Nothing New, Just Another Year Older

Rating: 5/10 (13 January 2009)

I don't want to do it but I have to talk about Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It is the 5th highest grossing movie from 2007 coming in at $292 million. I think we all know why Harry Potter was able to hit such a high number for 2007. Two words...Harry Potter. That's right. The franchise has now hit such dizzying levels that now no matter what author J.K. Rowling hands out it will be bought up and sought out in such high numbers so quickly that there is no stopping its success. This time out in the story we find Harry wrongly accused by the Ministry of Magic. Harry is coming into his teenage years and with that comes angst which even manifests against Dumbledore. Voldemort is stronger than ever and in an effort to squash him out again Harry and his posse of wizards form Dumbledore's Army. Well this leads to conflict as you can well imagine and does not sit well with Dolores Umbridge, the new Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts. With all this conflict around in combination with a 14 year standoff with Lord Voldemort it should be no surprise that all of this leads to a giant wizard face off of good and evil with loads of special effects. Daniel Radcliff along with his companions Emma Watson and Rupert Grint as the three main characters know this material well and their performances are right on par with what is expected. This is also not Ralph Fiennes first time in the ballpark as Voldemort and along with the rest of the cast of characters, they all play their parts with ease and comfort. They all look very comfortable in their skins this 5th time around. A shinning spot is actress Imelda Stauton as the Dark Arts Professor Dolores Umbridge. She is fresh and fascinating to watch. Where the movie lets us down is the script. There are some of our favorite characters that don't get a single word in the film. And shockingly some of the special effects, the ones over London especially, seem like 1970s film-making. I don't blame Rowling at all as she has given the screen writers more than enough material to work with. Because of them the movie is stale and it feels like most of the film is just filling us in on their series rather than making it new for us like the first time. Â• Poster fans will love all the variations of the characters and we're even treated to an IMAX 3D version of the film and a poster.