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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the fifth "Harry Potter" movie, and the latest in the series.

I had only previously seen the very first "Harry Potter" movie before seeing this one.I realized going into the theater that that would mean that I might not fully understand everything going on, but I was assured by my co-workers and my b/f that I probably shouldn`t have any problems in that regards because each movie, I was told, all more or less stand on their own.They explained, "Harry goes off to school, then returns home at the end of the movie.Then with the next movie, he is off to school again, and at the end, he returns home again.And so on."

In that respect, I felt they were probably right.While there were some occasional references to things and characters which I surmissed were from the earlier movies, the events and people were explained in this one, so it was relatively easy to keep up.Plus, I remembered most of the characters from the first movie.So, this movie, I felt, managed to stand on its own.That is, it seemed as though someone (like me) who hadn`t seen all of the previous movies could still walk into the theater, see this movie, and pretty much keep up and know what was going on.

I am particularly emphasizing this point because what follows in this review are relatively negative comments about this movie, and I want to cut off at the pass potential comments by "Harry Potter" aficionados that I possibly didn`t understand the movie or fully appreciate it because I hadn`t seen the others.True, I hadn`t seen most of the previous movies, but I rather suspect that even if I had, my review here today would still be pretty much the same.[Indeed, after we left the theater and were talking about this movie, my b/f (who has seen all of the previous "Harry Potter" movies), agreed with me and said he thought this movie was very boring and that "it wasn`t a very good movie."]

Yes, b-o-o-o-r-i-n-g.I kept fighting to keep my eyes open during much of this movie.Literally.{"Yawn, yawn, look to see what time it is, my eyelids are closing, pull out my Sidekick device, read some posts on my ezBoard, send an e-mail or two..."}

I know "Harry Potter" fans are going to be offended and upset at these comments, but, hey, this is how I felt, so this is what I am reporting.

Not only did the movie drag on and on, but there was very little plot to speak of.There was no mystery, no danger, no intrigue, no fun.

The movie is about a lady, Dolores Umbridge, portrayed by Imelda Staunton, who is sent by the Ministry to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy to weaken the training.The reason for wanting to weaken the training is either not clearly explained, or I missed it.In any event, she is the movie`s villainess, and the actress gives an outstanding performance -- one of the only highlights of this film.What makes the character a pleasant treat is that despite being a villainese, she is happy and content in self-delusion that she is doing good.

Dolores Umbridge is the only truly interesting character in this movie.All of the other chracters are bland, and seem too much like cartoon characters.Ms. Umbridge brings lots of change to the school with the goal of stopping the children from learning witchcraft, for whatever the reason.Harry Potter then soon begins secretly teaching his fellow classmates witchcraft himself.

Now, what should be the next logical step in the movie?What would be a fun, satisfying thing to see happen?Why, of course, watching the students use their newly taught powers to get back at Dolores Umbridge by hiding behind corners, waving their little wands, and watching hilarious things happen to her, then laughing and high-fiving each other, right?!But that is not what happened.What happened was that there was just one major "fireworks" show inside a classroom (perpetrated not by the whole group, but rather just by a couple of the students), which caused Ms. Umbridge to scream and dash out of the building in sheer terror [no, I don`t see why she did, either].

Furthermore, you would expect for the students to get the upperhand, and to eventually get Ms. Umbridge to leave Hogwarts on her own accord, right?!But, again, no, that is not what happened.Rather, the way they got rid of her [and here comes a little spoiler -- but honestly, is it really a spoiler to tell you that the "bad guy" (er, gal) is going to eventually lose?!] is by a few of the students tricking her into following them out into the forest, where some creatures (who weren`t even part of the story) kidnap her and carry her off, presumably to kill her!Yuck.Wow, what an unpleasant, distasteful and unsatisfying ending for her -- and the movie.

There was also another evil character in the movie whom we don`t get to really see until the very end of the movie.Since he wasn`t really part of the movie, per se, it just seemed like extra baggage which should have been trimmed away.Harry gets into a battle with him.I was expecting a Luke Skywalker-Darth Vader type of encounter.Instead, I got a lot of balls falling off of shelves.Literally.

If anyone tells you they liked this movie, you know they are a "Harry Potter" fan who doesn`t want to say anything bad about an old friend.But objectively, it was not very good.

SciFiGuy gives Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix a thumbs-down.