It’s year 5 at Hogwarts and with the return of You Know Who being hushed up by the ministry, Harry finds it hard to convince people that he’s not crazy. So off he goes to the Room of Requirement to train up those still loyal to the cause. But will the meddling fingers of ministry busy body, Professor Umbridge stop Harry from creating Dumbledore’s Army?
It was always going to be hard to cram this film into something near a 2hr spectacular, yet David Yates does a pretty good job. For such a large book, there’s not really that much that happens, yet The Order of the Phoenix still manages to be great fun and a worthy addition to the Potter franchise.
With the exception of a couple of plot lines, the heart of the book makes the transition to the big screen unscathed. The only real drawback being that non-readers may find the story a little hard to follow. That being said there’s certainly a lot of fun to be hard as the film rips along at a pleasing lick.
Daniel Radcliff does a top job of convincing everyone he’s the Harry Potter we know & love from the books, once again ably assisted by Rupert Grint’s Ron Weasley. If there was one weak point it’s that Emma Watson’s Hermione Granger is a little flat and wooden at times but we’re nick picking here, so don’t let that put you off.
Otherwise, effects and story are all there for you to see and it’s always a pleasure seeing Gary Oldman and Ralph Fiennes ripping up the scenery in brilliant ham fashion.
Plenty for kids and adults to enjoy here, although very young children may find some of the fights a little on the dark side. Special mention to Helena Bonham Carter for being clearly nuts!
With the release of the film and the final book, it’s Potter mania all over again.