Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Note: I have never been a huge Harry Potter fan.
Note: I have never read a Harry Potter book.
Note: I sort of liked the first movie, hated the second, very much liked the third and was “meh” on the fourth.
Note: All this being said, I loved this movie.

From the beginning of this movie, I knew it would be different than the rest. It had a darker feel to it … from Harry being picked on in the playground to the scene (pictured above) where he encounters a … OK, first nerd word alert … Dementor … this movie had a style the first four lacked. Dare I say it … it felt like an adult movie.
I enjoyed “The Sorcerer’s Stone” because it was supposed to be a kids’ movie, and heck, all the actors were still kids. “The Chamber of Secrets” was dull and cheesey, and the scene against the giant snake at the end was poorly done. “Prisoner of Azkaban” hinted at the darker things to come, and I thought it was the first movie of the bunch that an adult could sit through and possibly get into the rest of the series … though “Goblet of Fire” went back to cheesey and plain confusing.
I have read reviews of “Phoenix” that say if you didn’t read the books, you’d be lost. Well, I wasn’t lost in this movie, and in fact, seeing this actually makes me want to read the final two before the movies come out.
The basic plot to “Phoenix” is this (minor spoilers ahead): Harry Potter, when confronted by these Dementors (flying grim reapers with donut mouths who suck your face), uses magic to ward them off … but he does it in front of his … cousin? I forget. Anyway, he’s the son of the “Muggles” he stays with when not at Hogwarts. I can’t believe I just typed that sentence.
The “Ministry of Magic” discovers Potter used magic when not supposed to, and he goes to trial for it. He gets off clean, but no one believes his story, and no one believes the dark lord Voldemort has returned. Skeptical of Potter and his professor, Dumbledore, the Ministry sends the despisable Ms. Umbridge to Hogwarts to look over things. She, in turn, bans all things fun, and Potter begins his own training class behind her back to teach his friends how to fight against the dark lord and his minions. All the while, a secret “Order of the Phoenix,” which was formed years ago, is watching over Potter and his friends.
The fact that I just typed that without crib notes and with no previous knowledge of this movie going in shows it was easy to follow.
Besides the style being better, the acting is much better in this. Daniel Radcliffe, for the first time I think, sells me on being the kid who’s more powerful than everybody else. I felt in the first four movies, he was just “tagged” as being the chosen one, but never showed me that it was true — kind of like Luke Skywalker in the first Star Wars.
And speaking of, “Order of the Phoenix” had a lot of Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and other “epic” plots in it … without looking like it “stole.” Dumbledore’s looking over Harry in the final scene was reminiscent of Gandalf with Frodo in “Rings.”
I enjoyed this movie, and I was surprised at the end that I did. Like I said before, I appreciate the Potter phenomenon, but I never really grasped it. I’m told the books are better, but I have a rule that I don’t read books I’ve already A) seen the movie of or B) know the ending of. I probably won’t make an exception here, but then again, I probably will read books 6 and 7 now.
And that’s saying a lot.
Grade: **** out of 5*

My blog reviews:
Harry Potter and
the Order of the Phoneix: ****
Transformers: *

Coming up next: The Simpsons Movie (due out July 27)