Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
d. David Yates, 139 minutes

Film Plot Summary

During the scorching summer before his fifth year of studies at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, young Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) was forced to use his underaged wizardry skills outside of school - he was acting in self-defense to deter an attack of two Dementors against himself and teasing fat cousin Dudley Dursley (Harry Melling) - a Muggle (non-magical person), in an underground tunnel. When the Dementors began to suck their lives away, Harry called up a Patronus charm ("Expecto Patronum") with his wand to drive them away. In the Dursley household at Surrey, where he lived with his Uncle Vernon (Richard Griffiths) and Aunt Petunia (Fiona Shaw) during the summers, Harry received a letter from the Ministry of Magic, informing him that they had detected his performance of the Patronus Charm in the presence of a Muggle. It was a clear violation of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, and he was to be expelled from school. Dudley's parents took their son away for medical treatment.

Harry was still having recurring nightmares of events in the previous film - Lord Voldemort's murder of classmate Cedric Diggory. He was visited by one of his Hogwarts teachers, Professor Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody (Brendan Gleeson) and others (including Kingsley Shacklebolt (George Harris) and Nymphadora Tonks (Natalia Tena)), and told that Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) had persuaded the Ministry to suspend the expulsion, pending a formal hearing. As part of their rescue plan, they flew off on broomsticks with Harry to London, where he was escorted into the secret home of his godfather Sirius Black (Gary Oldman). A private discussion was being held in a meeting room of Order of the Phoenix members, as Harry ascended the stairs to his room and saw Black's house elf Kreacher (Timothy Bateson) mumbling to himself. He was greeted by his best friends Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), who told him he was at the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix (a secret society composed of a group of wizards, founded by Dumbledore), formed fourteen years earlier. [A number of the original members had been killed by Voldemort in the meantime: Marlene McKinnon, Frank and Alice Longbottom - the parents of student Neville (Matthew Lewis), and Harry's parents.]

During dinner, Harry learned that his hearing would be held before the entire Wizengamot of the Ministry of Magic, headed by its imperious leader Cornelius Oswald Fudge (Robert Hardy). Under Fudge's influence, The Daily Prophet wizard newspaper had been printing accusatory stories, one of which called Harry: "The Boy Who Lies." [Another claimed: "Dumbledore: Daft or Dangerous?"] Sirius explained how there was a smear campaign against anyone who claimed that the Dark Lord (Voldemort, or You-Know-Who) had returned. Fudge, clearly "twisted and warped by fear" and not in his right mind, according to ex-teacher Remus Lupin (David Thewlis), didn't believe that Voldemort was back, and was avoiding "facing that terrifying truth." Black believed Voldemort was again building up his army of witches, wizards, and dark creatures.

Harry was accompanied to the Ministry of Magic and its Department of Mysteries by Ron's father Arthur Weasley (Mark Williams). Harry faced a disciplinary hearing-trial on the 12th of August for producing a Patronus Charm in the presence of a Muggle; defense testimonies were given by Harry's neighbor Mrs. Arabella Figg (Kathryn Hunter), who claimed she witnessed the unauthorized attack of the cloaked creatures, and by Dumbledore, who claimed Harry's self-defensive use of magic before Muggles was due to the life-threatening situation. Dumbledore implored Fudge for reason: "The evidence that the Dark Lord has returned is incontrovertible." After a vote, Harry was cleared of charges, and he was off to school at Hogwarts on the express train with his friends. He continued to suffer hallucinatory dreams of death and visions of Voldemort.

When he arrived at Hogwarts with Ron, Hermione, and Neville, Harry was the only one to see a large Thestral creature pulling their carriage. In their carriage was an odd girl named Luna Lovegood (Evanna Lynch) who claimed he wasn't going mad: 'I can see them too. You're just as sane as I am." During the opening school dinner, Dumbledore announced two staffing changes: the returning Care of Magical Creatures Professor Grubbly-Plank while Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) was on temporary leave, and the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher - the pink-clad Professor Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton). She was one of the senior Ministry officials who had voted for expelling Harry during his hearing/trial - Hermione rightly sensed that the Ministry was interfering at Hogwarts. And the wizard newspaper continued to print articles against Harry (and Dumbledore), causing some students to be suspicious of him and call him a liar.

In Professor Umbridge's class, the authoritarian instructor insisted on strict discipline and a new curriculum: a "carefully-structured, Ministry-approved course of defensive magic." She promoted teaching theory ("theoretical knowledge") rather than practical magical defensive spells: "You will be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way." Harry questioned: "How's theory supposed to prepare us for what's out there?" and she replied: "There is nothing out there, dear." She was of the belief that Lord Voldemort did not exist and had not returned: "This is a lie." When Harry claimed he had seen Voldemort and fought against him (and that Voldemort was responsible for Cedric Diggory's death), he was punished for outspokenness about Voldemort's return and given a detention. Harry was forced to write: "I must not tell lies" using one of her special quills without ink (the phrase painfully appeared in blood on his left hand, creating a scar). She told him that he deserved to be punished. His friends urged him to report the 'torture' that he was receiving from Umbridge, but he refused, claiming it wasn't "simple" and that they didn't understand.

