HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX Special Edition
DVD Review by David Blackwell
DETAILS: 139 minutes, featurettes, deleted scenes, trailers
VIDEO: 2.35:1 (Anamorphic Widescreen)
AUDIO: English, French, Spanish 5.1
Subtitles: English, Spanish
STUDIO: Warner Bros. Pictures
RELEASE DATE: 12-4-2007
Harry Potter is waiting after the events of the last film. He is left in the dark all summer until events make Harry and
Dumbledore a target of a smear campaign through the wizard newspaper. The minister for the ministry Of Magic is paranoid
and he doesn't want to believe Lord Voldemort (He Who Must Not Be Named) is back. The minister sends Dolores Umbridge to
Hogwarts School Of Magic. A campaign to tighten down on the school begins as the threat of Voldemort draws nearer.
The fifth entry in the Harry Potter series moves at a brisk pace. However, it feels like middle chapters in a book where
the next movie will determine how good HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX will be. More layers are added to the Harry
Potter universe as new characters are introduced and the ministry Of Magic is shown. The tension rises as history begins
to repeat itself when Voldemort struck last time. A few things are skimmed over. Hopefully, the deleted scenes on the DVD
will show parts of the story and character moments that were cut out. The fifth Harry Potter movie is more plot driven than
the others. Plenty of characterization is in abudance (even though a few characters don't have much time spent on them).
The themes in the story do reflect the current world eeriely like you're with us or against us, the loss of freedom as the
students' lives are restricted more and more (as an Inquistion squad is formed to rat on supposedly illict activities), and
using a person as a scapegoat for crimes he didn't do (Sirius Black being blamed for Voldemort's crimes). A major character
does die, but I do wish the effects and the buildup were a little more. As it stands, HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX
is one of the better summer sequels of 2007. It remains to be seen whether it is a great or just a good sequel depending
on how the sixth film is.
SPECIAL FEATURES: The extras on tewo disc are a little disappointing compared to previous Harry Potter film SEs. The deleted
scenes are mostly rightfully deleted. THE HIDDEN SECRETS OF HARRY POTTER explores the mystery of Harry's true destiny by
looking at clues in the five films so far. TRAILING TONKS is a light and slightly entertaining tour of the film sets and
departments furing the making of HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX. HARRY POTTER: TEH MAGIC OF EDITING have Director
Davuid Yates and Editor Mark Day show how good editing effects a scene. The edit your own scene option on the disc is a
little hard to use.
FINAL ANALYSIS: HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX continues the series in great fashion, but I found teh extras were
lacking in the two disc this time.
this DVD review is (c)12-26-2007 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com
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