Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Review

Tonight I saw the fifth installment of the Harry Potter movies, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, at my local theatre with some friends.  While it was not my favorite of the five movies, it did not disappoint. 

The movie takes place during Harry's fifth year at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  Lord Voldemort returned at the end of the last movie but was temporarily defeated by Harry.  Unfortunately the wizarding newspaper and the Ministry of Magic do not want to believe that this could be true and have stationed a Ministry-approved teacher at the school to keep things in order which makes everyone at Hogwart's, teachers included, fairly miserable.  In addition, the Ministry has decided that the students should not learn any practical combat skills to use against dark wizards so the students take matters into their own hands. 

While this is not my favorite of the Harry Potter movies, it was very good and I enjoyed it a great deal.  The special effects were amazing and different from the previous movies and there is a new director for this movie as well.  The movie was quite dark but there were some very light and uplifting scenes, such as when the kids were practicing Dark Arts in secret. 

It has been cool to see the kids in the movies grow up over the years from little kids to young adults and the onscreen chemistry between them has grown as well.  There was one scene in particular between Harry, Hermione, and Ron that seemed so natural and heartwarming that it brought a tear to my eye.  After all these movies, the actors seem to have gotten very comfortable with their roles and seem much more natural than in previous movies.

I cried at the end.  I can't believe there is only one more book in the series.  Oh well, two more movies to enjoy. 

The only things that were a bit disappointing is that the movie isn't exactly like the book but it would be 5 hours in length if they were to include everything.  That said, if you haven't read the book or any of the books in the series you'll likely be lost as not everything is explained in enough detail.  Also the music didn't sound the same.  It was more exciting and dramatic than usual and I don't recall hearing the Harry Potter theme at all in this movie.  Finally, there is no Quidditch whatsoever which does not bother me at all as I'm not a fan of the game, but others were disappointed that there was none.