Feeling alone as winter approached, Harry wandered into the forest where he found Luna tending to the strange-looking Thestrals, the gentle winged horse creatures that only they could see pulling the carriages. She explained their unique ability: "They can only be seen by people who've seen death." Luna's mother had died - she was an extraordinary witch but one of her spells "went badly wrong" when Luna was nine years old. She told him she believed his story about Voldemort's (He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named) return, Harry's struggle against him, and the Ministry's and Prophet's conspiracy against Harry and Dumbledore. She thought Voldemort was deliberately making Harry feel alone, to minimize his power as a threat.

Umbridge exercised further control over the school, announcing: "Things at Hogwarts are far worse than I feared." She was determined to loyally follow the Ministry of Magic's orders to immediately clamp down on the school and its teachings, by issuing a series of restrictive proclamations. She first appointed herself to the position of Hogwarts High Inquisitor, as the Daily Prophet described a new era of educational reform. The paper also claimed that public confidence in Dumbledore was dwindling. Parents endorsed the Ministry's new initiatives, to "address the seriously-falling standards" of the school. She forbade public kissing, sloppy uniform dress, and student playfulness. More proclamations were issued: No music during study hours, the banning of all Weasley products, and the maintenance of proper dress and decorum. Thick-glasses wearing Professor of Divination Sybil Trelawney (Emma Thompson), a teacher for 16 years, was fired and banished from the grounds for not offering up a prophecy to Umbridge's liking, to which Dumbledore objected and reversed the banishment.

The trio of Ron, Harry, and Hermione (who claimed: "She's taking over the entire school") were concerned about the latest happenings, and learned from Sirius Black (through embers in the fireplace) that "Fudge doesn't want you trained in combat." Fearing that they were forming a 'wizard army' at Hogwarts and that "Dumbledore is assembling his own forces to take on the Ministry," the paranoid Fudge was endorsing Umbridge's clamp-down, and "blocking the truth." Black warned: "Voldemort is on the move."

To properly defend themselves, they created a group called Dumbledore's Army (DA), composed of about 20 students to whom Harry would teach special defensive magic skills, such as spells to summon protective spirits. The students knew that Harry had wizarding experience: he had produced a Patronus Charm, killed a Basilisk with the sword in Dumbledore's office, fought off hundreds of Dementors at once in his third year, and the previous year had fought off "You-Know-Who" in the flesh. He modestly told the students he was lucky and always had help, and that "facing this stuff in real life is not like school." The newest Umbridge proclamation was: the disbanding of all student organizations (any one in non-compliance would be expelled). However, Neville discovered the Room of Requirement - a secret "Come and Go Room" that appeared since they had "real need" of it for their secret meetings: "It's like Hogwarts wants us to fight back." They practiced magical defenses and spells, with commands such as Expelliarmus, Stupefy, Diminuendo, Levicorpus, and Reducto. As the group took a break for the Chrismas holidays, Harry realized he had fallen for fellow student Cho Chang (Katie Leung) - who complimented him on his teaching, and they kissed under a mistletoe. She was still grieving over the loss of her ex-boyfriend Cedric Diggory, although recovering with her new love for Harry.

When infractions were suspected, two other Educational Decrees were ordered: All students had to submit to questioning about suspected illicit activities, and Those wishing to join the Inquisitorial Squad for Extra Credit could sign up in the High Inquisitor's Office. Slytherin Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) and other students were recruited by Umbridge to form an Inquisitorial Squad to spy and report infractions.

Then, Harry experienced another nightmare, of Voldemort (as a snake) attacking Mr. Arthur Weasley in the Department of Mysteries. In fact, Weasley was "gravely injured" in an actual bloody attack, during which the Dark Lord "failed to acquire it" - Voldemort was seeking something not yet identified. Harry desperately asked: "What's happening to me?" Professor Snape was instructed by Dumbledore to give Occlumency lessons to Harry to shield him from the telepathic "connection between the Dark Lord's mind" and his own. If Voldemort was aware of the connection, he could exploitatively access, influence, read, control and unhinge Harry's mind. He might invade the victim's mind "creating visions designed to torture them into madness." [Later, Harry confessed: "I was the snake." He feared he was becoming more like Voldemort.]

During the holidays, Harry resided at Sirius Black's home (actually his parents' house) in London, where cantankerous, unpleasant house-elf Kreacher greeted Harry as "the boy who stopped the Dark Lord. Friend of Mudbloods and blood-traitors alike." Sirius Black showed Harry his Black family tree, and spoke of his deranged cousin Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter).

When school recommenced, gamekeeper Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) returned from temporary leave. Dumbledore had privately sent him to "parlay with the Giants" to convince them to join the cause. Death-Eaters were also recruiting them to join the cause of You-Know-Who. Hagrid was worried: "There's a storm coming, Harry."

Death-Eater Bellatrix Lestrange escaped from the prison at Azkaban with nine other high-security prisoners when the walls crumbled. Other Daily Prophet headlines: "Ministry Angers Centaurs." Fudge announced that the mass breakout was thought to have been engineered by "notorious mass murderer" Sirius Black. Fourteen years earlier, Bellatrix Lestrange used a Cruciatus Curse on Neville Longbottom's parents to kill them.

The Dumbledore Army's secret practice room was discovered by sinister but mousy Umbridge, and she reported it to the Ministry's leader Cornelius Fudge, who feared that Dumbledore was trying to destroy them. They had interrogated Harry's girlfriend Cho (with Veritaserum) and learned of its existence. When Dumbledore admitted he had instructed Harry to form the organization, he took full responsibility - and Fudge ordered him to be arrested and taken to Azkaban "to await trial for conspiracy and sedition." Dumbledore dramatically escaped with the aid of his Phoenix Fawkes. Argus Filch (David Bradley) posted the latest proclamation -- Umbridge was to become Hogwarts' new Headmistress after Dumbledore was ousted. The school became more of a lifeless, imprisoning existence under the rule of the "old hag" - who began to use corporal punishment.

