Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Blu-ray) (2007)

"Sleek, swift and exciting.  A.O. Scott, The New York Times
"It's action-packed, darker, more epic and thankfully schmaltz-free...the best "Harry Potter" film yet.  Colin Bertram, New York Daily News
"This is the best Harry Potter picture yet.  David Edelstein, New York Magazine
"Miraculous! A feast for the eyes...magical movie-making!  Larry King, CNN
"Once you see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix you'll want to see it again and again.  NewsDay 'KidsDay'
"The most successful film series since James Bond continues with another rousing winner...a wild ride all the way.  Pete Hammond, Maxim
"...the best of the series so far...has the laughs, the jitters and the juice to make even nonbelievers wild about Harry.  Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Editor's Note In the silver-screen adaptation of J.K. Rowling's HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, the fifth chapter in the beloved book series, everyone's favorite wizard-in-training (Daniel Radcliffe) finds himself in increasingly perilous situations. Not only is Harry in trouble with the Ministry of Magic for using his abilities outside of school, his trusted mentor, Professor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon), has grown distant, and an icy new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton), has arrived to bring a frightening level of discipline to Hogwarts. And waiting in the shadows is the demonic Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), an ominous figure whose very existence is questioned by the powerful Ministry, leaving Harry and his friends--most notably Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson)--to form a rebel group, Dumbledore's Army. Helmed by little-known British director David Yates and written by Michael Goldenberg (the first scribe to fill the boots of Steve Kloves), THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX continues the darker tone of the two preceding POTTER installments and deftly follows Harry, Ron, and Hermione as they face new foes and impending adulthood. While Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson all continue to imbue their characters with vitality and complexity, Staunton steals the show as the strict, merciless Umbridge, though the story, which lacks some of the special-effects-heavy set pieces of past chapters, happily leaves room for other actors to shine, most notably Alan Rickman (as the ever-enigmatic Severus Snape), Gary Oldman (Sirius Black), David Thewlis (Remus Lupin), and Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange). Another fine offering of POTTER movie magic, PHOENIX may not astound quite the way that THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN did, but it easily stands as one of the best films in the series.

	Alan Rickman
	Brendan Gleeson
	Daniel Radcliffe
	David Thewlis
	Emma Watson
	Gary Oldman
	Julie Walters
	Maggie Smith
	Michael Gambon
	Ralph Fiennes
	Robbie Coltrane
	Rupert Grint
	Andrew Ackland-Snow, et. al. - Art Director
	David Heyman - Producer
	David Yates - Director
	J.K. Rowling - Based On Novel By
	Lionel Wigram - Executive Producer
	Mark Day - Editor
	Michael Goldenberg - Screenplay
	Nicholas Hooper - Original Music By
	Slawomir Idziak - Cinematographer
	Stuart Craig - Production Designer

Entertainment Weekly
"[Staunton's] showstopping Dolores slays her charges with pepperminty steeliness....The character is a Pepto-Bismol-tinted bolt of energy..." -- Grade: B 07/20/2007 p.56

New York Times
"[A] sleek, swift and exciting adaptation of J.K. Rowling's longest novel to date....A tense and twisty political thriller, with clandestine meetings, bureaucratic skullduggery and intimations of conspiracy hanging in the air." 07/10/2007 p.E1

Total Film
3 stars out of 5 -- "PHOENIX is one of the stronger entries in the Potter cine-canon, fizzing with exceptional FX..." 09/01/2007 p.38

Ultimate DVD
3 stars out of 5 -- "The opening is fantastic, both stylish yet understated as it sees the magical and muggle world clash unexpectedly." 08/01/2007 p.80

Sight and Sound
"[T]his seems a return to the more straightforward action-adventure format of the first two Chris Columbus-directed films....[With] pacey action and CG thrills..." 09/01/2007 p.60

Empire
4 stars out of 5 -- "The last act is the reward here, a series of breathtaking magical showdowns....This is a proper, grown-up adventure. And that bodes well for the films to come." 09/01/2007 p.52

ReelViews 9 of 10
With its fifth cinematic outing, the Harry Potter film series has ascended to another level. In addition to providing a self-contained, well-paced adventure, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix also begins to coalesce the epic ether that has been building over the past four films (especially the last two). With this movie, we sense that we're on the brink of something big, dark, and ominous...For a franchise that began under the lightweight guardianship of director Chris Columbus, these pictures have gotten progressively darker. The Order of the Phoenix is easily the gloomiest yet. The movie is not suitable for young children...With The Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter has truly come into his own, fulfilling the promise of The Prisoner of Azkaban and The Goblet of Fire. These are no longer cute stories of wizards and magic and things that go bump in the night. They are dark tales where the themes and creatures become increasingly distorted as the frames whiz by. The Order of the Phoenix is the best on offer to-date from the Harry Potter cinematic franchise, and one of the few reasons during the summer of 2007 to venture out to a multiplex. - James Berardinelli

Variety 8 of 10
The students at Hogwarts leave youthful hijinks behind once and for all in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." Considerably grimmer and grittier than the previous pictures in the phenomenally successful series, new entry finds the young charges' head-on collision with adolescence taking a backseat to their sober confrontation with unvarnished evil...Extravagantly produced in the expected manner, pic nevertheless marks a notable departure in tone from those that preceded it. From the opening scene, portents of bad tidings ahead hang over everyone and everything connected to the wizarding world, even as the magical establishment insists there is no threat at large in the land...Concentrated focus results in an unsettling mood and dramatic scenes of unusual intensity. But condensing the book, which at 870 pages is the longest J.K. Rowling has written, into the shortest film in the series has come at a price. Many viewers won't at all mind that this is the first "Potter" picture without a Quidditch match, nor that house elves and cutesy ghosts are largely absent as well. - Todd McCarthy