Congrats David Yates!

Rating: 9/10 (13 July 2007)

In 1997 JK Rowling introduced to the world a small eleven-year-old boy who discovers that he is a wizard. Fast forward to today (seven books, five films later) this boy, Harry Potter, is one of the biggest phenomenons of today. With an amazing book series and four brilliant films to the résumé, will the newest film, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," still have that "Harry Potter" magic? To this reviewer's surprise, considering that the book was his least favorite, the movie was one of the best of the series.
Harry returns to his fifth year at Hogwarts full of ill fortune. Few of students and parents believe him, or Dumbledore, that Voldemort is back. The Ministry of Magic had decided to step in by appointing a new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher, Delores Umbridge, which proves to be the nastiest person Harry has ever encountered. To top it off, Harry is having some mysterious dreams featuring Voldemort. Can Harry Potter survive his toughest year at Hogwarts yet?
If you are a hardcore Harry Potter nerd you will probably trash this movie to pieces. There are a lot of missing subplots but if you have watched any of the Harry Potter movies, or any book adaptations for that matter, you will realize that most adaptations is not 100% the book. Just look at the runtime, 2 Hrs and 18 minutes (the shortest of the films), and you would realize that it would have been impossible to fit all 870 pages. They cut out some good sub plots, for example: zero references to Quidditch, but they kept the theme of the book intact and that is what this reviewer wanted and hoped for as a companion to the book.
The acting was amazing. There should be props given out to David Yates for getting the best performances out of the young actors, especially Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley). For the first time, it felt like Ron Weasley was more then just the butt of the jokes. The veteran actors (Ralph Fiennes, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Garry Oldman, Emma Thompson, and others) are always great. The newest additions: Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix), newcomer, Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood), Natalia Tena (Nymphadora Tonks) were also great. The best was Imelda Staunton as Professor Umbridge. She pulled off her villainous role so well that you hate her more then Voldemort.
This is the most mature of the series. As the book series continues, as well as the movies, it gets darker and the same goes for this film. There are also many themes about how everyone has their own dark side and how you can fight your own dark side. Though it is the most adult of the series, the kids can see it and enjoy it too. If you expect a big action packed film, with many special effects, you might be bored with this movie because it concentrates most on the characters and the story.
The action and the special effects are amazing. They introduce Hagrid's half-brother giant named Grawp. There is also an introduction to Thestrals, which are these skeletal horses with wings. The action is not much until the climax of the story at the Department of Mysteries, so if you expect a big action packed, special effects film, as they showed in the trailers, you will be disappointed. Nonetheless, the climax is very thrilling with all of the wizardry battles and it gave a "Star Wars" type feel.
Overall if you are a fan of the series, you should like it. However, as this reviewer has mentioned earlier, if you are a die hard Harry Potter freak who wants everything in the book and complains when something is different you will not like this. There is very little this reviewer does not like about this movie besides the absence of Quidditch. Go see it because this reviewer is sure you will enjoy it. This reviewer hopes that David Yates will continue his magic on the next installment, "Half Blood Prince." One big warning: if you want to get into Harry Potter, do not start with this film. The story does rely on your knowledge of the previous installments and does not work as a stand-alone film like the others.