Hagrid led the trio (Ron, Harry, and Hermione) into the Forbidden Forest, where they saw a herd of Centaurs riled up over the Ministry's restriction of their territory. He forecast that he would be fired by Umbridge in the near future, and introduced them to his simple-minded, Giant half-brother Grawp (Tony Maudsley), so that they could look after him when he was gone.

The Weasley twins Fred and George - riding on broomsticks, caused riotous chaos and disruption during Year 5 O.W.L. exams (on "Theory of Charms"), by setting off fireworks in the Great Hall. All of the framed Proclamations crashed to the floor as the twins flew away - applauded by their classmates. Simultaneously, Harry collapsed as he experienced another nightmarish vision within the Department of Mysteries, of Sirius Black being tortured with a "Crucio" curse by Voldemort, in order to give him a "prophecy." The trio planned to use the Floo Network (transport through the chimneys) to get to Sirius, but they were interrupted by Umbridge. Hermione cleverly thought up a way to trick and lead Umbridge into the Forbidden Forest, to locate "Dumbledore's secret weapon." Hermione, Harry, and Umbridge came upon Grawp's hiding place, but the Giant was missing. Umbridge realized she had been tricked, when a group of angry, weapon-bearing Centaurs approached. After she insulted them as "creatures of near-human intelligence" and "filthy half-breeds," and used an "Incarcerous" curse on one of them, they seized her and carried her away. Afterwards, the group of six students (the trio and Luna, Neville, and Ginny Weasley) flew on the backs of Thestrals to the Ministry of Magic in London, to save Sirius in the Department of Mysteries - the locale of all of Harry's nightmares.

In the film's climax, Harry and others were lured to the Dept. of Mysteries to save Harry's godfather Sirius Black, who was trapped there. Harry retrieved his own sphere that spoke a prophecy, stating: "For neither can live while the other survives" - the fact that Voldemort and Harry couldn't co-exist. One of Voldemort's Death Eaters, Lucius Malfoy (Jason Isaacs) approached, telling Harry: "You saw only what the Dark Lord wanted you to see." He was accompanied by a second Death Eater, Bellatrix Lestrange - brought there by Voldemort. Malfoy demanded that Harry calmly surrender and hand over the prophecy in the sphere, and spoke of the reason why the Dark Lord was unable to kill Harry when he was an infant: "Don't you want to know the secret of your scar? All the answers are there, Potter, in your hand. All you have to do is give it to me. Then, I can show you everything."

Refusing to relinquish the sphere, Potter and his group of D.A. students fought back an ambush by the Death Eaters, but everyone except Harry was captured and taken as hostage. Again, Harry was threatened by Malfoy to release the sphere with the prophecy: "Give me the prophecy now or watch your friends die." Fortunately, the Order of the Phoenix members, led by Sirius Black, appeared and battled against the Death Eaters - but the sphere dropped from Lucius' hands and broke. In the conflict, Sirius was murdered by Bellatrix with an "Avada Kedavra" Curse. Enraged, Harry pursued her for revenge, finding himself tempted by Voldemort's voice to use the Cruciatus Curse: "She killed him. She deserves it. You know the spell, Harry." When Harry turned to use his wand on Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) himself, he was disarmed.

As the Dark Lord was about to kill Harry, Dumbledore appeared and engaged in a fierce duel with the Dark Lord - but it was a stalemate. Harry's agonized body was briefly possessed by Voldemort. Dumbledore strengthened Harry to ostracize Voldemort from his being: "It isn't how you are alike. It's how you are not." Harry spoke to the Dark Lord: "You'll never know love or friendship, and I feel sorry for you," and then repelled the Dark Lord by using his memories of his love and friendship for Sirius, Cedric, his friends Hermione and Ron, his parents, and others.

Cornelius Fudge and other Ministry of Magic officials arrived, via the Floo Network, and witnessed Voldemort as he disappeared: "He's back." The Daily Prophet reported: "Dumbledore, Potter Vindicated," "Minister to Resign?", and "Umbridge Suspended Pending Investigation," and the Ministry officially stated that Voldemort was still considered to be active: "He Who Must Not Be Named Returns." And "Hogwarts Headmaster Reinstated."

Dumbledore privately met with Harry, explaining how he knew it was only a matter of time before Voldemort made the connection with Harry, so he had deliberately distanced himself from Harry all year, to lessen the temptation for Voldemort, and to thereby protect Harry and cause him less pain. Harry realized that the prophecy ("Neither one can live while the other one survives") had to occur - he knew in the end that one of them would have to kill the other.

As the school year ended, and students prepared to leave for the summer, Luna told Harry: "The things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end - if not always in the way we expect." Harry resolved to continue fighting, as he told his two supportive friends as they departed: "Even though we've got a fight ahead of us, we've got one thing that Voldemort doesn't have...Something worth fighting for."

Film Notables (Awards, Facts, etc.)

This film was based upon the longest book in the series, necessitating many cuts and variations from the original story - making this the shortest of the first five films.

With a production budget of $150 million, and gross revenue of $292 million (domestic) and almost $938 million (worldwide).

