Harry Potter: Ranking The Movies From Worst To Best
5. Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (2007)
Director: David Yates
The Order of the Pheonix was the longest book in the series, but the movie had the shortest running time at 138 minutes. This obviously ruffled the feathers of a lot of die-hard fans of the book because so much had to be cut out (including Ron Weasley's Quidditch skills and Dobby's entire arc). But if you look at the film as a separate entity from the book, it's an impressive feature that justifiably earned Yates the right to direct rest of the films in the series.
While the film earned the second-lowest Rotten Tomatoes score of the series, it featured some of the best performances of the year. It's pretty much the consensus now that Dolores Umbridge is the scariest villain in the series (topping a giant snake and a nose-less snake-eyed Satan-like demon who shall not be named), and Imelda Staunton takes on the iconic antagonist with aplomb.
The cat person who harbors an insatiable love for the Minister of Magic, or any figure of power, gives a realistic face to irrepressible evil. The infamous blood quill scene is kept to a minimum here (this is still supposed to be a movie for kids) but her dark presence still looms over the film. Also making her first appearance in this film is the great Helena Bonham Carter, who was certainly the perfect choice for the role even though Helen McCrory was initially cast as Bellatrix Lestrange.
I would also argue that this is the most "high school" film of the series, and I mean that in a good way. It's got all of the features of a high school movie: students trying to rebel against oppressive authority figures, an obsession with snogging, and the scary realisation that adulthood is rapidly approaching.
Even though this isn't strictly kids stuff any more, the characters that are in the movie are still kids. It's a transitional period for both the series and the three protagonists, but under the loving hands of David Yates, Potter would continue to thrive.