I must be honest and say I may be bias against this series of movies (explanation follows)

I have enjoyed each of the Harry Potter movies with the first one still being the best. Two of my friends are very big Harry Potter fans. One went as far as dressing up for #3 when attending. So ... I was able to get their assessment as well of this fifth installment.

I've never read the books and all I know of the next installment is the major plot elements. When The Order Of The Phoenix came out in bookstores I don't remember anyone talking about any new plot elements ... this seems to carry over to the movie translation - it doesn't seem like this installment really advances the plot.

While the connection between Valdemort and Harry is revealed and intensified - it is apparent that THIS WAS inevitable.

What has baffled me most about this series of stories (both in book form and in theaters) is why Slitheren isn't just banished from Hogwarts altogether. They are a lynch mob for Harry Potter apparently. And ... why is Lucious Malfoy even allowed on the campus by any of the adults if he is a known conspirator, traitor, and murder accomplice? I'm sure the argument could be made that part of the "learning" at Hogwart's is to coexist with evil and the lesson in life is "choice" - a point made in this movie. Do you choose to be good or do you choose to be evil? I'd rather go with the premise, the less you expose yourself to evil, the less likely you are to do something evil.

My Harry Potter fan friends that were in attendance enjoyed the 5th movie. However we came to a rating of 7.5 out of 10.