This film contained Harry's first kiss, with girlfriend Cho Chang (Katie Leung).

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
d. Mike Newell, 157 minutes

Film Plot Summary

In the film's prologue, Frank Bryce (Eric Sykes), Riddle manor's elderly caretaker, investigated a light in the middle of the night that was illuminated in the nearby manor. He eavesdropped on a conversation between servant Wormtail (Timothy Spall), Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) - seated in a chair, and a third unnamed or unrecognizable individual. They seemed to be conspiring, plotting and scheming to capture and then murder a boy (Harry). A large snake named Nagini, a symbol of Voldemort, reported that Bryce, the old Muggle caretaker, was listening outside their door. Voldemort's killing command of "Avada Kedavra" murdered the old man.

The entire prologue was experienced by young Hogwarts student Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) as a troubling nightmare of a present-time event. He was with his best schoolmate friends, Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) at the Weasley household, just before they set off on an early morning hike to a Portkey, and to the 422nd Quidditch World Cup. They were joined by the Weasley family, including Ron's sister Ginny Weasley (Bonnie Wright), and Cedric Diggory (Robert Pattinson) and his father. The final match was held in a giant open-air stadium - the teams were the green-uniformed Irish against the red-uniformed Bulgarians, led by Viktor Krum (Stanislav Ianevski). The end of the match's competition was marked by a violent, fiery attack of a group of black-garbed Death Eaters (evil wizards and witches, all followers of Dark Lord Voldemort) on the campsites of the spectators. They were scattered when a Dark Mark (a skull-shaped symbol of Voldemort, imprinted on the left forearm of all Death Eaters) was cast into the sky from an unknown individual (the third individual in Harry's dream, revealed later to be Voldemort's helper Barty Crouch, Jr. (David Tennant)), witnessed only by Harry. (He wrote a letter to his godfather Sirius Black, to tell him about his dream and the Quidditch match events.)

The Hogwarts Express train took the students to school, Harry's fourth year. During opening announcements at the school, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) told everyone that Hogwarts had been selected to host the Triwizard Tournament, bringing together three schools to compete in a series of "magical contests...not for the faint-hearted." Each school would select a single student to represent them, and "eternal glory" awaited the student who won the tournament, by surviving three "extremely dangerous" tasks. At the same time, the Auror (or dark wizard catcher), Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, arrived. He was the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher - noted for his all-seeing, moving glass eye, powerful magic skills, disregard for rules and for teaching illegal lessons in his classroom, artificial leg (and limp), and ever-present drinking flask. Dumbledore called upon the head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, Mr. Bartemius Crouch (Roger Lloyd-Pack), to explain the rules of the tournament, causing an uproar when he said no one under the age of 17 was to be considered.

The outrageously crazy Moody taught his students an illegal lesson about the three Unforgiveable Curses, including the Imperius Curse (when a victim was forced to do another's bidding), the Cruciatus Curse (aka the Torture Curse), and the third - the Killing Curse ("Avada Kedavra") - survived by only one person, Harry Potter.

Candidates names were placed in the magical Goblet of Fire for the TriWizard contest, for champion selection, to win the TriWizard cup. The three champions were:

• Cedric Diggory (representing Hogwarts)
• Viktor Krum (representing Durmstrang Institute from Bulgaria)
• Fleur Delacour (Clemence Poesy) (representing Beauxbatons Academy of Magic from France)

Underaged 14 year-old wizard Harry was unexpectedly selected (to represent Hogwarts as a second competitor alongside Cedric Diggory). This immediately caused a personal rift between Harry and other students ("He's a cheat. He's not even 17 yet"), between Harry and best friend Ron, and between Dumbledore and adult representatives of the other competing schools. (Students began wearing "POTTER STINKS" badges, and Ron suspected that Harry had submitted his own name.) However, Mr. Bartemius Crouch ruled that the "suspect entrant" Potter must compete: "The Goblet of Fire constitutes a binding magical contract. Mr. Potter has no choice." Headmistress Minerva McGonagall (Maggie Smith) worried that Potter would be offered up as bait: "Potter is a boy, not a piece of meat."

Harry received a reply-letter from Sirius Black, telling him: "We need to talk, Harry, face to face." They met secretly in the Gryffindor Common Room at 1:00 am Saturday night. Speaking to him from the fireplace's burning embers, Sirius asked Harry about his earlier dream with Wormtail and Voldemort and the identity of the third man in the room. Harry only knew the man's task was ordered by Voldemort - to kill Harry. Black warned that the Quidditch incident and the Goblet choice were not just coincidences: "Hogwarts isn't safe anymore...The devils are inside the walls." It was possible that either former Death Eater Igor Karkaroff (Predrag Bjelac), the headmaster of Durmstrang Institute, or Mr. Barty Crouch, who sent his own son Barty Crouch, Jr. to Azkaban, put Harry's name in the Goblet - to kill him: "People die in this tournament." Many of Harry's classmates thought badly of Harry's inclusion in the tournament, including "pathetic" Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton), who bet that Harry wouldn't last five minutes.

