Harry Potter Needs to Cultivate A Bit of Common Sense

Rating: 5/10 (23 January 2008)

Order of the Phoenix: Production and acting: very fine. Music: very good; sound and special effects: superb; and it is easy to enjoy all the well-formed characters.
That is the absolute full extent of my praise. The screenplay for this fifth Harry Potter movie needs more than just a bit of critical review. As a matter of fact, the plots for each entry in the series seem to be getting progressively poorer.
Why would anyone in their right mind continue to live with Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and totally spoiled brat (and sadist) Big Dudley Dursley? My answer: The authoress needs a dramatic fulcrum, and some comic relief, to start each episode. Otherwise, I do wonder about Harry's lack of common sense in this issue.
Why doesn't Harry Potter just take steps to effectively neutralize Lucius Malfoy and his son, spoiled brat (and sadist) Draco? Through how many more spoiled, sadistic creeps must the audience suffer? After all, Lucius is known to be in league with He-Whose-Name-Cannot-Be-Uttered. My answer: We need all the villains we can get, no matter how illogical it is to keep them around. Actually, the villains seem to have longer life spans than the heroes in this series... Is there a moral pattern here?
Daniel Radcliffe was 17 years old when this film was released; Harry Potter is supposedly at least a year younger than that in this episode. Close; nothing a short haircut and owlish spectacles cannot help. Emma Watson plays Hermione Granger; just the right age for her character. Rupert Grint was 18 at the movie's release; he's beginning to look a bit aged for his part. Why don't they get new actors, or stop producing the series now, before these actors start to appear markedly aged? Answer: What? Lose all that fan base, and all that money? Sorry, what was I thinking...?
Why did J.K.R. have to announce to the assembled press corps of the world that Professor Albus Dumbledore is (fictionally) gay? What purpose did she have in doing that? Does that have any bearing on the story? Apparently not... (but future movie screenplays may tell)! Should parents warn their children about this useless fictional fact before the tykes partake of the books or movies? This does nothing to enhance anyone's enjoyment of the series, but it does, I fear, change my view of it, and cast niggling doubts about whether the authoress is in her right mind...
5 out of 10. The Harry Potter series seems to follow the apparently immutable rule that sequels cannot possibly be as good as the originals. Too bad this series is, apparently, no exception.