Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the 5th in a series of Harry Potter movies and to date is the most watchable, especially for us non-hardcore fans. I have never read a single Harry Potter book as I never found the series interesting enough as I enjoy reading Sci-fi much more.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix has a new director in David Yates who had the good mind to pickup the pace and resist the temptation to cover as many storylines and characters as the previous films. The end result is a movie that is for more enjoyable than past films which always seemed to suffer from poor pacing (often on the slow side) and entirely too much dialog at the wrong times. Without a doubt, this is the best 2 hours I have ever spent with Harry. The movie begins with Harry being attacked by Dementors near the end of his summer break. He uses magic to save himself and is expelled from Hogwarts for the use of underage magic. Harry and Dumbledore go before the ministry to plead Harry’s case of self-defense. The counsel reinstates Harry even though they believe he is lying about Dementors attacking him and the return of the Dark Lord (end of Goblet of Fire). The ignorance of the Ministry is baffling; do they really believe it is impossible for the Dark Lord to return? After all he caused complete Chaos before his banishment 14 years ago.

Upon returning to Hogwarts the children quickly learn that the Ministry is beginning to interfere in Hogwarts affairs with the appointment of the bureaucratic Dolores Umbridge to the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts (teacher). Dolores refuses to teach the children how to defend themselves as she changes the entire curriculum on Defense to theory with no real-world application. From this point forward she is the most hated person at Hogwarts. Imelda Staunton plays the role of Dolores Umbridge to perfection with her motherly look, charm and innocent giggle (which she also uses during punishing the children) but she is a “wolf” in sheep’s clothing and soon strikes tremendous fear in Harry and the students with harsh punishments which leave physical scars.

Harry is much darker and definitely angry this time around especially as his disturbing visions during sleeping increase. In fact he spends the majority of the film angry at everyone which begins to wear a bit thin as the movie goes on. At some point he needs to man-up and face the situation and instead of consistently pushing everyone away except for his random kiss (yes his first kiss) Cho Chang which seems to come out of nowhere, but hey, he got his first kiss. His two side kicks Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley have a reduced role this time around from the standpoint of relevant dialog and storyline development (not screen-time) which feels odd considering how much they were a part of Harry’s life in the previous movies. But hey, David Yates needed to make some concessions to streamline the movie therefore this is not a horrible thing (at all).

With Dolores in charge of the Dark Arts Defense and the ministry conspiring against Harry and Dumbledore, Harry forms an army and they learn to defend themselves (via Harry’s past experience) for the eventual coming of the Dark Lord (which they all know is a matter of time). The rogue classes are entertaining and shows that the children are starting to bound with each other on several levels.

IMAX 3D EXPERIENCE

This version of Harry Potter is presented in IMAX 3D (if you happen to live near a theater). The IMAX version of Harry Potter is always a spectacle as colors are vivid and extremely sharp. Nothing beats watching your favorite movie on a screen that is 100 feet wide by 80 feet high (remastered). The finale is shown in IMAX 3D and AWESOME. The technology is improving quite a bit as the 3D finale was much sharper with less noise than Superman Returns IMAX 3D (last summer). 3D definitely enhances the final battle in the film creating true visual separation for all objects and characters and really begs the question; Why not the whole film instead of just 15 minutes? Not going to spoil anymore of the film but I do recommend seeing Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix as I feel this is the best and most entertaining (even humorous) Harry Potter movie to date (I did not become sleepy once).

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"True adaptability involves changing ones self to meet ones environment, not changing ones environment to meet ones needs" - Species8472

I 100% dissagree with you. This is, by far IMO, the worst Potter movie. The new director, i think, ruined what made the past potter movies so magical. There was so much stuff left unexplained it was dumb. Less Ron and Hermione was a bad decsion. Less Hagrid ruined alot of stuff. Overall I ALMOST hated it. The end action was cool but it is the worst potter movie, and i love the potter movies

Funny, most you like about the past films, I hate... They were too long and coma inducing.. I agree with you on Ron and Hermione but the pacing was the most important thing for me but then again I am not a "fan" in this case, just a movie watcher.. I know hardcore fans are on the fence but regardless the movie is cleaning up at the box office.

L8

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Editor - www.hidef.com

"True adaptability involves changing ones self to meet ones environment, not changing ones environment to meet ones needs" - Species8472