Steady start for Yates as he takes Order of the franchise.

Rating: 7/10 (21 December 2012)

David Yates may not be able to rekindle the excellent form shown in movies two, three and four however his first of four Potter films he directs is a fine entry into the collection - even if it is a little disappointing.
When Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) tries to assist Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) in convincing the Ministry of Magic that Lord Voldermort (Ralph Fiennes) has returned from the grave. However, their accusations are ignored by the people at the helm of the Ministry and they send their recruit Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton) to restore order to Hogwarts and to take over as Dark Arts teacher. Umbridge is an old fashioned, no nonsense character who is extremely harsh with her punishments for the smallest of incidents. Meanwhile, Harry begins to fall for female wizard Cho Chang (Katie Leung) and suffer mood swings as Voldermort begins to control Harry's subconscious.
The plot and narrative feels a little empty and under-cooked with only a portion of the book making the big screen. Strangely, a duration of 138 minutes makes it the shortest of the first five Potter films; this is strange because the book consist of over 1,000 pages, the longest of the collection. It seems to make little sense that the book which has the most entailed in it is the shortest of the first five films and clearly the one which is most flawed in terms of story line.
On a positive note, the cast of Radcliffe and co. is once more great with the maturity and realism of the upcoming actors/actresses growing by each movie.
Also, the 'Order of the Phoenix' is another thoroughly entertaining and at times creepy fifth film of the eight. It's thoroughly entertaining for its rapid pace, but mostly for the way it climaxes; a stupendous display of CGI and powerful acting resulted in a superior ending to any of witnessed in the previous four films.
Solid foundations for Yates, but foundations which he certainly builds upon in his later Potter adaptions'.