The tournament involved three dangerous magical tasks:

1. a battle in a gladitorial arena to collect a golden egg from a dragon that protected it (the four types: Welsh Green, Chinese Fireball, Swedish Short-Snout, and Hungarian Horntail)

(Harry flew on his broomstick to overcome the fire-breathing, horntailed dragon, and get the egg - opening it revealed the next clue; Harry was tipped off by Cedric (with an additional hint by ghostly Moaning Myrtle (Shirley Henderson)), to take the egg to the Prefect's Fifth Floor Bathroom and open the egg underwater while taking a bath, to hear the musical clue from a singing mermaid from Black Lake)

During the tournament after the completion of the first task, a Yule Ball dance was held in the Great Hall on Christmas Eve night, with Harry accompanied by Parvati Patil (Shefali Chowdhury) (although his first choice was Cho Chang (Katie Leung)), Ron with her twin sister Padma (Afshan Azad), Cedric with Cho Chang, Neville Longbottom (Matthew Lewis) with Ginny Weasley, and Hermione with popular and athletic Bulgarian-Durmstrang competitor Viktor Krum, causing a slight fall-out between the trio of friends, especially due to Ron's jealousy.

2. an underwater rescue mission to retrieve, within only one hour, "four treasures, one for each champion" from mermaids at the bottom of Hogwarts' nearby Black Lake, and return to the surface

(Harry used Gillyweed, provided by a hint from fellow student Neville, to produce webbed feet and hands and gills - to enable him to breathe underwater for one hour, to rescue the "four treasures" (Ron - for Harry, Hermione - for Viktor, Cho Chang - for Cedric, and Fleur's little sister Gabrielle (Angelica Mandy)) who were chained underwater in a state of suspended animation; although Harry arrived first, he finished next-to-last due to his additional rescue of Gabrielle when Fleur dropped out - but he was awarded 2nd place for displaying "outstanding moral fiber")

After the completion of the second task, Mr. Barty Crouch briefly spoke to Harry about his victory, mumbling something about Harry's "tragic" story of losing his family: "Never whole again, are we? Still, life goes on..." Soon after, he was found dead in the forest, and there was debate about whether to continue with the tournament. While waiting in Dumbledore's office, Harry curiously looked into the Headmaster's Pensieve (a memory depository or storage area), and was transported back in time to witness one of Dumbledore's memories. He sat in a Wizard Council (Wizengamot) court trial, in which accused Azkaban prison convict, Death Eater Igor Karkaroff, presented names of other Death Eaters, including Severus Snape (whom Dumbledore claimed was cleared of charges since he was acting as a spy to bring down Voldemort), and Barty Crouch, Jr, who used the Cruciatus Curse and captured-tortured the Auror Frank Longbottom and his wife (Neville's parents). After the startling revelation, Barty's father denounced his son ("You are no son of mine") and wished for him to be imprisoned in Azkaban. Once he returned to his office, Dumbledore told Harry that there might be a small detail or clue within his memories, to explain why terrible things were happening recently at Hogwarts. Harry then told Dumbledore about his nightmare from the previous summer, and how he now recognized that Mr. Crouch's son was the third individual.

As Harry returned to his room, he found Karkaroff speaking to Professor Severus Snape in his store, talking about a "sign" that they both knew the meaning of. Suspicious of Harry, Snape then accused him of stealing Veritaserum, a truth serum, an ingredient for the brewing of Polyjuice Potion, used for impersonating the appearance of someone else.

3. to negotiate a tall hedge maze in order to be the first to touch the TriWizard cup placed deep within the maze

(All competitors were faced with collapsing hedge walls, poor visibility, tangling vines, and high winds inside the maze; wild-eyed and bewitched Krum incapacitated Fleur with his wand, and she was consumed by vines on the maze floor; then Krum went after Diggory using an "Expelliarmus" command, but Harry warned Diggory to get back and was able to save him from the same fate, and Krum was downed; the two Hogwarts competitors saw the TriWizard cup at the same time at the end of a long hedge corridor, but Cedric was attacked and held back by vines; although Harry could have reached it first, he freed Cedric with a "Reducto" command, and they proceeded together to the cup, where they agreed to a tie by touching it at the same time)

In the competition's third and last task, the four competitors were positioned inside a tall hedge maze, where the goal was to reach the TriWizard cup first. Before the start, Dumbledore cautioned the four about the maze's formidable challenge: "People change in the maze...You could just lose yourselves along the way."

As the two champions Harry and Cedric touched the cup together, they were simultaneously transported to a graveyard - since the cup was a Portkey. Harry realized he had visited the cemetery before, in a dream, as he stood before the gravestone of the Riddle family. As Harry screamed for Cedric to get back to the cup, they saw Wormtail/Peter Pettigrew carrying a deformed infant (Lord Voldemort). The creature ordered: "Kill the spare" -- Wormtail used the Killing Curse ("Avada Kedavra"), the third Unforgiveable Curse, to kill Cedric. After trapping Harry within the Riddle tombstone, the infant was dumped into a boiling cauldron, and Wormtail uttered an elaborate spell and potions mix of three ingredients (including "bone of the father unwillingly given" - a bone from the Riddle grave, "flesh of the servant willingly sacrificed" - his own amputated hand, and "blood from the enemy" - blood extracted from Harry's arm) to regenerate Voldemort: "The Dark Lord shall rise again."

