One thing that makes
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix a
good, but not great installment in the series is its
treatment of magic.
Alfonso Cuarón is the only one of the Potter directors to effectively evoke a world of everyday magic. Mike Newell's interpretation of J.K. Rowling's creation is one of magic as a Big Deal. David Yates and company have made a move in the direction of Cuarón's approach, but there's still a sense of magic as something essentially special or exceptional (Chris Columbus' contributions are just too flat and devoid of ideas to be meaningfully compared to the rest). Of course, some uses of magic have to be rare or truly serious, but there's an offhandedness and normalcy to the way the witches and wizards use their powers in Prisoner of Azkaban that sets that movie apart from the others in the franchise. It remains the film that best captures the fantastic for me.
Originally posted on:
Short-Circuit Signs