The fifth instalment that also traces Harry Potter’s fifth year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is the most dismal and bleak of all the author J.R. Rowling’s films so far.  But that is not necessarily a bad thing.  Harry Potter and the boys are maturing into their teens.  Having to deal with growing up issues as the opposite sex, death, betrayal and passing examinations, Potter has to deal with the responsibility as well.  This takes the form of assembling forces against the evil forces.  In THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, the fun and games are over.  The fight has begun.

Of interest is to see the actual child stars, Daniel Radcliffe as Potter, Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) grow in this film.  The flashbacks (though clumsy) to the first year at Hogwarts show the difference.  Director David Yates wastes the talents of the most of the British cameos as Emma Thompson, Maggie Smith, David Thewlis, Richard Griffiths and Irish Brendan Gleeson by having them do nothing in their one or two appearances.  But Alan Rickman and Gary Oldman make their mark.  Oscar nominee Imelda Staunton (VERA DRAKE) is wickedly best as the motherly looking but sinister creepy villain, Dolores Umbridge.

THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX drops to corny dialogue at times - Potter being told not to worry that truth will out; the message to Potter to believe in himself – but Yates also has his bag of tricks.  Yates also remembers old-fashioned spectacle, the most memorable being the flight on broomsticks across the Thames in London.  Yates also injects his sense of humour.  The funniest is Dolores Umbridge invigilating a Hogwarts exam standing in front of a huge swinging pendulum.

Director Yates is a safe and meticulous story-teller.  He believes in the enchantment of Rowling’s literature and allows it to grow in interest as the film progresses.  The special effects are just as spectacular and well worn into the story telling.  The climatic fight between Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) and Lord Voldermort (Ralph Fiennes) using magical wands proves the point.  Still, one wishes that instead of being bogged down by story and tying of loose ends, ORDER OF THE PHOENIX would have been more lively and entertaining.  Teens and adults still have fun times.  Perhaps it is necessary for Yates (who will be directing the next and probably last Potter movie) to prepare us for the best that is yet to arrive.  But before that, every Potter fan will be dying to know who will die in the final book that comes out on July the 21st.