Thursday, July 12, 2007

Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix review

HP:OOTP is not the best of the Potter films, but it is also by far not the worst. In fact the word I might characterize a lot of the film with is bland. There is too much story here and not enough time. While its also perhaps unfair to compare the film to the book, there have been a number of significant changes to accommodate the 900 or so page count into a reasonable length film. Yes elements were as spectacular as ever, but its the less than believable dialogue, and poor design choices that struck me most. I don't want to be harsh with this film. Because as compared to most family films of its ilk this installment of the Potter series is very solid; but the bar raised by HP:POA and HP:GOF was pretty high. So while this film unfortunately does not quite live up to its potential, it still for the most part manages to be fairly entertaining, especially at the time.

The best thing about the film is the fact that it sets itself up well for the next film. I am honestly looking forward to seeing the further adventures of these characters, because this felt like almost something of an interlude in the overall story. We want the big fight scene, the showdown between Harry and Voldemort, and instead we get 'something' that tries to compensate, but ends up looking a bit too much like a poor copy of Anakin vs Obi Wan in Episode III.

sigh... I think fans of the Harry Potter films will be happy, the people who do not follow the book lore, I think those people will enjoy this film. Not as much as the last two, but they will get something from it. However, fans of the books beware, this film has changed too much and is too I don't know the word here, haphazard maybe, to do much more than barely satiate.

3 / 5

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