Voldemort then summoned his "friends," the Death Eaters, and reminded them it had been 13 years since his last appearance. One of the Death Eaters who loyally vowed never to renounce the old ways was evil Lucius Malfoy (Jason Isaacs), student Draco's father. Voldemort then confronted his long-time famous nemesis Harry Potter, "the boy who lived," and Voldemort spoke of the legend of Harry's parents' death that occurred thirteen years earlier, when he truly lost his powers, due to the protective sacrifice of Harry's mother Lily (his "filthy Muggle mother"). Voldemort challenged Harry to a duel of wills and wands, and threatened death: "I'm going to kill you, Harry Potter...After tonight, no one will ever again question my powers...I want to see the light leave your eyes."

The forces from their respective wands simultaneously met each other when they both commanded spells at the same time: "Expelliarmus" and "Avada Kedavra" - causing a Priori Incantatem connection between them that called up the reappearance of the protective spirits of Voldemort's recent victims, including Cedric and Harry's own parents. Harry heard them say to let go and return to the Portkey - the TriWizard cup. He obeyed, escaped Voldemort's presence, and was immediately transported by the Portkey back to the school, along with Cedric's body. His return as winner of the third test was applauded and congratulated but at first misunderstood, until he told Dumbledore about Voldemort's return ("He's back. He's back") and his responsibility for the death of Cedric.

Harry was rushed back to Alastor Moody's office in Hogwarts Castle, where he became suspicious when his Professor began asking questions about being in the presence of the Dark Lord, and about the 'graveyard' - something Harry hadn't mentioned. Moody also became frantic after his supply of flask drink ran dry. Moody admitted how he had facilitated Harry to be in the competition, and had helped him win ("You won because I made it so, Potter"): Hagrid with knowledge of dragons in the woods, Cedric with knowledge about opening the egg underwater, and Neville with knowledge of gillyweed. Harry suddenly realized Moody had put his name in the Goblet of Fire, had bewitched Krum in the maze, and had arranged for him to be in the graveyard to give his blood to rejuvenate and revive Voldemort: "The blood that runs through these veins runs within the Dark Lord." Dumbledore arrived and prevented Moody from silencing Potter forever. Snape forcibly administered a dose of Veritaserum, so that Moody would honestly answer their questions.

It was revealed that Professor Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody was an imposter - he was transformed into Barty Crouch, Jr. (who had been sentenced to Azkaban by his father but then escaped) before their eyes. All along, Crouch, Jr. had been drinking Polyjuice Potion from his flask, stolen from Snape's store, to create the impersonation so that he could function as Voldemort's servant. The real Alastor Moody was trapped in a multi-tiered magical trunk and released, and Barty Crouch, Jr. was sent back to Azkaban.

The film concluded with Dumbledore openly explaining to the students (Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons) the truth of what had occurred: the murder of Cedric by Lord Voldemort, and the return of the Dark Lord. He reminded them that they were united: "Our hearts beat as one" and their bonds of friendship would continue, so that Diggory's death would not be in vain. Privately, Dumbledore told Harry: "Dark and difficult times lie ahead. Soon we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy." He strengthened Harry's resolve: "You have friends here. You're not alone." The members of the other two schools departed as the school year ended. Hermione was hopeful as she told her two friends: "Everything's going to change now, isn't it?" Harry reassured her that he would write to her every week, as they left for the summer.

Film Notables (Awards, Facts, etc.)

Nominated for one Academy Award (with no win): Best Art Direction.

With a production budget of $150 million, and gross revenue of $290 million (domestic) and almost $896 million (worldwide).

This was the first PG-13 rated Harry Potter film.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
d. Alfonso Cuarón, 141 minutes

Film Plot Summary

During the summer between his second and third year at Hogwarts, witchcraft and magic student Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) was again living with the Dursleys: Uncle Vernon (Richard Griffiths) and Aunt Petunia (Fiona Shaw). He secretly practiced magic spells. During a visit when Uncle Vernon's offensive sister Marge (Pam Ferris) insulted Harry's deceased parents and his own upbringing ("If there's something wrong with the bitch, then there's something wrong with the pup"), he retaliated by inflating her into a floating balloon that sailed away. Harry fled the Dursley household ("Anywhere is better than here"), fearing that he would be punished for being underaged and practicing magic away from school. Running away, he took his suitcase and boarded the blue Knight Bus ("emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard") which took him to the Leaky Cauldron pub in London.

There, Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge (Robert Hardy) told him that he wouldn't be expelled - the Accidental Magic Reversal Department had been dispatched to save Marge ("No harm done"). But Harry was cautioned that there was a "killer on the loose." He met up with his schoolmates, Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) with his pet rat Scabbers, and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) with her pet cat Crookshanks. It was also confirmed by Ron's father Mr. Weasley that Harry was "in grave danger." An enemy of his parents, convicted murderer Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) - a suspected "faithful servant" and supporter of Lord Voldemort ("You-Know-Who"), had just escaped from twelve years of imprisonment at Azkaban and was targeting Harry for death ("...in his mind, you are the only thing that stands in the way of You-Know-Who returning to power").

The trio of schoolmates traveled to Hogwarts on the Express train. In their compartment, they were first introduced to their new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Remus J. Lupin (David Thewlis). When the train unexpectedly stopped, it was boarded by a black ghostly Dementor, a guard of the prison at Azkaban, who was searching for escaped prisoner Sirius Black. With his wand, Remus Lupin repelled the creature with a spell to protect Harry, who claimed he heard a woman screaming [Harry's memory of his mother on the night she was murdered] and had passed out at the sight - as his soul was partially sucked away by the creature.

