DVD review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

What's on it?
Two discs. One has the film, the other has the DVD extras.


The film
Most of you will have already seen it. If you haven't, it's an excellent adaptation of the story.


Which are the best bits?
Seeing some of the behind the scenes stuff in the Tonks feature. The long version of the scene where Umbridge inspects Professor Trelawney's Divination lesson is great.

Fans who are particularly into the books will enjoy the Secrets of Harry Potter documentary, although now those that have read Deathly Hallows will have had a lot of their questions already answered.

Fans who are more into the films will enjoy the editing feature where they can try putting together a scene in the Room of Requirement.


DVD extras
Trailing Tonks - this features Tonks actress Natalia Tena roaming around the studio visiting various sets and production departments.
We see a bit of filming going on, and she does bring us some interesting insights into what goes into making a film like this.

Additional scenes - bits that were filmed but cut out of the movie. A real range from complete scenes, to odd shots that were trimmed out.

Hidden Secrets of Harry Potter - a documentary looking at the significance of this story in the overall series. And seeing what clues there are to the final two adventures.

Magic of Editing - a lovely little feature showing how a scene is put together choosing shots from different angles, putting on different sounds and even using different kinds of music. And we also get a chance to have a go at putting together a scene ourselves.

Half-Blood Prince sneak preview - it looks as if when you use the extras DVD in a PC, you'll be able to access an early look at the sixth film on the official website.

But at the moment I can't seem to access this feature with my DVD - presumably because it won't be activated on the website until the DVD is available in the shops.


Any weak bits?
OOTP is the longest story, and it would be nice to have a feature explaining how together the team behind the movie decided what should be cut out of the book.

There's nothing from JK Rowling on here. Perhaps one day we'll get a DVD commentary from her (where as we watch the movie she talks about the scenes we're seeing).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/ne...00/7089561.stm