Watching the midnight premier of any film is a treat, and the fun gets doubled when the theater is packed and the audience is really into the movie. The true test of whether or not a film is cinematic gold, however, lies in how many members of the audience are portly 11 year olds in capes. By that metric, the opening night of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was a smash hit success. Not that there was ever any doubt.
Having somehow avoided watching any of the Potter adaptations that followed the lamentable first effort, I was ecstatic to see that great strides had been made with The Order of the Phoenix, at least when it came to not including 20 straight minutes of laughably bad, CGI-animated Quidditch. Even better, what did end up making it into the film had a fair amount of merit: the obligatory moments of magical wonderment, a dozen CGI-kissed establishing shots to help the audience feel immersed in the world, and a number of fights to the death–one could hardly ask for much more.
The major stumbling block for Harry Potter in this film lies in the form of Cornelius Fudge, who does not buy that Voldemort has returned at all. Somehow the daft git thinks Dumbledore is the real danger, and so he arranges for one of his cronies, Dolores Umbridge, to teach a class at Hogwarts. Once in place, she utilizes a string of flimsy legal pretexts to expand her influence, and before long, she has taken control of the school away from Dumbledore.
As Umbridge reigns over Hogwarts with a matronly fist of iron, Harry goes through a stage of being a whiner-baby who feels all alone and put on and so forth. Then he and the other kids band together to teach themselves the magic Umbridge will not show them. Their secret classes get found out, Harry learns his father was not always a saint, he and his friends have a big confrontation with the badguys, Sirius dies, Dumbledore saves the day, and Fudge finally sees Voldemort for himself so the movie can end with a big helping of “I told you so.”
Watching the plot unfold is quite the frustrating experience. Either Fudge and Umbridge are downright evil–which is a possibility–or they really are the stupidest pair of slugs to ever crawl their way out of the swamp and grow a spine. Viewed in a certain light, the film could even be construed to as a fairly adept allegory of contemporary American politics, enhanced interrogation techniques and all.
The movie will leave most adult viewers content, but not blown away. The film has excellent production values and a great plot to work from, but it is no Princess Bride. (Of course, I say that with my nostalgia goggles firmly in place, so feel free to take it with a box or two of salt.)
One last thing: Rent Matilda before you go see Order of the Phoenix, and play “spot the similarity” while in the theater. It will help pass the time, on the off chance that you find yourself bored.