Harry Potter Casts Another Great Spell

Life continues on for poor Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) as the 5th installment of the Harry Potter franchise makes its way to theaters today. After a terrible fourth year at Hogwarts, ending in the death of a fellow student and the return of Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), Harry now resides once again at his summer home with his overbearing Aunt and Uncle. But all is not well for too soon after the movie begins, Harry and his cousin Dudley are pursued by Dementors. The shadowy guards of Azkaban prison. Harry saves the day but breaks the Ministry's law of underage wizards using magic, and finds himself expelled from Hogwarts. All of this in just the first few moments.

After a brief glimpse at the Order of the Phoenix, Harry finds himself in front of the Minister and his court, trying to appeal for his way back into Hogwarts, and with the help of Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon), manages to do so. On his way back to Hogwarts, Harry finds that his welcome is lukewarm at best. Fellow students believe that hes lying about Voldemort returning and the Ministry of Magic broadcasts that its all a lie and poor Harry is delusional. To make matters worse Dolores Umbridge, an agent of the Ministry of Magic, has become the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and is determined to change a few things in Hogwarts. This pinkly clad conservative prude makes Hogwarts a living hell for the students, and even the faculty, as her power and rules slowly begin to grow and infiltrate the entire academy.

The students ban together to truly learn to fight the Dark Arts, and with Harry as their teacher, form Dumbledore's Army or DA. The story progresses quickly as the students begin to learn spells to protect themselves and Umbridge slowly takes over the school. In a shocking twist, the DA is discovered and Dumbledore is convicted as the leader of a rebellion to overthrow the Ministry. Despite protests from Harry, Dumbledore takes full blame but vanishes before he can be arrested. Now Hogwarts belongs to the Ministry, and Harry is left without his best protection. The movie continues on, leading to a dramatic showdown between Death Eaters and the DA, and finally the Death Eaters against the Order of the Phoenix. As spells clash and wands flicker, the upper ground switches sides faster than the camera, and the showdown between Dumbledore and Voldemort finally approaches.

I wont spoil the rest so you'll have to go and see the movie to find out what happens. It pleasures me to say that this movie impressed me more than the other summer disappointments. The movie is a stand alone film and doesn't rely on its predecessors to maintain its story or drama. The cast portrays their conflicts and characters with stellar poise, and the magic had me drooling over special effects. In all honesty, the movie did cut out several sub-plots from the book, but the movie didn't suffer at all from these cuts. As a Harry Potter fan I didn't miss the extra plots and found the action focused where I wanted it to be, on Harry and Voldemort. All and all I'd give the movie a 9 out of 10 for a stellar movie with a few subtle missing pieces. If you haven't seen it yet, I'd highly recommend doing so.