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Created Nov 09, 2007 06:01PM PST • Edited Nov 09, 2007 06:13PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Perfect 5.0

   We come upon Harry (Radcliffe) as we do in the beginning of most Harry Potter films, at the Dursley’s. He is sitting on a swing when his cousin Dudley and his friends approach him. Harry and Dudley take shots at each other. Dudley verbally attacks Harry on the subject that is most sore to him, the death of his parents. Harry doesn’t have too much time to worry about this though. A handful of Death-Eaters appear. They start sucking away Harry and Dudley’s good memories. Harry knows that if he doesn’t do something to stop them that they will suck their soles out until there is nothing good left. So Harry uses a charm on them to get them away. However, Dudley isn’t quite okay. He is extremely rattled and of course it is blamed on Harry even though he saved Dudley. Things just get worse for Harry though. The ministry of magic knows that he used the charm. Since he is an underage wizard he isn’t permitted to use magic outside of school plus it is strictly against the rules to use magic in front of a muggle. So Harry is expelled from Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. This is pretty much the worst news Harry could get especially at a time like this. He knows he will be miserable if he stays with the Dursleys and that is exactly what they want.

   However, they give Harry a trial to determine whether he is guilty of the charges or not. Many of the members of the ministry of magic especially the minister seem to be against Harry. They don’t even want to listen to any reason that Harry would have to use magic. Even when Harry manages to shout it out to him the minister doesn’t want to believe him. The reason for this is that Death-Eaters are issued by the ministry. They are only supposed to go where the ministry sends them. So to admit that Harry was right is admitting that they were wrong and purposely issued a Death-Eater in a muggle neighborhood. Professor Dumbledore (Gambon) manages to convince a large enough portion of the ministry that this matter is not Harry’s fault. So Harry is admitted back in to Hogwarts. However, this causes a bit of a parting between Dumbledore and the Ministry of Magic. The word is that Lord Voldemort is back again. The ministry doesn’t want to believe this though so they claim that Dumbledore and Harry are trying to create a conspiracy.
   The ministry of magic thinks that Dumbledore is going to create an army and they don’t want any of the students involved with it. So the ministry starts interfering at Hogwarts. A witch of the ministry, Dolores Umbridge, is hired as the new defense against the dark arts teacher. She insists that the students only use textbooks. She won’t even let them use any kind of magic. Umbridge claims that passing exams is all that matters. Many of the students feel that now more than ever they need to learn how to defend themselves against dark magic. If Dumbledore has an army against Voldemort then Harry feels he needs to fight. Many of his friends want to help him and are desperate to teach something even if Umbridge won’t be the one to teach it to them. Harry, Hermione (Waston) and Ron (Grint) gather some students who feel the same as they do. They find a secret room in Hogwarts, one that you can only find if you are in true need of it. They start practicing spells and charms in this room. Harry teaches them and they all work off of each other. Even their weakest links begin to shine soon.
   However, it becomes harder and harder to practice in secret. Umbridge is going crazy adding more and more rules everyday. They all seem to be completely unreasonable. She even uses unmoral ways of punishment. For just expressing the need to learn defense against dark magic Harry gets in trouble. Umbridge carves words in to Harry’s hands with her mind because of this. Later she is about to even use an illegal spell on Harry to get some information out of him. It is as if she doesn’t want any one else to function normally, but she can go out of control all she wants. Even some of the other teachers scold her about this. Umbridge doesn’t stop though. She tries to “reconstruct” everything in the entire school including the teachers. She even manages to get one fired. Umbridge knows something is going on and she thinks it is an army of Dumbledore’s. She looks nonstop to find them and once she does she will go after Dumbledore himself. Hogwarts is supposed to be Harry’s true home, the one place where everything seems right. This year, it feels as far from that as can be. Harry knows though that if they can’t defeat Voldemort then everything will be destroyed and the word home won’t exist for anyone anymore.
   Harry goes through a lot in this film. He has had bad dreams related to Voldemort a lot in the past, but this time it seems worse. Harry feels like he is starting to take over his mind. Voldemort starts putting images in his mind so he can get Harry right where he wants him. He feels like he is always angry too. He feels very alone partially because in the beginning it seemed like hardly anyone believed him about what happened last year and Voldemort being back. Friends have turned on him as well. Harry can’t help but remember that him and Lord Voldemort have certain similarities. Their wands are from the same bird, the only two wands made out of that bird. They both can understand and speak to snakes, which is something that hardly any wizards can do aside from then and the founder of the Slytherin house which many evil wizards come out of. Harry fears that he has more of Voldemort in him than he cares to have. He knows he has started out good, but what if he can’t help it and goes bad as he gets older? He is being compared to his parents a lot and awarded for all that he has done, surviving against Voldemort. Harry worries that he will never live up to his reputation or the one of his parents. He feels a lot of things in his past have just been luck. He is such a wreck that his emotions are out of control. This just makes him vulnerable to Voldemort.
   Previously the third was my favorite film. I think that has been replaced with the fifth one now. Voldemort has always been after Harry. If he can defeat Harry then he thinks he will be able to regain the power and reputation he had before he unsuccessfully attempted to murder Harry. In this one, Voldemort seems beyond that. That is still what he is trying to do, but he is dreaming even bigger. Everything seems to be as it was before when times were darker than ever. Voldemort has all types of wizards, witches, and dark creatures on his side. He wants to fight Dumbledore and kill him and everyone else who represents any goodness or who won’t mindlessly follow him. Voldmort is planning on conquering everything. The audience hasn’t ever seen that. We only heard about what Voldemort did before and what it was like. We heard how horrid things were, which is why Harry Potter was such a famous person in the wizardry world. Voldemort has always tried to get that back, but never before has he been so close to achieving this.

