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"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" (PG-13, 2 hrs., 15 min.)
The tale of Harry Potter grows ever darker in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," a wise and skillfully dramatic account of how hard it is to be a truth-teller in any world, be it magical or "real." The film's atmosphere is distinctly more shadowy and melancholy than before. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe, whose acting gains a measure of nuance and intensity in each film) is older, 15-ish. In this installment he struggles with feelings of alienation and anger and, once again, loss. He has his first kiss, too, but the love story is not developed beyond one tender moment. Colorful professors (Maggie Smith as Minerva McGonagall, Emma Thompson as Sybil Trelawney, Alan Rickman as dour Severus Snape remain standouts) still engage in witty, eccentric repartee, and the Hogwarts kids still cut up now and then -- most delightfully when Fred and George Weasley (James Phelps and Oliver Phelps) swoop in on broomsticks to disrupt an exam run by the prim, all-in-pink and quite horrific new professor, Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton). But there are no high-flying games of Quidditch, and Harry is beset by nightmares and a foreboding that evil Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) is invading his mind.
Director David Yates' take on J.K. Rowling's fifth book is emotionally complex, but younger teens -- except those prone to nightmares sparked by ghostly tales -- should have little trouble giving themselves over to it. However, parents of 'tweens and under-10s should perhaps see the movie first. The overall mood and the story's various hostile spirits could spook younger kids, but the eeriest image remains Voldemort, with his awful, masklike face, who appears to Harry when others cannot see him. The climactic battle between Harry and his Hogwarts friends and Voldemort and his minions is a duel with wands instead of swords, computer effects instead of fake blood, but the fight is quite chilling. Central to the PG-13 rating, though, is a low-key bit of near-torture inflicted on Harry by professor Umbridge, who magically etches "I must not tell lies" on his hand as if done by an invisible knife. Some younger kids may also be startled by gamekeeper Hagrid's (Robbie Coltrane) half brother Grawp (Tony Maudsley plus special effects), a childlike giant. There is also gross humor, such as "candies" that make people break out in boils, some of which pop. We see adults drink wine, and Umbridge refers to a centaur as a "nasty half-breed."
On Harry's miserable summer break, he and his obnoxious cousin Dudley (Harry Melling) are attacked by Dementors -- skeletal specters that suck one's breath -- until Harry brandishes his wand to get rid of them. Dudley goes catatonic and Harry is briefly expelled from Hogwarts for using magic outside school. Headmaster Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) comes to his defense at a Ministry of Magic hearing. It is just before the hearing that Harry learns of the Order of the Phoenix, to which some of his professors and his beloved godfather Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) belong -- a secret group who try to protect the truth against Ministry propaganda. Minister Cornelius Fudge (Robert Hardy) claims Harry's story of fighting Lord Voldemort -- as recounted in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" (PG-13, 2005) -- is a lie. He tries to make Harry a pariah and sends Umbridge to Hogwarts as Grand Inquisitor to squelch rumblings about Lord Voldemort's return. She enforces an ironically Taliban-esque set of rules, which Harry and his friends Ron (Rupert Grint), Hermione (Emma Watson) and Neville (Matthew Lewis) get around by honing their anti-Voldemort fighting skills in a secret room, and calling themselves Dumbledore's Army with Harry as their teacher. Dumbledore and other teachers join the young wizards in a climactic battle against Voldemort, Lucius Malfoy (Jason Isaacs) and ghastly escaped prisoner Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter). Needless to say, the story is not over.
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BEYOND THE RATINGS GAME
-- FINE FOR 8 AND ODLER:
"Evan Almighty" PG (Milder sequel to "Bruce Almighty" (PG-13, 2003) updates the Noah story in preachy, unsubtle style; yet its tale of adults acting silly and wild animals acting tame may tickle many kids; Steve Carell plays new Congressman Evan Baxter (a TV anchorman in the first film) who moves his family to a McMansion near Washington; a big-shot congressman (John Goodman) pressures him to back a sleazy land bill; then Evan starts getting odd deliveries of tools and wood; finally, God (Morgan Freeman) appears and tells him to build an ark; Evan's beard grows; critters flock to him in pairs; movie's "green" and biblical themes may put off some on political/theological grounds. Bird doo gags; rare, mildly off-color lines; kid describes a duck's penis; drug reference; implied nudity; intense scene of homes swept away by flood; mild, semi-muffled profanity.)
"Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" PG (Harmless but dull sequel to "Fantastic Four" (PG-13, 2005), based on Marvel Comics tales, has been tamed to a PG, but that shouldn't mean lame repartee, clunky digital effects and drab live-action; Fantastic Four scientist Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd), aka stretchy Mr. Fantastic, Sue Storm (Jessica Alba), aka force-field emitting Invisible Woman, stone man Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis), aka The Thing, and fiery Johnny Storm (Chris Evans), aka the Human Torch, face down speed-of-light traveling Silver Surfer (voice of Laurence Fishburne) -- the one truly cool effect -- advance man for planet-killer Galactus. Bloodless violence; under-8s may quail at cloud-like Galactus engulfing Earth; rare crass language; mild sexual innuendo; beer; implied nudity.)
-- MORE ACCESSIBLE TO 10 AND OLDER:
"Ratatouille" G (Gorgeous computer-animated fable spins a marvelous yarn about how anyone can follow his or her bliss; young country-French rat Remy (voice of Patton Oswalt) has a genius for food and rejects his family's love of garbage and hatred of humans; by accident and fate, he lands in Paris; the spirit of a TV chef (Brad Garrett) he idolizes leads Remy to the now-dead chef's restaurant; there Remy bonds with a gawky dishwasher (Lou Romano) and turns him into a chef by hiding in the fellow's hat and pulling his hair to guide his hands. Film will not delight the rodent-phobic, though Remy and his (sometimes swarming) rat pals have cute pink noses; intense scenes when Remy nearly gets trampled or chased by humans with guns or meat cleavers; store selling rat poison has dead rats in window; wine-drinking. "Ratatouille" preceded by "Lifted," a droll animated short about space aliens abducting a man, partly baring his behind.)
-- PG-13s OF VARYING INTENSITY:
"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" (NEW) (Wizard-in-training Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) hits his mid-teen years at Hogwarts in a mood of alienation and foreboding in this darkly dramatic film based on J.K. Rowling's fifth book; director David Yates makes the film a somber, arresting treatise on trials faced by truth-tellers in any world; Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge (Robert Hardy) declares Harry is lying about his encounter with evil Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) -- as recounted in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" (PG-13, 2005) -- and tries to make him a pariah; he sends vile Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton) to Hogwarts to impose drolly Taliban-esque rules; Harry starts teaching his pals in secret so they'll be ready to fight Voldemort; Harry's godfather Sirius (Gary Oldman) joins headmaster Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) to aid Harry and his friends in film's climactic battle against Voldemort. Skeletal, smoky, evil spirits such as Dementors could spook younger kids, but Voldemort's awful face is film's eeriest image; battle with wands and computer effects instead of swords and blood is quite chilling; professor Umbridge etches words on Harry's hand as if by an invisible knife -- a bit of torture; younger kids shrink from gamekeeper Hagrid's (Robbie Coltrane) giant of a half brother, the childlike Grawp (Tony Maudsley); gross humor about boils caused by magic candy; adults drink wine. Parents of 'tweens and younger may want to screen first.)
"Rescue Dawn" (NEW; LIMITED RELEASE) (Director Werner Herzog's gripping fact-based dramatization -- all mud, sweat and tears, filmed in the grainy style of old 16mm news film -- of the great escape of Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale), a U.S. Navy pilot shot down on a bombing mission over Laos in 1966, as the Vietnam War escalated; he was captured and dragged to a jungle prison camp, where he cajoled emaciated prisoners -- excellent Jeremy Davies as the delusional Gene, Steve Zahn as the weakened Duane -- to escape with him; Dengler's spirit, honed in a German childhood surviving World War II, helps him make it through the jungle to rescue. Deprivations, torture, toilet issues graphically discussed, but understatedly shown; beatings, torture more hinted at than graphic, though scenes are intense; a character's beheading is more strongly implied; gunplay; starving men eat maggots, chew on a live snake; mild profanity. Mature high-schoolers.)
"Transformers" (Giant, robotic, morphing space aliens -- good Autobots and evil Decepticons -- do battle on Earth in cool, great-looking sci-fi action flick based on Transformer action figures -- a nifty blend of live-action and digital effects, but with vivid human characters who prevent techno trivia from taking over; teen protagonist Sam's (Shia LaBeouf) first car, an old yellow Camaro, turns out to be the Autobot Bumblebee (voice of Mark Ryan); Sam and Mikaela (Megan Fox), the girl he lusts after, ally with Bumblebee and Autobot leader Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) and meet a creepy federal agent (John Turturro) and a worried Secretary of Defense (Jon Voight). Intense, if bloodless mayhem: younger kids may duck at sight of Transformers morphing from vehicles into giant robot warriors who shatter buildings; battlefield violence; strong sexual innuendo, slang, verbal reference to masturbation; rare profanity; mild ethnic, misogynistic slurs; drug reference; adults drink. Too much sexual content for preteens.)
