Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth movie in the popular Harry Potter series by J.K Rowling, was a huge hit at the box office in July of 2007. The longest book installment of the series begins with the usual unpleasantness at the Dursleys' and ends with Harry, yet again, battling it out with Lord Voldemort. Potter fans were disappointed GO FIGURE to learn that “The Order of the Phoenix” would be the shortest of the Harry Potter films, just coming in a little over two hours. As for I, I was not as torn up about the length of the movie, as long as it fits in the major events in the book, which make up a reasonable plot. Harry’s fifth year at Hogwarts proved to be one of the most challenging and darkest years yet to come. With Dumbledore away from the school, comes newly appointed Defense the Dark Arts teacher Dolores Umbridge, which we must give Imelda Staunton thumbs up for her wonderful portrayal of Umbridge.

The fifth movie proves to be one of the darkest beginnings to any of the Harry Potter movies, following The Goblet of Fire, which opened with Lord Voldermort. However, I find that this installment is quick to jump from one scene to the next one without many feelings for what is happening. Daniel Radcliffe who plays Harry Potter returns, yet again, just in time to play the angered and self-pitying Potter in his fifth year at Hogwarts. The movies do a good job in portraying Harry and his friends as they grow up and cope, with even more in addition to their teenage years, but with the return of Lord Voldermort. It proved to be one of Harry’s hardest years at Hogwarts with Umbridge, and the ministry choosing not to believe that Voldermort is back.

This film, like the others in the series, lacks the ability of showing what really happened. Such as the scene when Umbridge found out about Dumbledore’s army, she made everyone in the army write with her quill, where in the book it was only Harry that did. There were a few scenes that I found in this movie, and particularly the last two, that changed the details in order to fit with the plot. The movie’s sound effects and design were great and lived up with the ideas within the book. The dementor attack was a scary and realistic attempt to show the dark feeling it gives us when approached by a dementor. Some of the moments in the movie also proved to be funny like the ending when Fudge finally sees Lord Voldermort and responds “he’s back.”

Professor Snape portrayed by Alan Rickman, one of my favorite and twisted characters in the series, always gives me a pleasure to watch, this movie proved to be one of his best roles yet. With just a few months left until the sixth Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince movie, my satisfaction for the films, has given me reason and excitement for the last two installments in the series.