Saturday, August 18, 2007

Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix

As an avid fan of the Harry potter series, i have read all the books(yeah, all, including The Deathly Hallows) and watched all the movies several times. Though it may be known as children's book, but an adult can always pick it up and read it too, as it has an enthralling plot and the author knows how to make a storyline that can captivate readers of any age.
Actually i started reading the books when a friend of mine introduced it to me when I was fifteen, and I fell in love with the book. And then the movie came out and I fell deeper in love. The characters whom i know and love came to live on the silver screen. Let me talk a bit about the movies.
In the movie, Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone, young Harry Potter who felt out of place in his world, came to know that he's a wizard, and a famous one at that, in the wizarding world. That was because, his parents were killed by an evil and powerful wizard, Lord Voldemort and Harry mysteriously survived the powerful killling curse, making him The Boy Who Lived. In Hogwarts, together with new friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, Harry has to make sure that the Sorcerer's Stone doesn't get into the hands of the now weak Lord Voldemort. In the movie, he finds friends and also finds students who don't like him because of his popularity. The movie captures the moments perfectly from the book.
Since the success of the first movie, the second movie was then made. Harry Potter and The Chamber Of Secrets sees the 12-year old Harry returning to school despite warning from a mysterious house-elf named Dobby. In his second year, strange things start happening to students of Hogwarts, especially those Muggle-borns(students who were of non-magical parenthood). Harry finds out that he can speak Parseltongue, snake language which is an uncanny resemblance to Lord Voldemort. With students afraid and against him, Harry must find a way to stop the evil inside the school or Hogwarts must be closed down. The interesting scene was when Harry had to a battle a Basilisk which is a giant snake which kills instantly if you happen to look in its eyes.
In the 3rd movie, Harry Potter and The Prisoner Of Azkaban, Harry had his first encounter with Dementors, evil guards for the wizard prison, Azkaban. He relives his worst nightmare as he feels all hope and happiness drained out of him. And what's more, Sirius Black, the prisoner who escaped, seemed to be coming after him. Eventually, he saves the day and also Sirius who turned out to be his godfather.
Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, the fourth movie, for me, seems to be the best movie. In the movie, Harry is chosen to take part in the Triwizard Tournament. The tournament is where three magical schools compete in various magical tests to find the Triwizard champion. The other two schools are the Beauxbaxtons and Durmstrang. The three tasks in which Harry had to fulfill is retrieving a golden egg from a ferocious dragon, fighting the underwater menace to save his friend Ron and the last but not least is to find his way through a maze to get to the Triwizard Cup.The climax of the movie is when Harry comes face to face his arch nemesis, Lord Voldemort who comes back to full power thanks to his loyal follower, Wormtail.
In the fifth movie, Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix, we see more of flashbacks of previous movies and music montages to show passing time, especially when the gang and other students rebel against the new professor in school, Prof. Dolores Umbridge, by forming Dumbledore's Army. The point of their association is to learn defensive magic spells which is not being taught in school. Although I was looking forward to this movie, I can't help but feel a little bit disappointed by it. It isn't what I'd expected it to be. Besides many scenes which were in the book not being shown in the movie, it didn't have the same attraction that happened in the first four movies. Somehow, it left me wanting more than it gave. But for those who didn't read the books but just followed the movies, I'm sure you'll enjoy this movie as you did others because you don't expect more from it. As for those who read the book and enjoyed it, you might feel unsatisfied by it as i am.
Well, i'm hoping that the sixth movie, Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince will have better effect for us. Till then, I'm signing off

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