Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Film #65 of Film 365

Sunday 28th August 2011

Director: David Yates
Year: 2007
Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Imelda Staunton, Brendan Gleeson, Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Jason Isaacs, Tom Felton, Bonnie Wright, Mark Williams, Robbie Coltrane, James Phelps, Oliver Phelps, Katie Leung, Matthew Lewis, Gary Oldman, Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, Evanna Lynch

I have to admit, I couldn't remember much about Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - the book or the film. I remember the book was very long, but that was about it. If I'm honest, I think that may mostly be to do with my feelings towards this particular instalment of Harry Potter. To me, it just feels like a filler between book 4, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and book 6, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - both of which I enjoyed.

The story starts, as usual, with Harry spending the summer with his aunt, uncle and cousin. Things are instantly a lot less happy than in previous movies, with dementors appearing in the first five minutes. And that dark, unhappy feeling makes up the majority of the rest of the movie - the Ministry of Magic refuse to acknowledge that Voldemort is back, and Dolores Umbridge all but takes over at Hogwarts for the year. I have to admit, Umbridge (played by Imelda Staunton) is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise pretty dull instalment to the franchise. She's a brilliant, horrible character incredibly well played by Staunton. If I hadn't grown to care about the main characters in the past four movies, I'd be cheering Umbridge, with her pink dresses and cats, on. Oh, and one other bonus - we get our first glimpse of Belatrix LeStrange (Bonham Carter) in this movie. She doesn't do much here, but just wait until the last two movies. She's my favourite character of the lot.

Rating: 3 out of 5

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About Me

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I live in Bristol with my husband Dan (who I married in July 2007), my son Joe (born 2012) and daughter Jess (born 2015). I work at UWE (the University of the West of England) in Bristol as a Research and Open Access Librarian. I'm orginally from Exeter, so moving back to Bristol is a bit like coming home - especially as I studied for my undergraduate degree here (also at UWE). I love travelling and movies, although I get to do a lot less of both since the birth of our children. Although we have still managed to fit in holidays to the Isles of Scilly, Chamonix and a summer in California since Joe was born.