Harry

Meets

The Mean Grrrrrslz

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Grade: B+

Eight days and counting until the seventh and final chapter of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter saga hits bookstores. Until then fans can take heart that the relatively unknown director David Yates has ushered a delicious adaptation of Book Five to the big screen. In their portrayals of Harry, Hermione and Ron, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint are all getting worse with age, exuding less charisma than your average piece of yard debris. But it doesn't really matter since they're backed by the Who's Who of wizardly British actors.

Maggie Smith, David Thewlis and Gary Oldman are as terrific as ever, but the real tour de force performance comes from Imelda Staunton, an Oscar nominee for Vera Drake in 2004. Decked out in revolting prim and pink outfits, she brings Hogwarts inquisitor Dolores Umbridge to even greater heights of sadistic smarminess than Rowling did in the book. A damned impressive feat, considering that we're talking about a lady who forces Harry to write in his own blood. It's a hilarious and scary performance, rivaled only by Helena Bonham Carter's brief but glorious appearance as Bellatrix Lestrange, the deranged Azkaban escapee who gleefully murders a good guy during the climax.