The Potter Gang

With his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry approaching, 15-year-old Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) cannot wait to leave his humdrum existence with Muggle relatives the Dursleys and go back to school.

It has been a long and lonely summer with little to no contact from his BFFs Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson), you see.

But as Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix opens, our hero, now in the full bloom of adolescence, is challenged and attacked by many in the magic world who don’t believe it when he says He Who Must Not Be Named (Ralph Fiennes) is back – they call him “Harry Plotter.”

Confused and enraged, Harry becomes isolated from his friends who have joined the Order of the Phoenix – a covert organization readying for you-know-who’s imminent attack – and been told to keep mum on their new affiliation.

To make matters worse, the movie – the fifth of the series – directed by David Yates, also introduces an authoritarian figure in Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton) who blocks Harry’s every attempt to learn how to keep himself and his friends safe, and a formidable foe in Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter).

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a taut offering. It is indeed shorter in length and in magic – essentially so, mind you – but not inferior an effort.

If I, as a non-reader of J.K. Rowling’s oeuvre, can enjoy the movie, I don’t see why anybody else who might be more familiar with the mythology could be ready to throw the wand on this growing-intriguing-by-the-minute franchise.

My Rating ***1/2

Photo: Warner Bros.