At school, Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) told the students about new staff members: the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Professor R. J. Lupin, and gameskeeper Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) who was also announced as the new teacher for the class Care of Magical Creatures. And at the request of the Ministry of Magic, Dementors - unforgiving guards that were "vicious creatures," were posted around the school at its many entrances to protect against the return of fugitive Black.

In Divination class, Professor Sybill Trelawney (Emma Thompson) told the students they would discover whether or not they possessed the Sight, and she instructed on the art of reading tea leaves. After being startled by Harry's cup, she warned him: "You have the Grim" - one of the darkest omens in the world - "It's an omen of Death." During Hagrid's first class about Care of Magical Creatures, Harry was given a soaring ride on the back of Hagrid's Hippogriff named Buckbeak (half-giant eagle, half-horse). However, arrogant blonde student Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) teased Buckbeak and called it a "great ugly brute," causing the creature to attack, and later - Buckbeak was unfortunately and unfairly sentenced for execution by Draco's evil father Lucius Malfoy (Jason Isaacs).

In their Defense of the Dark Arts class, Professor Lupin instructed the students about charms or incantations ("Riddikulus") to repel a shape-shifting boggart, including using laughter: "You need to force it to assume a shape you find truly amusing." Later, Harry was not allowed to take a field trip to visit Hogsmeade village, because he didn't have a signed parental permission form. Harry spoke to his instructor Remus Lupin about the power of memories: "Dementors force us to relive our very worst memories. Our pain becomes their power," and he found out that the professor had known his parents. Soon after, there were fears that Sirius Black had entered Hogswart Castle, and the building was more fully secured just in case, but there were no further signs of his presence.

Professor Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) was forced to substitute for missing Professor Lupin, and he offered a lesson on the difference between an Animagus and a werewolf. Hermione answered: "An Animagus is a wizard who elects to turn into an animal. A werewolf has no choice. With each full moon when he transforms, he no longer remembers who he is. He's kill his best friend if he crossed his path. Furthermore, the werewolf only responds to the call of its own kind." In addition, there were several ways of becoming a werewolf -- including being given the power of shape-shifting, or being bitten by a werewolf.

During a competitive Quidditch match between the various school houses (Gryffindor, Slytherin, etc.) during a fierce rain storm, Harry lost control and fell over 100 feet off his broomstick when several Dementors threatened him in the sky. The momentum of his fall was cushioned when saved by Dumbledore, although his broomstick was destroyed. After recovering, Harry spoke to Professor Lupin about the power of the Dementors upon him, and was told: "They feed on every good feeling, every happy memory until a person is left with absolutely nothing but his worst experiences. You are not weak, Harry. The Dementors affect you most of all because there are true horrors in your past, horrors your classmates can scarcely imagine." Harry wished to learn how to fight them and protect himself.

As other students again prepared to visit Hogsmeade village, Fred and George Weasley decided to help Harry by offering up their Marauder's Map, a magical document showing every person's location within Hogwarts ("Everyone, where they are, what they're doing, every minute of every day") and the location of seven secret passageways in and out of the castle - they recommended the One-Eyed Witch passageway that led to Honeyduke's cellar. Harry took their advice and proceeded from Hogwarts to the cellar to join the other students at Hogsmeade - he evaded being seen with his Invisibility Cloak. He helped defend his friends Ron and Hermione from taunting by Draco Malfoy.

In the local Hogsmeade pub, a cloaked Harry overheard deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall (Maggie Smith) and the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge tell worried pub owner Madame Rosmerta (Julie Christie) that when Harry's parents went into hiding, knowing that they were targeted for death, Sirius Black - Harry's own godfather and his parents' best friend, betrayed their secret location to "You-Know-Who" (Lord Voldemort) before they were murdered ("Sirius Black may not have put his hands to the Potters, but he's the reason they're dead"). Allegedly, Black had also murdered (or "destroyed") their mutual friend Peter Pettigrew (Timothy Spall), who had tried to warn the Potters. Angered and shocked by Black's betrayal, Harry vowed to kill Black ("I hope he finds me, because when he does, I'm gonna be ready. When he does, I'm gonna kill him!").

Harry consulted with Professor Lupin to teach him a defensive Patronus Charm ("Expecto Patronum") to conjure up a protector and shield himself from the Dementors: "A Patronus is a kind of positive force - for the wizard who can conjure one, it works something like a shield, with the Dementor feeding on it rather than him. But in order for it to work, you need to think of a memory. Not just any memory, a very happy memory, a very powerful memory." On his first try to expel a boggart Dementor with his wand, Harry fainted. He revealed his 'happy memory' - the first time he rode a broom, but that was inadequate and not strong enough. On his second try with a better memory thought, Harry succeeded, and then described how he had seen his parents' faces talking to him.

Ron complained about how his pet rat Scabbers was missing, and blamed Hermione's cat. Simultaneously, Harry was very astonished to see Peter Pettigrew's name and location on his Marauder's Map - Pettigrew was supposed to be dead! Harry went looking into the darkened corridor to try to find Pettigrew. Professor Lupin saved Harry from questioning from Professor Snape and from having his map confiscated, although Harry was reprimanded for not turning it in: "This, in the hands of Sirius Black, is a map to you." He was also scolded for wandering around the castle unprotected with a "killer on the loose." And then in the Divination classroom, Harry saw an image of Sirius Black in a crystal ball calling out to him, and entranced Professor Trelawney foretold: "He will return tonight...Tonight, he who betrayed his friends, whose heart rots with murder, shall break free. Innocent blood shall be spilt and servant and master shall be reunited once more."

