"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" Stays Pretty Faithful to the Original Novel

When adapting a book as popular as "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," a director and screenwriter must feel as if they are juggling a dozen live grenades simultaneously. One mistake and the movie (and quite possibly their careers) will be blown to pieces.

To their credit, director David Yates and screenwriter Michael Goldenberg have created a film that is as faithful to the original novel as anyone could come without creating a 10-hour miniseries. Unfortunately, Yates and Goldenberg get a bit too creative at times, which leads to some glaring oversights and errors.

After battling Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) and his Death Eaters for the last 4 years, Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) now is dealing with survivor's guilt over the death of fellow student Cedric Diggory (Robert Pattinson) during the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Following an attack by soul-sucking Dementors, Harry is spirited away by Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody (Brendan Gleeson) and other members of the Order of the Phoenix, a secret society formed by Professor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) back in the days when Lord Voldemort first came to power.

Harry is pleased to see his godfather Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) once again at the Order's headquarters and, thanks to Professor Dumbledore's intervention, he isn't expelled from Hogwarts School for doing magic to ward off the Dementors. Unfortunately, the school has a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher named Dolores Umbridge (an extremely nasty Imelda Staunton). A minion of clueless Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge (Robert Hardy), Umbridge does her best to discredit Harry's claims that Lord Voldemort has returned.