I watched Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix … or “heard?”

Almost 8 hours have passed, & it is still not easy give a regular “thumbs up & down” on Harry Potter & the Order of Phoenix. Thankfully, this time around, I did not want to tear my hair out in disgust (as I did in Goblet of Fire). However, I also didn’t get that mild ecstatic feeling you usually get after watching a good movie.

Of course, my lukewarm reaction may be because:

• I have just recently watched another movie which made me whoop for hours on end (Transformers), and
• I am a die-hard Harry Potter fan, & thus have higher expectations.

Let the magic begin

The first 30 minutes was a “wow” moment. Order of Phoenix was able to recreate that childish delight that I had thought will not be possible after Sorcerer’s Stone.

Your regular Harry Potter fan will be pleased to know that, this time around, there is an actual plot development, visual effects more fantastic than all the other Harry Potter movies combined (yes, despite the over-hyped dragon scene in Goblet), & the sophistication in showing the magic of the wizarding world.

Yak yak

Of course, any HP fan would be very particular with the script, & this author was no exception. The script were given more attention than usual. Unfortunately, as I later found out, it seemed to have been given too much attention.

Although I can appreciate the preservation of the overall theme of the books, after about an hour, I got tired of listening & was raring to see a little more action. Dumbledore’s Army was able to get that groove back, but the energy was quickly doused by another round of monotonous dialog.

But I waited on. Surely the final scene in the Ministry of Magic would atone for it all?

It did not. That entire scene in the Ministry of Magic was too important, too magical, and had the most glorious visual effects that I personally think it was a mortal sin for it to last such a short time.

Before I knew it, I was transported back to Hogwarts where they talked, saw Dumbledore, and he talked, saw Luna, and she talked, and saw Harry (& guess what he did?).

And then you start thinking how big chunks of the movie will make such a fantastic audiobook.

Better but unintelligible actors

The kids portraying the Hogwarts students were always a cause of concern for me, as they seem to could never live up to the standards set by their more polished & older co-actors. Better uncover your eyes, because you’re in for a nice little surprise: With all honesty, I can say that the 3 main actors was able to knock it out of the park (or at least as far as acting is concerned).

Gone are the pathetic overacting that we so loathe in Goblet. Ron was funny, Hermione wasn’t screaming, Harry wasn’t awkward, & you don’t feel the urge to punch the Patil twins. Take note of the scene where Harry was narrating “The Kiss” to his 2 friends & you’ll know what I mean.

There is, however, one thing that I was hoping will be resolved in this installment: I think it’s about time that someone brings up the sensitive issue of accents.

You would guess that as we watch these kids grow up into their roles, they would be more intelligible than their eight-year-old selves. Quite the contrary. It happened in Goblet, & it happened once again in the Order of the Phoenix: As the reels rolled on, whispers of movie watchers can be heard asking one another to repeat what just sprouted out of the actors’ mouths.

The accents of the young actors were astoundingly more controlled in 2001 than they are in 2007. Even for someone like me who have been exposed to a good amount of British & American television. The only one spared from this curse was the Evanna Lynch, an entertaining young actress who played Luna Lovegood.

And so it ends

So here I am again, thinking about what was great & what wasn’t. David Yates seems to be a better director than the rest (although I still have a soft spot for Columbus & Sorcerer’s Stone). I would love to watch even a four-hour movie on Harry Potter, but he really could have shown us the story more rather than said it.

And oh, I seriously think it’s about time Michael Gambon deflate his ego & start reading the books. He wasn’t atrocious, but he sure didn’t play my Dumbledore.