Hurry Potter (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2 DVDs))

Member Name: mummy2harry

Product:	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2 DVDs)
Date:	13/01/08 (167 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great acting from the cast, Ministry of Magic scenes

Disadvantages: Hurried plot, poor final scenes, lack of detail

FILM ONLY REVIEW.

As a massive fan of the whole Harry Potter franchise, I was eagerly awaiting the release of this movie in the Summer of 2007. For several reasons, we never made it to the cinema to see this one, so had to wait for its DVD release in November. Good old Amazon came through for me again and this one came to my house only a few days after its release date so my partner and I sat down excitedly and waited for the magical movie that was about to be shown to us. Needless to say I was left highly disappointed...

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the fifth film of the seven which are going to be made. Harry is now in his fifth year at Hogwarts and is a strapping 15 year old boy by this stage. The year starts badly for Harry when his two worlds meet each other in bad circumstances and Harry has to beg the Ministry of Magic not to expel him from his beloved school, Hogwarts. When he returns to school, things dramatically change when Dumbledore is sacked as Headmaster, and Ministry of Magic dogsbody Doleres Umbridge is put in place, making Hogwarts a miserable place to be.

But Harry and his friends, who all believe Harry when he says that the evil Lord Voldemort has returned, begin to learn Defensive Magic in secret, against the rules of Professor Umbridge who is trying to stop the maverick group. Will they learn enough magic to protect themselves? And why does Harry keep having visions of evil things happening, in the first person nonetheless? And will the Order of the Phoenix, a group set up by Dumbledore to protect Harry and defeat Voldemort, be able to fight off Voldemort and his cronies? Watch and see....

This movie was disappointing to me on so many levels. Firstly, the beginning of the movie, which stretched over several tense chapters in the book, flew past in about 5 minutes, leaving me sitting gormelessly at the screen saying to my partner "Is that it?!". For me, those first few chapters involving Harry and his struggles at Privet Drive really set the mood of the whole story and the quick pace of this part really ruined the set up of the mood for me. Also, some key scenes to do with Aunt Petunia and Harry weren't shown, a massive travesty if you ask me.

The second disappointment was the lack of detail throughout the rest of the film. Now, I understand that as the longest book of the series so far, they would have to cut a lot from the book to make a decent length movie. However, the introduction of characters such as Kingsley Shacklebolt, Nymphadora Tonks and the reintroduction of Lupin and Mad Eye Moody, were skipped over way too quickly, and people who haven't read the book would have been left wondering who they were and what they had to do with the whole film. The broomstick scene with this group of people could have been much, much more exciting and dramatic, but again went past in a flash, leaving me totally unsatisfied by the first 10 minutes.

My final, and probably biggest, disappointment was the final scenes. Again, these scenes took up a large chunk of the book, moving really slowly and building up suspense. The final fight scenes were amazing reading, full of action and drama and just superb. Yet the same scenes in the film were about 15 minutes of the film, and seemed a bit limp to be honest. The suspense and drama never really materialized and I didn't feel that they put all the effort in that they could have. Compared to the final scenes in the fourth movie, The Goblet of Fire, this one didn't come anywhere close in terms of excitement and thrills, I was just sitting there thinking "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear".

There were a couple of glimmers of hope in the film. One of these glimmers was the wonderful scenes at the Ministry of Magic. They were visually spectacular, and really took you into the world of magic for the few minutes these scenes were shown. They had clearly made enormous efforts in creating a world which is so magical and different to anything we could ever imagine, it was wonderful and better than I had thought it would be. The Ministry appears near the beginning of the film, and for the big final scenes. Again, I wish that they had been able to use the Ministry a lot more in the film.

The other good thing about this film was the young cast, who seem to get better every movie that they make. Daniel Radcliffe once again took control of the whole movie, the young man has such a strong screen presence, he is wonderful. It also didn't seem to matter that in real life he is an 18 year old man playing a 15 year old, he did a great job. Rupert Grint also shone in his role of Ron Weasley. He looks a lot older than the 15 year old boy he is portraying but his acting has so much improved that he is a joy to watch. And finally Emma Watson, young Hermione Granger, improves again from the last movie with her acting, although at times I do find her to be a bit annoying and a little over the top compared to her male counterparts.

Imelda Staunton takes on the role of the incredibly unlikeable Doleres Umbridge and is wonderful in her role. She really does make her character instantly hateable, great for the film, but I hope we don't see her in any future movies. The other cast members we usually see so much of, namely Michael Gambon (Dumbledore), Maggie Smith (Prof. McGonnagal) and Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid) are barely given 15 minutes screen time between them, which is a shame as I adore these characters and hope they will play a much bigger part in the next film. Ralph Fiennes is wonderful again as the evil Lord Voldemort, Gary Oldman shines as Harry's godfather Sirius and Alan Rickman is simply marvellous as Snape...again he should have been given much more screen time as he and Radcliffe have a wonderful screen chemistry and the scenes between the two are incredibly watchable. Newcomes Evanna Lynch, who stars as Luna "Loony" Lovegood, a classmate of Harry's, does a superb job with her role, she seems very relaxed and to be thoroughly enjoying herself.

So would I recommend this film? Well, thats a tough one. It is obviously a must-see for fans of Harry Potter, and the movie series as it is part of the story. However, if you aren't a fan, then I would't hurry to see this one. It is nowhere near as good as the first four movies, and doesn't captivate the audience with the magic like its predecessors. The book is so much better than this film, and as a fan of the books, I was so annoyed and disappointed by what they left out, the magic seems to disappear for me. Yes, the film is a lot darker and more adult than the previous ones, but just doesn't compare sadly.

You can buy the DVD on Play.com for £14.99, which is the 2 disc edition. The film runs for 138 minutes, and is directed by David Yates, his first furore into the Harry Potter movies. The film has a certificate of 12, as some battle scenes are quite scary for younger children. Release Date: 2007.

Cast:
Daniel Radcliffe ... Harry Potter
Emma Watson ... Hermione Granger
Rupert Grint ... Ron Weasley
Ralph Fiennes ... Lord Voldemort
Brendan Gleeson ... Alastor 'Mad-­Eye' Moody
David Thewlis ... Remus Lupin
Maggie Smith ... Minerva McGonagall
Julie Walters ... Molly Weasley
Gary Oldman ... Sirius Black
Jason Isaacs ... Lucius Malfoy
Michael Gambon ... Albus Dumbledore
Imelda Staunton ... Dolores Umbridge
Tom Felton ... Draco Malfoy
Evanna Lynch ... Luna Lovegood
Helena Bonham Carter ... Bellatrix Lestrange
Robbie Coltrane ... Rubeus Hagrid
Alan Rickman ... Severus Snape
Emma Thompson ... Sybil Trelawney

Thank you for reading.

Summary: Poor movie from a great book