Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

David Yates

Writers (WGA):

Michael Goldenberg (screenplay)
J.K. Rowling (novel)

Release Date:

11 July 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Family | Fantasy | Mystery

Tagline:

Evil Must Be Confronted.

Plot:

With their warning about Lord Voldemort's return scoffed at, Harry and Dumbledore are targeted by the Wizard authorities as an authoritarian bureaucrat slowly seizes power at Hogwarts.

Plot Keywords:

Teacher | Magic | Wizard | School | Harry Potter

Awards:

Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 10 wins & 27 nominations

Cast

Daniel Radcliffe	...	Harry Potter
Harry Melling	...	Dudley Dursley
Jason Boyd	...	Piers
Richard Macklin	...	Malcolm
Kathryn Hunter	...	Mrs. Arabella Figg
Miles Jupp	...	TV Weatherman
Fiona Shaw	...	Aunt Petunia Dursley
Richard Griffiths	...	Uncle Vernon Dursley
Jessica Hynes	...	Mafalda Hopkirk (voice) (as Jessica Stevenson)
Adrian Rawlins	...	James Potter
Geraldine Somerville	...	Lily Potter
Robert Pattinson	...	Cedric Diggory
Ralph Fiennes	...	Lord Voldemort
Natalia Tena	...	Nymphadora Tonks
Brendan Gleeson	...	Alastor 'Mad-­Eye' Moody

Also Known As:

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: The IMAX Experience (USA) (IMAX version)
The Order of the Phoenix (USA) (short title)
Tip Top (UK) (fake working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sequences of fantasy violence and frightening images.

Runtime:

138 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Sonics-DDP (IMAX version) | Dolby Digital | DTS | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Ireland:12A | UK:12A | Finland:K-11 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:11 | Germany:12 | Singapore:PG | Australia:M | Hong Kong:IIA | Portugal:M/12 (Qualidade) | South Africa:10M | Sweden:11 | Denmark:11 | South Korea:All | Canada:G (Quebec) | Brazil:Livre | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | France:U | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Argentina:13 (re-rating on appeal) | Argentina:16 | Slovakia:12 | Taiwan:PG-12 (original rating) | Malaysia:U | New Zealand:M | Iceland:10 | Iceland:12 (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Imelda Staunton was the producer’s only choice for the role of Umbridge. She and costume designer Jany Temime came up with the idea of making her dress more padded and more saturated as the film progresses. The novel describes her being physically chubby and like a toad.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: In Ms. Umbridge's potions lesson the camera pans out over the classroom after she has said something and there is the sound of a pencil being dropped on the floor, when students at Hogwarts only use quills. However, this could simply be a dropped wand, as this is the sound we hear when this happens elsewhere in the movie.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Radio announcer: I don't know about you, it's just too hot today, isn't it? And it's going to get even worse. Temperatures up in the mid 30's Celsius, that's the mid 90's Fahrenheit, tomorrow maybe even hitting 100. So please, remember to cover up and stay cool with the hottest hits on your FM dial.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "HBO First Look: 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix': Fulfilling a Prophecy (#14.15)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

Boys Will Be Boys

Nothing like the book but a decent enough movie

So many great parts were skipped over, rushed with ridiculous cliché transition scenes, or simply changed because, apparently, it's impossible to include everything. But what can anyone reasonably expect?

I went into this expecting exactly what I saw, it's still just a tad annoying hearing people talk about how impossible it would be to follow the book. It's not impossible at all. Look at the matrix 2&3, look at pirates of the caribbean 2&3, look at LOTR (it's all one continuous story). Lots of "stories" have had to be split up into multiple films and they all worked great. It's just a tad short-sighted to say it wouldn't work with a harry potter film. I think a lot of what people enjoy is looking at the wizard world, seeing cool looking spells, and generally learning more about everything to do with the harry potter universe. You don't get much of that when a 26 hour read is condensed into a 2.5 hour film. I personally would love to see more of the "boring" parts of the book simply because it's interesting seeing a high-budget Hollywood interpretation of what was in the book. Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't be the least bit disappointed if the film-makers simply came out and said "this book is too long to put into a single film with out leaving out a lot of the book and changing a lot of other parts, so we're releasing it in two films." It's completely understandable. It's an 800 page book! LOTR books were only 400-600 pages and the films were considerably longer than any of the harry potter films.

Overall, it was a decent enough movie though. Great special effects, good enough acting (I wouldn't go so far as to say it was amazing). I'd say it's basically a standard high-budget film. Entertaining to watch, well worth my $10 so I could come and complain how it was nothing like the book :)