Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (RiffTrax)

Film Year:  2007

Genre:  Fantasy

Director:  David Yates

Starring:  Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grunt, Emma Watson, Evanna Lynch, Matthew Lewis, Katie Leung, Bonnie Wright, Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Brendan Gleeson, Richard Griffiths, Jason Isaacs, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, Fiona Shaw, Maggie Smith, Imelda Staunton, David Thewlis, Emma Thompson, David Bradley, Warwick Davis, Tom Felton, Robert Hardy, George Harris, Natalia Tena, Julie Walters, Mark Williams, Harry Melling, James Phelps, Oliver Phelps

RiffTrax Year:  2011

Riffers:  Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett

The Movie

*I HAVE SURVIVED WATCHING THIS MOVIE UNRIFFED*

When last we visited the Harry Potter universe, the Dark Lord Voldemort had returned and murdered Edward from Twilight before it was cool to hate Edward from Twilight.  Now Harry and his friends are returning to Hogwarts for their fifth year of wizarding school and finds it being overrun by the Ministry of Magic's propaganda machine, insisting that Harry's story about Voldemort is fabricated and attempting to turn everyone against the Boy Who Lived.  With the school taken over by Ministry Official Deloris Umbridge, the school's normal activities are interfered with, causing Harry, Ron, and Hermione to rebel by creating an underground school of their own to teach the children of Hogwarts to defend themselves from whatever darkness might be lurking outside.  Harry also begins to have vivid dreams about Voldemort, hinting that he may have a dangerous link to the Dark Lord.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was longstanding my favorite novel in the Harry Potter series.  One of my criticisms of the previous book, Goblet of Fire, was just how bloated with subplot and irrelevance it was which resulted in tiring me out long before the next plot point could take place.  Order of the Phoenix is the longest book in the series, but it seems like every plot and subplot is relevant to the story being told.  It was a compelling read the first time I picked it up, and I breezed through damn near nine hundred pages in two days.  I don't think I've done that before or since.  I'm a slow reader, goddammit!

The film adaptation is mostly faithful, however it does scale back to a fault.  Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire were scaled back versions of their books too though it's hard to argue that what was cut out actively hurt their narratives.  Order of the Phoenix is a bit of a different story, because the structure is there but it's anemic.  Out of all of the Harry Potter adaptations, this film in particular just takes the bare essentials from the story and scrubs away a lot of what made them emotionally investing because they're kept simplified and straightforward.  And in some cases things have been whittled down to the point that reading the book almost seems like a necessity, as certain plot points are ran past without the film being all that attentive to them.  One of the most glaring occurrences is in the finale where Harry, Ron, and Hermione are joined by their friends Neville, Ginny, and Luna who all just kind of pop up for no reason.  Why are they there?  There's a reason they're there in the books, but in the film they're just kind of present in a space where they wouldn't normally be present in.  The movie doesn't care why they're there but it does know they need to be there, so it puts them there.  It's a movie that's filled with little shortcuts like this and for the most part it almost comes off as a two hour montage at times.

Order of the Phoenix is the first Harry Potter film to be directed by David Yates, who went on to finish the series as well as helm all of the prequel Fantastic Beasts films so far.  I've always enjoyed just how moody and distinctly British (for the lack of a better term) Yates made the series, which always felt like a correct tone for the Harry Potter franchise that they had been struggling to achieve.  Chris Columbus directed Harry Potter like a storybook fairy tale, while Alfonso Cuaron gave it a more macabre Brothers Grimm meets Tim Burton quality, while Mike Newell was distinctly an actors' director that didn't really care about style in the slightest.  Yates is like a compromise between Cuaron and Newell, letting the young actors carry their parts and the film narrative on their shoulders while also keeping this world of witchcraft effectively moody and a little intimidating.  Since Yates had very little large-budget experience when making this film he does suffer from some growing pains, as the green screen in the opening broom sequence can be pretty cringe and the CGI landscapes in the finale can feel a bit overblown and detached from the actors running around in them.

