She wasn't quite how I pictured her from the book but Imelda Staunton played her with a deliciously bitter/sweet twist, all charming and proper in her righteous delusions with that 'stab you in the back' thing going on. What she put Harry through in detention was simply pure evil. She makes no qualms about re-ordering the law at Hogwarts putting the kybosh on anything even remotely fun and making the students lives a complete misery. Pink and fluffy on the outside, crunchy and evil on the inside. To this end we have new teacher and Ministry stooge Dolores Umbridge. The Ministry of Magic is in denial about Voldermorts return and are trying to control the flow of rumour stemming from the events of Goblet. Harry now has some serious mental scars (as well as his actual one of course) since the events of the previous movie which while lighter than Azkhaban, followed on well from that movie. This (in the movie world at least) is where Harry Potter crosses the line from kids movie to grown ups movie. The Dark Lord is back, it's no laughing matter and this movie actually sells that fact. There's very little 'fun' in Phoenix and you can see why.

Order of the Phoenix is probably the darkest of the five movies we've had so far, even more so than Azkhaban which was a step in the right direction for where the series would eventually be heading. The new director has taken some risks with style and approach and they've paid off brilliantly.

Gone is the frivolity of the first couple of movies where magic was cool and everything in this new and magical world was just wonderful to behold, a la World of Disney. The big bad men are here and they don't care about hurting children. Within the first 5 minutes you can tell the series has undergone a dramatic tone shift and I have to say I think thats appropriate since Voldemorts return at the end of Goblet of Fire means that it's time to put aside childish things.

Harry order of the phoenix pdf