Reading this will save you time and money, stick to the books and save yourself from the disappointment

Rating: 5/10 (11 July 2007)

Firstly I would like to state that I am a huge fan of the books, as well as the films, even though some of the previous film installments could have been much better they were still enjoyable to watch. However in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, director David Yates and writer Michael Goldenberg took the deepest Harry Potter book and made an absolute mockery of it. It felt as if David Yates was terrified by how much story there was in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix that he simply didn't know what to do with it. So, in order to compress this story into a mere 2 hour and 18 minutes, Yates cuts more story lines from the OotP than you can imagine and the ones he leaves are either constricted and rewritten or done with mini-montages adding to the lacking connection to the book. There are no transitions in this film whatsoever leaving no representation of time passing other than when Christmas comes. This also causes the viewer to feel as if they miss numerous parts of the movie as the scenes jump sporadically. With this film being so ridiculously short, the characters that we have grown accustomed to reading and seeing are barely visible throughout the film. This causes OotP to lack the "Hogwarts" feel that the other films possessed which allowed viewers to feel they were a part of what was happening on screen. Nearly all of the scenes that made this story relatable were cut, such as moments at Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. This takes the teenage amusement out of the story. It Prevents the trio from encountering their adolescent troubles with the absence of these scenes. Almost less amusing are the action scenes in this film. They are brief and left me yawning in my seat as it too strayed from the books. Though I would love nothing more to sit here and go into these matters further, this film has already wasted 2 hours and 20 minutes of my life and I wish to waste no more by writing about it. In short it felt like I was watching a hastily assembled Michael Bay film, but without any stylized action to keep me mildly entertained. This film was poorly constructed and had no finesse. Not only was this the worst installment of the Harry Potter film franchise, it was one of the most disappointing and despicable attempts at film-making I have ever seen.