series showing signs of age

Rating: 5/10 (18 July 2007)

In "The Order of the Phoenix, " the time-marking fifth installment of the lucrative "Harry Potter" series, the teen wizard and his fellow Hogwarts sidekicks are girding for battle against the recently returned villain, Lord Valdemort. They also have to wage a battle on a second front, against a sadistic dictatorial teacher named Dolores Umbridge, who has decided to remedy the "lax" standards at the academy and, in doing so, usurp Professor Dumbledor's position as headmaster of the school.
"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" has most of what any installment in the series needs to be a success: strong performances, dazzling special effects, and generous helpings of spells and magic. Yet, there seems to be something missing in this episode that prevents it from soaring into that world of enchantment familiar to us from those earlier films. For one thing, too many of the likable secondary characters - Ronald, Hermione, Hagrid etc. - take a back seat to Umbridge, who gets way more time on screen than the interest generated by the character warrants (even though Imelda Staunton is just fine in the role). Or perhaps it's that the movie lacks the tremendously exciting action set pieces that distinguished some of the earlier editions. And why, come to think of it, does the cinematography in a fantasy film have to be so drab, colorless and dreary?
It's admirable that both the filmmakers and the original author are willing to go darker and deeper in exploring the psyche of Harry now that he's become quite a bit older, but depth of theme really doesn't matter all that much if the magic of the series itself gets lost in the process (Michael Goldenberg has replaced Steve Kloves in the writing department and David Yates has taken over as director).
Daniel Radcliffe still makes for a tremendously appealing hero, but one senses that the perhaps inevitable fatigue factor may finally be settling into this series. I guess we'll know for sure once the final two installments are released.