Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (HD DVD, 2007)

In "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," Harry returns for his fifth year of study at Hogwarts and discovers that much of the wizarding community is in denial about the teenager's recent encounter with the evil Lord Voldemort, preferring to turn a blind eye to the news that Voldemort has returned. Fearing that Hogwarts' venerable Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, is lying about Voldemort's return in order to undermine his power and take his job, the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, appoints a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher to keep watch over Dumbledore and the Hogwarts students. But Professor Dolores Umbridge's Ministry-approved course of defensive magic leaves the young wizards woefully unprepared to defend themselves against the dark forces threatening them and the entire wizarding community, so at the prompting of his friends Hermione and Ron, Harry takes matters into his own hands. Meeting secretly with a small group of students who name themselves "Dumbledore's Army," Harry teaches them how to defend themselves against the Dark Arts, preparing the courageous young wizards for the extraordinary battle that lies ahead.


Those magical kids return with their obligatory authority figure adults in tow. Only they're not so little anymore and as the last movie proved, they're all well on their way to no longer being kids. Whatever plot lines director David Yates chooses to chase, it's essential that he makes following their slow bloom into adulthood a priority while at the same time avoiding the discussion of things like oh, say, condoms.

I'm not a huge fan of the last movie, but that's one thing that Goblet of Fire's director Mike Newell got right. The awkwardness of puberty, their newfound interest in the opposite sex. Watching these kids grow up on screen is what's most interesting about the Harry Potter series to anyone over the age of twelve, not their bag of magical tricks.

The seriesï new director, as mentioned above, is David Yates. With each new director comes a new, distinctive style. Thatï's a plus really, it gives every movie its own unique energy. But this is the first truly high profile film Yates has ever touched, and itï's certainly his first big-budget blockbuster. Since Columbus, that seems to be the route Warner Brothers is going with their Harry Potter directors. Both of the last two helmers had similar, low-budget resumes and it�s worked well so far. The real difference in Yates is that he's the Potter franchise's first British director. Odd when you consider there's not an American in sight when you check out the cast.

Expect more of the same from the fifth Harry Potter. Only Cuaron's movie, the third one, has distinguished itself from the pack as anything special. The rest have been entertaining but ultimately mediocre, and the sad thing is that Harry's hardcore fans seem to prefer that. Mediocre I suppose, is better than bad. The films have maintained a consistent level of quality, and thats more than most other long-running movie franchises can claim.

A MUST BUY
9/10

This is one of the very few times that I felt that the movie was better than the book. Order of the Phoenix was the only book I did not rate Excellent, but I feel this movie rates it.

Unlike the book, which I feel was Rowling's one and only drop into "middle book funk", this movie can stand on its own.

The Ministry of Magic, in an attempt to keep Harry Potter quiet, assign Delores Umbridge to the school. Although Umbridge is never specifically mentioned as being a Death Eater, loves to leave people in perpetual misery. Later in the series, she is an inquisitor working for the Ministry under Voldermort's command.

Much of the pain and anguish she passes out like candy in the book is thankfully left out of the movies. She still her magic quill that, when used, uses the writer's blood for ink. This has the side affect of etching the words in the skin of the writer as well. She also posts an almost infinite number of decrees to dominate the school. Whereas the book went into endless detail of these and other tortures, the movie was able to successfully convey the full depth of her psychosis without boring the reader to death in the process.

This also kept the movie from being quite as dark as the book. The characters in the movie are clearly on the defensive, but they never give up. The climatic battle at the end feels more like a costly draw than a pointless loss of one of Harry's closest friends.

The actors and actresses continue to perform magnificently. I simply can not imagine anyone else playing the parts of Harry, Hermione, the Weasleys, Snape or McGonagall. Imelda Stauton was perfect as Delores Umbridge, as was Evanna Lynch as the quirky Luna Lovegood. Gary Oldman, who I thought was over the top in Prisoner of Azkaban, did wonderfully here as Sirius Black. I feel Michael Gambon does well as Albus Dumbledore. And there is over a score of secondary characters of which this movie would not work if they were not top notch themselves.