"License to Wed" (Robin Williams in boneheaded comedy as an eccentric minister who requires plain-vanilla couple Sadie (Mandy Moore) and Ben (John Krasinski) to pass his marital counseling course, even having their bedroom bugged to oversee his abstinence rule; Williams' semi-lewd stand-up riffs feel clumsy when altered to fit a cleric; Reverend Frank, by the way, is a bachelor whose 24-7 companion is a preteen minister-in-training (Josh Flitter) -- a truly tone-deaf touch. Crude, sometimes sexual, references to "doing" someone, "the clap," Viagra, sexual orientation; midrange profanity; slightly steamy but nonexplicit bedroom scenes; Ben bashes an animatronic baby -- a scene more disturbing than comic; Sadie drives while blindfolded, nearly hitting an old man; ethnic stereotypes; drug reference; drunkenness; women in labor. Not for middle-schoolers.)
"Live Free or Die Hard" (Bruce Willis returns after 12 years as tough New York cop John McClane, drolly paired with a young computer hacker (likable Justin Long) to save America from a cyber villain (Timothy Olyphant) who aims to paralyze the nation; smart-aleck repartee and spectacular stunts mute the film's undercurrent of jingoism, making it just fun. PG-13 rating (previous "Die Hard" films were R's) reflects more about coarsening of PG-13s than softening of "Die Hard" brand. Loud gunplay nears R range despite muted gore; bone-cracking fights; explosions; citizen-endangering, property-wrecking plane and car stunts; profanity nears R level (McClane calls people "jerk-off"); racially insensitive remarks; McClane's adult daughter (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) rebuffs a date who tries to grope her. OK for teens unfazed by big-screen mayhem.)
"Sicko" (Michael Moore's galvanizing, funny, poignant screed about the American health care system -- a one-sided polemic that nevertheless crystallizes real issues; Moore, typically, is not careful with facts, and praises government-run health care in Canada, France, the U.K. and Cuba (where he takes 9/11 first-responders with lung problems) while ignoring any problems in those systems; yet on the big question of why Americans don't have universal access to health care, he hits a raw nerve that should fuel debate. A bare derriere getting an injection; rare profanity; sad tales of unnecessary deaths. For teens into current events.)
"1408" (John Cusack carries this nifty, low-tech spook-fest (based on a Stephen King tale) easily on his Everyman shoulders as a gloomy writer who debunks ghost stories; a tip about room 1408 in a Manhattan hotel beckons; the grim manager (Samuel L. Jackson) warns him, to no avail; he checks into 1408 and nightmarish events begin, using his grief over a dead child as fuel; images include flashbacks to her illness, seeing her in the afterlife, her body reduced to ashes in his arms, suicide spirits jumping out windows; murderous figures lunging for him; nongraphic but bloody photos of past 1408 victims; room bursts into flame, breaks apart; strongish profanity; drinking; rare smoking; strong suicide theme. May upset some middle-schoolers; not really for preteens.)
-- R's:
"Joshua" (NEW; LIMITED RELEASE) (Elegantly creepy psychological thriller keeps you wondering whether the gifted but evil-doing 9-year-old of the title is a psychopath, a tool of Satan, a jealous sibling or an abused child who's acting out; a well-off Manhattan couple -- easygoing Brad (Sam Rockwell) and high-strung Abby (Vera Farmiga) -- don't understand why Joshua (Jacob Kogan) acts so odd after their daughter is born; Abby's postpartum depression figures in, as do the culture wars, pitting the couple's secular city life against preachments from Brad's religious mom (Celia Weston). Profanity; ethnic slur; sexual situations -- two understated, one explicit; Web site with sexy title; depictions of mental illness, infant in jeopardy, drunkenness, overmedicated bleariness; bloody injury; child abuse issues hinted at; death of a pet; smoking. Sophisticated teens 17 and older.)
"Introducing the Dwights" (NEW; LIMITED RELEASE) (Boisterous, bawdy, very adult character comedy sometimes tries too hard for off-beat charm and feels contrived; when the film eases up, it works nicely; Brenda Blethyn as a Cockney comedian living in Australia, who does her slightly off-color jokes at resorts and conventions and works weekdays as a factory cook; a divorcee facing her 50s, she feels threatened and jealous that one son, Tim (Khan Chittenden), is falling in love with Jill (Emma Booth), while her mildly disabled boy, Mark (Richard Wilson), wants independence, too. Strong profanity; explicit sexual situations; strong sexual innuendo and humor; seminudity; drinking and drunkenness; smoking; implied marijuana use; car accident that narrowly avoids a fatality. Film buffs 17 and up.)
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