HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX

Lets be honest right now. This is one cowpat of a film. As a book I thought it was one of the better ones to roll off the Harry Potter production line but it was big, too big really. It hasn't transferred well to the big screen and the script writers have done a real hatchet job on it. I have never heard of director David Yates before and if this is the best he can do then I shan't be looking at any of his other work. I am surprised that J.K.Rowling (who has tried to retain as much control over Harry Potter as possible) hasn't distanced herself from this film. It is certainly the worst one of the series to date, and it is definitely the one most removed from the books. Anybody watching this film who hasn't read the book is going to be completely lost from the very beginning. The story is seriously disjointed and it doesn't allow the film to flow properly. It is more like watching a collection of unrelated scenes that have been tagged together. The vision has gone and, more importantly, so has the magic.

Harry Potter has become a franchise directed at extricating money from the pockets of the paying public without giving them what they are paying for. I sincerely hope that the last two films are made by a director with some vision and imagination, otherwise I would have to question whether it is worthwhile continuing. The magic needs putting back to make it "believable" fantasy otherwise we will just get more of the same. I'm sorry to say it but Phoenix is just a pile of unadulterated crap and a real disappointment! 2/10.