MOVIE REVIEW: Why Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Made it to #1 in the Box Office

When I decided to go to the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in it's debut weekend, I was met with anticipation and excitement as I traveled to the cinema for the first time in 4 years to see a movie. As you can tell from that last statement, I don't spend a lot of money on the silver screen until the movies are released on DVD. I do however make exceptions for Harry Potter.

THE STORY OF HARRY POTTER

Unless you live under a rock, you know by now that Harry Potter is a wizard boy who has had a rough time with life at every turn. As an orphaned boy since babyhood, and he almost being killed himself by the Dark Lord Valdemort, he is constantly needing to prove himself to everyone he comes in contact with.

In the summer, he lives with his cruel muggle (non-magic practicing) aunt and uncle, and his spoiled cousin. They mistreat him, and through it all, he endures. During the school year, Harry Potter lives at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You would think Harry would have an easier time being with other students who study at Hogwarts but he doesn't. In fact, life is more difficult because of a fellow wizard student by the name of Drako Malfoy who is always making life for Harry rather difficult due to his jealousy toward Harry.

THE PLOT

The movie begins in an open field on a scorching hot day in England. Harry Potter is sitting on the swings, watching children as they play, when his muggle cousin and his friends approach him and taunt him, as he does in all the other movies. As the taunting continues, Harry becomes extremely angry . The clouds darken, the rain pours, and the temperature seems to drop instantly to a bone shaking , breath revealing 30 degrees. Harry's cousin and Harry himself become the victims of two dementos (demon like specters that look like wraiths that suck the life out of anyone who Valdernort summons them to) Harry uses the petronis charm on the dementos and they leave as fast as they come. His cousin lays stupefied and as he helps his cousin home, he receives a letter from Hogwarts that he is hereby expelled for using magic outside the grounds of Hogwarts under the age of seventeen. Harry comes to find out from his visiting professors that his expulsion is suspended pending a hearing. At the hearing Harry tells of dementos threatening his life and the life of his cousin. The judge refuses to believe that dementos were allowed outside their world of magic, and believing that this could happen would be to believe that Lord Valdemort has retuned to take revenge on Harry and everyone in the magical community. A vote is taken to vindicate the boy, or to punish him. A unanimous vote comes in Harry's favor, and the charges on the boy wizard are dropped, and expulsion is cancelled. He learns of a secret order of witches and wizards his dead parents belonged to called the order of the phoenix, but not much is really explained about it in the movie. He stays inside the order's house, safely tucked away until school starts. Just as it looks as if Harry is going to have a better year, his life gets far more complicated and dangerous.

A new teacher from the ministry, Dolores Umbridge is about to make Harry's life, and the rest of the students for that matter, much worse. Dolores Umbridge is a cunning, maniacal woman who somehow takes the school over. She becomes Head Master of the school, and things change drastically. Students are no longer allowed to practice magic AT ALL, and must only learn magic from books, not hands on as it was before. Harry takes matters into his own hands to train students to defend themselves because he is the only one gifted enough to do so. He also knows that they are vulnerable to Lord Valdemort if he doesn't.

COMING OF AGE

This movie definitely shows a more grown up Harry Potter as the adult situations become more prevalent. He experiences his first kiss with Cho Chang, a student at Hogwarts, he begins teaching his magical talents to students willing to stand up for their rights to practice magic, and wrestles with the possibility that he has an evil inside him that he can't control.

RATING

The MPAA rating for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is PG-13 for sequences of fantasy violence and frightening images. I feel the rating is justified.

VISUAL EFFECTS

As in every Harry Potter movie, the visual effects are outstanding.

For example, as Harry and his closest friends are hunting for the prophesy located in a crystal ball, in the department of mysteries, They find the crystal ball, and then immediately confronted by Lucius Malfoy, Drako's father,. He insists on Harry giving him the crystal ball, and Harry refuses, until his friends are held captive in front of him, with knives to their head. He somehow gets the crystal ball back, and as Harry and his friends run through the room filled with crystal balls, the shelves topple over like dominoes as they narrowly escape.

All in all, This movie is a must see for those who like Harry Potter, whether it be in the books or just on the silver screen. The movie already broke records on it's Wednesday debut with 44 million dollars. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is now the most successful movie debuted on a Wednesday.