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List Price: $26.98 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 1944
Released: December 11, 2007 |
| Our Price: $4.25 |
| Used Price: $1.99 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Lord Voldemort has returned, but few want to believe it. In fact, the Ministry of Magic is doing everything it can to keep the wizarding world from knowing the truth - including appointing Ministry official Dolores Umbridge as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts. When Professor Umbridge refuses to train her students in practical defensive magic, a select group of students decides to learn on their own. With Harry Potter as their leader, these students (who call themselves "Dumbledore's Army") meet secretly in a hidden room at Hogwarts to hone their wizarding skills in preparation for battle with the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters. . New adventure - more dangerous , more thrilling than ever - is yours in this enthralling film version of the fifth novel in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. A terrifying showdown between good and evil awaits. Prepare for battle!
DVD Features:
Featurette
Other
Description of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Two-Disc Special Edition):
Alas! The fifth Harry Potter film has arrived. The time is long past that this can be considered a simple "children's" series--though children and adults alike will enjoy it immensely. Starting off from the dark and tragic ending of the fourth film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix begins in a somber and angst-filled tone that carries through the entire 138 minutes (the shortest of any HP movie despite being adapted from the longest book). Hopes of winning the Quidditch Cup have been replaced by woes like government corruption, distorted media spin, and the casualties of war. As the themes have matured, so have the primary characters' acting abilities. Ron (Rupert Grint), Hermione (Emma Watson), and especially Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) are more convincing than ever--in roles that are more demanding.
Harry is deeply traumatized from having witnessed Cedric Diggory's murder, but he will soon find that this was just another chapter in the continuing loss he will endure. Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) has returned and, in an attempt to conceal this catastrophe from the wizarding public, the Ministry of Magic has teamed up with the wizard newspaper The Daily Prophet to smear young Potter and wise Dumbledore (Michael Gambon)--seemingly the only two people in the public eye who believe the Dark Lord has returned. With no one else to stand against the wicked Death Eaters, the Hogwarts headmaster is forced to revive his secret anti-Voldemort society, the Order of the Phoenix. This welcomes back characters like Mad-Eye Moody (Brendan Gleeson), kind Remus Lupin (David Thewlis), fatherly Sirius Black (Gary Oldman), and insidious Severus Snape (Alan Rickman), and introduces a short list of intriguing new faces. In the meantime, a semi-psychotic bureaucrat from the Ministry (brilliantly portrayed by Imelda Staunton) has seized power at Hogwarts, and Harry is forced to form a secret society of his own--lest the other young wizards at his school be left ill-equipped to defend themselves in the looming war between good and evil. In addition, Harry is filled with an inexplicable rage that only his Godfather Sirius seems to be able to understand.
This film, though not as frightening as its predecessor, earns its PG-13 rating mostly because of the ever-darkening tone. As always, the loyal fans of J.K. Rowling's books will suffer huge cuts from the original plot and character developments, but make no mistake: this is a good movie. --Jordan Thompson
On the DVD The second disc of The Order of the Phoenix features "The Hidden Secrets of Harry Potter," a retrospective on the series so far, with "Potter experts" (i.e., people who run fan sites) weighing in on what's to come. This must have been filmed during production, because all their speculation about the conclusion of the saga is clearly dated and therefore superfluous (since Order released theatrically at the same time as the seventh book, one would've expected a more current analysis). Many of the deleted scenes are mostly extensions, with the exception of one hilarious take of Professor Trelawney (Emma Thompson) trying--unsuccessfully--to eat gracefully during Dolores Umbridge's introduction at Hogwarts. The chatty actress Natalia Tena, who plays Tonks, gives a tour of the set in "Trailing Tonks," even playing a Christmas song she wrote on her guitar, and director David Yates and editor Mark Day demonstrate editing 101 with a feature that lets you edit your own scene from the movie. Watch the feature but skip the self-editing part; the controls are too complicated to navigate and too frustrating to work properly (plus, hit the wrong button and you've gone all the way back to the beginning). A digital copy of the movie is also included on the bonus disc. --Ellen A. Kim
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Two-Disc Special Edition) Reviews:
Great Gift for pre-teen Grandson 
2009-10-28 - I love the "Harry Potter" series and so does my grandson...and granddaughters, but Logan really enjoys them. We enter the "World of Magic" when we watch these together. It is a little grim for my youngest granddaughter though.
Darker, longer, and better!
2009-10-26 - Finally got away from that stupid "scoobey-doo" formula that plagued the first three movies. The fourth moves it in the right direction, but the Order of the Phoenix really delivers fully on the solid plot and performance...much more advanced than anything done before in the series, especially Harry's anguish over loosing Severis near the end. You can really tell the development of the characters has progressed leaps and bounds over the initial offerings, and as such that combined with a very good, unpredictable plot make it a great movie! Very enjoyable.
Great 
2009-10-22 - [...]
This dvd was in excellent condition upon arrival and plays nicely on my computer, it had a few scratches on it, but thankfully my computer read it and I was able to sit and watch the movie.
Thank you for all of your assistance,
Cherie DeBevoise
Great movie
2009-10-22 - I love all the Harry Potter movies and this one is no exeption. A bit darker than the previous ones and of course there are always things that are left out from the book, but definitely a must-have for your collection.
A Good Harry Potter Movie (coming from someone who hasn't read the books)
2009-10-14 - Having never read the Harry Potter books to compare the movie to, I thought this was a great movie. I hated the fourth one so much that it took me ages to finally see this one because I thought I wouldn't like it either. However, I thought Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was much better than The Goblet of Fire. It had much more feeling to it, the story was better, and it wasn't as dark and violent. It got me excited about the Harry Potter movies again.