One thing about Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix that I feel is worth pointing out is that the film feels rather poignant today in 2022, after several years of a life-threatening event that has been played down and lied about by politicians who are clinging to their jobs by doubling down on falsehood, which created something of a shockwave that we're still dealing with.  One could say this story was ahead of its time, though I might argue that Harry Potter's outcome might be a tad bit optimistic as it seems to believe that people will accept the truth when it's finally staring them in the face.  I'd personally point out that the entirety of 2021 proves that wrong, sadly.  It's a nice thought though.

I don't think there was necessarily a bad Harry Potter movie (I even have esteem for the Chris Columbus films), though if one rang of being a missed opportunity it was definitely Order of the Phoenix.  The movie is a bit too much of a clip when it needs room to breathe, though it gets the idea across while also providing some exciting directions for the series to head toward in future instalments.  It's the definition of good, but not great.

The Trax

Some movie series sell consistently for RiffTrax as they're popular and everyone has at either a copy or a rental option at the ready.  At the same time it's probably not best to encourage continued riffs of them because even if the movies do in some cases get worse, material can dry up because you've already used everything you've had in your arsenal.  Star Wars is an example of that, as that series went through its ups and downs as RiffTrax took it on.  Twilight was the exact opposite, as each movie got more inane than the last and there was always new material to be mined.

I had suspicions that Harry Potter would be the former, but I hadn't listened to every Potter riff so I didn't know for sure.  If there is one thing that I underestimated about RiffTrax it's that these guys have a tendency to find something to latch onto to something that amuses them personally which can make the experience more fun, even if the jokes surrounding it can be a little bit stale because we've heard them before.  In Order of the Phoenix they meet a character named Deloris Umbridge and it's love at first sight.  I should have looked into my crystal ball and say I saw this coming, but for some reason I never considered it.  Their take on Umbridge is a joy to watch, as she is such an infuriating character in the narrative behind the guise of a pleasant demeanor.  Her unnatural happiness is fuel for jokes of her arousal and sexual desire, giving her the personality of a near-nymphomaniac, sometimes alluding to an affair with the school's dirty janitor Filch.  Her strict mothering personality also sets them alight, causing them to give her just enough push to make her frustrating dictatorship absurd enough to generate a belly laugh.  It's a great character for them and I'm glad I got to see them have their way with her.

And if I were to choose one dumb line at her expense that made me laugh way harder than it had any right to, it would be:

"She works for Fudge."

"Sometimes she works for peanut brittle."

Umbridge isn't onscreen for the whole film however, and the riff does teeter on the brink of being same-old-same-old.  I mean, Order of the Phoenix is the first movie in the series that doesn't see or bring up Quiddich, but that doesn't stop them from getting a few jabs at the silly game they don't understand all the same.  And as always, there are plenty of jokes at the underlining Satanism of the subject matter.  There is a reliance on jokes we've heard before which makes Order of the Phoenix almost a lesser experience than it probably should have been.

It doesn't stop them from bringing some new silliness to the table, which really pulls Order of the Phoenix out of the dirt and dusts it off.  Mike starts off by retitling the movie "Harry Potter and the Enchanted Donkey Show," which is just goofy enough to make me giggle.  There are fun new jabs at the Dursleys, reminding us that at one point that Vernon and Petunia had sex and also mocking that Dudley was the subject of the Dementor's Kiss, as Mike would reveal "Dudley's first kiss with a human would go way worse."  Harry also has a lot of angst in this entry, and at one point Mike would point out "Harry hasn't been this upset since he found out Moaning Myrtle hid a webcam in his toilet."  There is a lot of getting confused at the twisty transitions through newspapers which leads to a little motion sickness.  And I couldn't help but go "HA!" at the one moment where Harry and the students are caught by Umbridge and they just blurt out "It was all Neville's idea!"  That's just beautiful.

Like the movie it's making fun of, this riff is far from a perfect experience, but it is an acceptable one and one that I enjoyed.  There are riffs to recommend over Order of the Phoenix to be certain, though I'd argue it's worth a look even if you're sick of Harry Potter.  Personally I'd say the experience may be enhanced if you're a Harry Potter fan, because there are a few obscure references that only Potter nerds would get (and the movie would be easier to follow), though that's not entirely necessary.  Order of the Phoenix is just funny enough to stand on its own two feet.

Good