Get to know Harry Potter, his friends and teachers, first in the books, then enjoy the movies. This movie is fine

Rating: 8/10 (27 January 2008)

If Harry Potter at the conclusion of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix feels sorry for Voldemort because the dark lord can never know love or friendship, I feel almost equally sorry for those who don't read J. K. Rowling's novels and just rely on the films. As good as the movies are, including this one, they are scarcely more than sketches compared to the books. Why should this be important? Because Rowling has created a classic epic with the books, and stuffed them full of mature ideas, boundless ingenuity and clever humor, life lessons that aren't preachy or icky and with characters we come to really like or detest. No, this isn't Dickens, but as a literary tour de force, the story of Harry Potter and his growth into adulthood is unusually vivid and satisfying.
The Order of the Phoenix isn't simply the exciting adventure, tinged with a bit of mystery and dread, that the other books and films were. With this one, the angst, worry and danger move front and center. The movie still works as entertainment, however, because it's not a stand- alone film. Those who may try to judge the relative worth of any one of the books or films needs to take into account that Harry Potter is one story, and each story in each book or movie builds on all the others before it. For me, trying to figure which is the "best" book or film would be like trying to determine which bite of pumpkin pie was most satisfying, the third bite, the fourth bite or the first bite.
The movies, especially this one, do provide one satisfaction that the books can't. Before our eyes, literally, Harry Potter and his friends are growing up, changing from children to young men and women. We see it happen because all the original young actors, who must have signed long-term contracts or are getting a great deal of money to sign up picture by picture, also are growing up before our eyes. Harry Potter is now a young man because Daniel Radcliffe is becoming a young man. Hermione Granger's growing maturity is because Emma Watson is growing in maturity. It's odd in a pleasurable way to see small Neville Longbottom now towering over Harry, just as Mathew Lewis now towers over Radcliffe.
Rowling's books are so good, and the movies are so accomplished as good cinema, that the "Oh, no, I'd never read those Potter stories" reaction set in sometime ago and is still prevalent among some. There is a category of individuals who automatically react condescendingly to anything which achieves great popular success. This isn't intellectual prejudice. Those who enjoy things of the mind - intellectuals - are driven as much by curiosity as by an appreciation of what rigorous things a mind can deliver. Those, however, who shiver in delight at Sondheim and only smile indulgently at Berlin, who swoon over Updike but find Dickens just adequate, who condescend to Rowling but preen over Goddard, miss the point: A good mind, a fine intellect, a curious person can find pleasure and value in all of the above. Why? Because they're all good at what they do. Intellectual appreciation of good work isn't a zero sum game.
See the Potter movies, including this one, and be touched and entertained. Read the Potter books, including this one, and be touched and taught.