, when this inevitably rolls along, the fans will be fully aware how the Harry saga ends, and this could feel like an annoying stop-gap before the final pages of the Deathly Hallows are before the lense.
And on a completely different note, UKtv Drama ran a Who's the Best Doctor Who? weekend to distract Britain's cable subscribers from the dismal weather.
The fact my favourite, Patrick Troughton, only came fifth, is neither here nor there, but who wrote the continuity announcements? Peter Davison was not one of the first three doctors and Captain Jack was not in the story where Billie Piper made her exit.
I won't say anymore, I'm sure there are stern letters from hardcore fans already on their way to UKtv Drama HQ scribed in the finest green ink.
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