Took advantage of dropping off Kitten at camp to catch a matinee of the new Harry Potter flick (and invited Jackie along to boot). Fun time.
Now, for a No spoilers! review.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
| Overall |  | Story | |
| Production | | Acting | |
Story: In distilling down an umpteen-hundred page book to a two hour movie, sacrifices need to be made. That’s been an ongoing problem with past Potter flicks, but either this one got it right, or my memory of the book in question has faded, because despite knowing that there were bits, pieces, and entire sub-plots hacked away, this movie stood pretty decently on its own. I’m sorry we didn’t see more of the ironically-titular Order of the Phoenix (esp. given their action in the latter part of the movie), but that was probably the chunk most easily excised. Indeed, the movie managed to spend enough time on the parts that needed time spent, rather than making short shrift with too many story elements. There were a few hanging plotlines and unresolved bits, but only a few (the most noticeable being the whole Cho thing getting clumsily dropped).
The biggest question mark with the HP flicks is dealing with the aging of the “kids” when the books are a year apart and the movies are more like two. The answer this time is that … it just wasn’t noticeable. It wasn’t addressed, didn’t need to be addressed, and if you told me that Hogwarts was now an undergraduate college, too, that would be both reasonable and fine.
Production: The FX were marvelous to the point of almost being unremarkable in their integration to the film. The flying scenes suffered from CG/Greenscreen/Helecopter shot issues as so often happens, but not too badly. The magical critters were okay — my standards keep advancing just a bit faster than the studios. The big conflict at the end was marvelous. The music was quite nice, too. We had only minimal moving staircases this time out — few enough that it actually was noticeable.
Acting: With as large of a cast as this, it’s difficult for everyone to shine. The main three protagonists do fine — Radcliffe does a nice job with Harry’s torment and isolation, Watson’s Hermione comes into her own as a leader in her own right, and Grint’s Ron doesn’t embarrass himself too badly. Of the other students, several get significant roles (and do well, the Weasley Twins in particular), Others are nearly silent (or cutting-room-floor fodder), which is always a shame but, again, understandable given the size of the film (losing most of the Ginny bits and Tonks lines, though, is a significant loss).
Among the others, we gets some great Snape scenes with Alan Rickman (promising more to come), Michael Gambon’s Dumbledore seems stiffer than usual, which is unfortunate, given the lynchpin the role plays in the plot. Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge is just utterly delicious, and worth going to the movie just to see.
Overall: Probably one of the best HP flicks since the first (and arguably better than that). It’s not for a newcomer to the series, and definitely not for a “purist” admirer of the books, but it’s a fine tale — and a cautionary one, where the greatest threat is not necessarily the darkest evil, but those who will do anything to keep from acknowledging it.
Definitely going on the DVD list.
Good review, but slight disagreement on the age of the kids in one specific instant where you see Radcliffe’s five-o’clock shadow during one of the “tossing and turning in bed” scenes.
The “kids” were obviously not “kids” — hence my “Hey, Hogwarts is an undergraduate institution now” comment (I had five o’clock shadow by college … 🙂 ).
There were a couple of scenes, catching up with the characters, where the age stood out (Draco’s first appearance), but I was able to mentally shrug it off.
They actually play with this a bit in some of the flashbacks (which, interestingly, included some scenes that I think got edited out of this movie).
You’re right. I apologize for contradicting you there. I honestly just meant to tell you that I liked your review. 🙂
No prob. I appreciate the complement. 🙂
Watched the movie this evening with Katherine (as she finished up that book, and is now on to the next). Nothing much more to say than the above — my impressions remain the same. Though the seams of the cuts from the book are visible, they don’t stand out overly much, and, with the fading of the book from my memory, the movie stands probably as the best (to this point) of the adaptations.
Miss more Tonks, and Katherine missed Dobby, but enjoyed the Sirius and Snape bits.