4. Acting

   Great 4.0

5. Male Stars Great 4.0

   Daniel Radcliffe portrayed how Harry was changing very well. He showed how everything he was going through was almost turning him in to what he feared most. There are tendencies of evil in him, but it is up to him to act against them. For the first time he really takes charge in this movie. Before he has done this with Hermione and Ron, but this time it is in larger numbers, more difficult, with a higher cost, and could mean life or death for everyone.

6. Female Stars Great 4.0

   Emma Watson’s character developed a bit in this movie. Her and Rupert Grint’s character were actually the ones who pushed for the secret wizardry army. If you were to look back at the first one, she is the last person you would expect. Both of them are there for Harry more than ever, even when he pushes them away.

7. Female Costars Great 4.0

   There is a nice addition in this movie in Evanna Lynch as Luna Lovegood. She was the one who first seemed to understand Harry. She lost her mother as well. They can see creatures and hear things that others can’t because they have experienced death in their families. She is quite original and she proves to have power and faith in Harry’s army. Imelda Staunton was quite annoying as Professor Umbridge. I guess that was the point though. She wasn’t meant to be a likeable character and she definitely accomplished that.

8. Male Costars Great 4.0

   Gary Oldman returns in this film too. He does a fantastic job as Harry’s godfather, Sirius Black. I think he was a big part of why I loved the third film so much. He seemed so believable as a killer who turned on his parents. Yet, he ended up being an innocent man who was the last real family Harry had to turn to. There is a traumatic scene in the movie with the two of them and in my opinion it was one of the best scenes. I liked Richard Harris in the first two Harry Potter movies better as Dumbledore. He just seemed to be more authentic. Michael Gambon does do a pretty good job in this one as though. He doesn’t seem to be quite himself, but he does what he can to fight what is happening around him and for those he cares about.

10. Film

    Really Great 4.5

11. Direction Really Great 4.5

    Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the best Harry Potter film yet. It deals with the most and seems the most advanced. It seems that the darker the films get the better they get. This is partially because of the story lines from the books. I think a big part of it is the direction of the film too. Since the third film, they have become much more serious. This movie heightens this and makes it the darkest. Harry’s world falls apart in so many directions. We find out secrets about different people’s past, which explains other things in the series. It becomes clear that things like giving in and giving up would be so much easier. The characters make themselves mature quite a bit in this movie and come together. Friendship and loyalty ends up being what saves them in the end and makes them stronger.

12. Play Really Great 4.5

13. Music Really Great 4.5

    In the film, there are the classic Harry Potter songs. It adds the magical feeling that is present and hightens the tension at times.

14. Visuals Really Great 4.5

    The special effects were top notch. This is the type of film which really has to have them. Without this we wouldn’t be able to see the real world of Hogwarts. As times get darker we are seeing what kind of power that Harry is up against and see that his friends and him are able to create some of this for themselves.

15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 1.6

17. Sex Innocent 1.0

18. Violence Fierce 2.1

    There is obviously some violence with the fighting scenes between the wizards. None of this is graphic at all though.

19. Rudeness Salty 1.6

    There is rebellion present, but it is nothing that should affend anyone.

21. Reality

    Fantasy 5.0

22. Circumstantial Fantasy 5.0

23. Biological Fantasy 5.0

24. Physical Fantasy 5.0