Yes, it's true: Harry Potter (Radcliffe) manages his first kiss, in between all manner of expository storytelling, and never was a young man's wand more ever-ready. This is the first of the eventual septet's volumes to be directed by Yates, and it's also the first to improve on its source material. Yates and screenwriter Michael Goldenberg pare J.K. Rowling's sprawling novel down to its essence and lose none of the novel's quickening urgency. While Harry's relationship with his best friends remains at the story's fore, it's Staunton's mad-hatter turn as Umbridge that makes the film as entertaining as it is. She's the archetypal headmistress from Hades against whom Harry leads a renegade band of students. Timely metaphors abound, but the story (of which there is much) stands on its own magical merits.
Opened 07/11/07