A word of warning – if you haven’t been following the Harry Potter universe through the first four installments, “The Order of the Phoenix” will probably have you scratching your head in confusion. Based on book number 5 of the seven-series set, HPATOOTP takes us much further down the road of the Dark Side of J.K. (richer-than-the-Queen) Rowling’s wizarding community.
All
of the “child” actors in this series have grown up considerably since
the first movie in 2001. Daniel Radcliff is no longer the wide-eyed
innocent (he proved that earlier this year while brandishing a
different kind of magic wand in a stage production of “Equus”) and
Neville and Ron (Matthew Lewis and Rupert Grint) have both sprouted
like weeds. And as for Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), lshe’s certainly
no longer a gawky, geeky kid. If you've been wondering why this series
is so popular with young males, here's a couple of the reasons.
(Speaking of letch, am I the only
one who found Bellatrix Lestrange strangely exciting? Hey, some hair
conditioner and a
brush, a little dental work, and rowrr!)
A couple of new
characters in this one. Imelda Staunton is the sickeningly sweet
Delores Jane Umbridge who ends up all but declaring martial law at
Hogwarts (Staunton was good, but a better choice would’ve been
William’s 7th grade French teacher, Madame Clumont. She had the
perfect toad-like quality described in the book). And we also get to
meet Hagrid’s half-brother Grawp, a big, dumb CG giant who bears a
striking resemblance to George W. Bush.
Harry and the gang
team up to fight the evil Lord Voldemort (who ends up kicking their
collective asses until Professor Dumbledore swooshes in and saves the
day).
A lot of mindless fun, epic battles and some mighty
spiffy fireworks are all tossed in to make Harry Potter and the Order
of the Phoenix one of this summer’s blockbusters. It wasn’t as good as
the book (what movie is?), but it’ll keep you entertained for a couple
of hours.
Harry and the gang team up to fight the evil Lord Voldemort (who ends up kicking their collective asses until Professor Dumbledore swooshes in and saves the day).
A lot of mindless fun, epic battles and some mighty spiffy fireworks are all tossed in to make Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix one of this summer’s blockbusters. It wasn’t as good as the book (what movie is?), but it’ll keep you entertained for a couple of hours.