The trio visited Hagrid's hut near the castle, to have tea and speak with him before Buckbeak's impending execution. Hagrid gave Ron his missing rat Scabbers, and then the three surreptitiously watched as Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, Dumbledore, and an executioner arrived at Hagrid's for condemned Buckbeak's killing at sundown, ordered by the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. After the execution, viewed from afar, Scabbers suddenly bit Ron on the finger and ran off. As the trio chased after Ron, a large vicious dog named the Grim appeared, and it dragged Ron (and Scabbers) by the leg into a hole at the base of the Whomping Willow tree. Harry and Hermione followed the underground tunnel, eventually emerging inside the Shrieking Shack, the most haunted building in Britain.

Ron was found upstairs, claiming that the dog was an Animagus transformation (animal to human): "It's a trap. He's a dog. He's an Animagus." [This was the first of three amazing transformations to be revealed in the course of the action.]

(1) The dog was actually Sirius Black in disguise - he could turn into a ferocious dog at will; Harry attacked Sirius to save his friends, but Remus Lupin burst in and disarmed Harry with his wand. Then, Lupin and Sirius greeted and embraced each other with a hug, revealing that they were friends.
(2) Hermione rightly accused Remus Lupin of being a frightening werewolf during a full moon, the reason he had missed classes.
(3) Lupin then explained that Black had not betrayed Harry's parents James and Lily -- he startingly revealed that Peter Pettigrew was actually responsible for the death of the Potters, and Black called for Pettigrew to make an appearance in the room. [Ron's pet rat Scabbers was - in fact - traitorous Peter Pettigrew]

Suddenly, Professor Snape entered the room, eager to apprehend Black and turn him over to the Dementors. Harry interrupted with his wand and the command "Expelliarmus," and knocked Snape out. Harry and his friends were then told the full story about Pettigrew, who had transformed himself into a rat twelve years earlier, after he "sold James and Lily to Voldemort." He had acted as the Dark Lord Voldemort's servant, and was able to escape after falsely accusing and framing Sirius Black for the crime of murdering Harry's parents, and having him sent to prison for 12 years at Azkaban. Now, Black had escaped and sought revenge against Pettigrew (not Harry), along with his friend Lupin. Knowing his father's wishes, that he would have spared Pettigrew's life and shown mercy, Harry prevented them from killing Pettigrew. Instead, Pettigrew would be taken and handed over to the Dementors for punishment (Harry later stated: "I just didn't think my dad would have wanted his two best friends to become killers").

As the entire group returned to Hogwarts, a rising full moon transformed Professor Lupin into a grotesque, fearful werewolf. As a consequence, Pettigrew was let go - he transformed himself back into a rat to quickly scurry off. To save the others from Lupin (as a werewolf), Sirius transformed himself into his dog form and fought against it, until the howls of another werewolf called Lupin away. Harry followed the wounded dog/Sirius into the forest to the edge of a lake, where the two were assaulted by a large group of circling, deadly Dementors. As the creatures sucked away Black's soul and also threatened Harry's life, Harry called upon his Patronus spell for a protective shield: "Expecto Patronum!" but they were too overpowering. And then at the other side of the lake, Harry saw a bright light - a stag-shaped Patronus figure that dispersed the Dementors and saved Sirius' life.

When Harry awakened in the school infirmary, he told Hermione and Ron that the stag figure was his father: "I saw my Dad...He sent the Dementors away. I saw him across the lake." She told him how Sirius had been captured (and was held in the topmost cell of the Dark Tower) and the Dementors were preparing to "suck out his soul." After they implored for Dumbledore to halt the death of an innocent man, he suggested that Hermione use her Time-Turning necklace device (with three turns) to spare "more than one innocent life" - she and Harry would retrace their steps by going back three hours in time to repeat the events of the night and positively alter them. [She admitted to Harry that the device was given to her by Professor McGonagall to allow her to attend multiple classes simultaneously.]

They first rushed to Hagrid's place to prevent the execution of Buckbeak by releasing the creature, and then at the Whomping Willow, it was shown that Hermione had howled like a werewolf to attract Lupin's attention and save Sirius' life. When the werewolf pursued them in the woods, Buckbeak was with them and scared off the werewolf's attack. And then at the lake, Harry rushed forward to save both himself and Sirius from the Dementors by conjuring up the Patronus: "Expecto Patronum" - he was the stag-like Patronus figure (later, he recalled: "I saw myself conjuring the Patronus before"). Riding on Buckbeak's back, they returned to the prison cell of the Dark Tower holding Sirius and freed him - he flew away on Buckbeak. They returned to the school's infirmary just at the end of the three hours.

In the film's conclusion, Remus Lupin resigned his teaching position at the school (due to his condition as a werewolf), and as he left he returned the Marauder's Map to Harry. Pettigrew (returning to rat form as Scabbers) was spared and had escaped, although Harry had "uncovered the truth" - he had saved an innocent man (Sirius) from a terrible fate. Shortly after, Harry was mailed a replacement broomstick, the Firebolt ("the fastest broom in the world") as a gift, accompanied with a green feather - undoubtedly from Sirius.

Film Notables (Awards, Facts, etc.)

Nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Original Score, and Best Visual Effects, with no wins.

With a production budget of $130 million, and gross revenue of $250 million (domestic) and almost $796 million (worldwide).