The script writers did well in condensing the much too long book into a few simple effects. A single shot of hundreds of framed decrees hanging on the wall outside the Great Hall, limiting the Umbridge torture scenes, combining the Weasly rebellion with the O.W.L. tests expertly wrapped up entire chapters into single scenes. I also appreciates using Daniel Radcliff's talents as a actor to demonstrate his angst as opposed to the self-destructive patterns Harry has in the book.

A few things could have been better. Harry's hair is neatly combed, something that never happens in the books. Also, the waith-like forms the Death Eaters take in the big fight at the end I felt was over the top. The special effects otherwise great, but they should have left well enough alone.

John Holland-author of The Necklace of Terrersylvanous

This is a highly versatile DVD as it includes both formats. One side will run on an HD DVD player only while the other will work in any standard DVD player. The movie on both sides is in full wide screen format with Dolby 5.1 on the DVD side and Dolby TrueHD on the HD DVD side.

Only one disk is provided such that as a regular DVD, all the special features, interviews and commentaries are not included. Instead, the DVD side is front loaded with about 10 minutes of painful advertisements about game products and outdated movies trailers. Then the movie starts...

The HD DVD side is loaded with all those special features, commentaries and interviews, etc. and no superfluous advertisements at all. Plus you get that crisp high definition image. I was not planning on buying this DVD but considering the quality and other features, I have no regrets owning this one.

As a movie, I am surprised that with all the star power this franchise was able to draw in, they got stuck with the likes of David Yates as a director. This is his first attempt at a feature length movie in the sci fi/fantasy genre and it shows. Although as an cinematic adaptation of a highly popular book you have to cut some slack. However, he clearly does not understand the underlying story nor was he able to capture the "magic" of the characters. It is as if he felt obligated to fill the movie with plot holes, contradictions, omissions and inconsistencies. If you did not read the book, you would never be able to figure out what the story of this book is about just from watching this movie. This I confirmed from doing a casual survey.

This movie is by far the best Potter film of the 5, and not just because the kids finally got haircuts. I have always held that the movies are better than the books because the movies, unlike Rowling's novels, actually hold characters together so that the characters grow as the story progresses, while Rowling seemed to think that she could change her chracters whenever she damn well pleased. As the actors mature, the films grow darker, and the overall mise-en-scene of everything in the movies are getting better and better. This is really how the world of Harry Potter should be experienced.
The HD-DVD version is the best way (until the inevitable Blu-Ray release) to view Harry Potter. Sound, picture, etc. are all excellent. I would have preferred more extras on the HD release, but you can always flip over the disc and find a few in standard definition. More mature making-of featurettes would have been appreciated. Just because these movies are based on kids books doesn't mean that kids are the only ones watching them.
Even though HD-DVD is essentially a dead medium by now, this is the only way to experience this excellent movie in HD. For now, this is the best choice of a medium for this movie... and because it's a combo format, you get DVD too! Definitely recommended.

I love HD DVD, especially this one. This is not my favorite of chapter in the HP series, but I love it just as well. It's good, it has excellent features & it looks crystal clear on my 61" HDTV. The only thing I don't like about it, is that it still has black bars [i.e. it's like letterbox]. My HDTV is 1080p and 16X9 and yet every DVD & HD DVD has it's own aspect ratio. Some fill my screen perfectly, some don't. It just makes me angry that a standard couldn't be reached in the industry. I understand why films are shot differently, but I didn't pay thousands of dollars for a 61" TV so I could watch 50 some inches of it. Blue-Ray manufactures had better get it together, because on demand HD DVD titles are definitely going to keep me from investing in future movie players after the HD DVD debacle. Cable alters HD titles to fill your screen [most of the time] and free on demand is much cheaper than a player & replacing all my favorite titles that I already own on DVD & HD DVD. But, I'm sure they'll do just fine without my money. Harry Potter Rules!