Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix (David Yates): Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Michael Gambon, Ralph Fiennes, Gary Oldman, David Thewlis, Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Imelda Staunton.

Running time: 138 minutes

. . .

WHAT a difficult teenager this Harry Potter film series has become . . .

and it was such a lovely boy. Film number five is a moody, brooding affair: it's uncertain about what it wants to do and lethargic for long periods of time. And it wants so terribly to be treated as a grownup and still to enjoy the benefits of childhood. If ever there was an anguished passage into adulthood this is it.

And what about young Potter . . .

the world's favourite orphan, now 14? His plight would make you break out in spots: frustrated at home and alienated at school, he gets into trouble for defending himself using magic in front of his cousin (a muggle). Naturally, he develops a problem with authority.

(Harry secretly thinks most adults are dumb and that he knows best).

And then he's got his first stirrings of teenage lust to contend with.

Thankfully, this is limited to a small dry kiss . . . I don't know about you but I'm not ready to see young Harry go to second base.

Order of the Phoenix is the most coming-of-age tale yet in the series: a Freudian ride through the troubled transition into adulthood.

But it tries to balance this dark psychological turmoil . . . something that is dealt with quite effectively in teen horror movies . . . with that winsome Potter reputation that attracts younger children. For a film that will regardless be seen by a lot of munchkins, I think this is an uneasy combination. It certainly earns its 12A certificate.

But it produces the least magic in the series.

On the surface, it looks slick as ever: the special effects are wizardly and the cinematography is dark with menace. But experienced directors before, such as Alfonso Cuaron and Mike Newell, grabbed JK Rowling's sprawling novels by the scruff of the neck. Here, TV director David Yates and his scriptwriter Michael Goldenberg fail to pinch this one into shape. Perhaps Rowling's book is to blame . . . it's quite a task to slimline a monstrous 870 pages into a 138-minute children's movie.

But the result has moments of turgid exposition and long passages that slouch. When the film needs to move on its own energy, instead it sinks under the weight of the book.

Daniel Radcliffe has heyprestoed himself a body-builder's trunk but still looks like an awkward teen. The story starts out with a thrill but then settles down to work: Harry is attacked in front of his cousin by Dementors and saves them by casting a Patronus charm. But this contravenes Ministry of Magic regulations which state magic is not to be used in front of muggles.

So Harry is expelled from Hogwarts.

With the help of headmaster Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) he extricates himself in court but he wonders if there is a conspiracy against him. At school, too, he is the subject of malicious rumours.

He is also introduced by Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) to the Order of the Phoenix, a secret organisation formed by Dumbledore to combat the dark wizard Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes). Voldemort is resurgent but the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge (Robert Hardy), refuses to believe it.

Fearing Dumbledore is trying to undermine him, Fudge dispatches Professor Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton) to keep an eye on the school as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

And what treat she is. She looks like a harmless, frilly, pink frump but she has a nasty streak: soon she is running the school with an iron fist and shows flair for interrogation and torture.

Hogwarts begins to resemble an authoritarian regime. So, just like real school then.

When she refuses to teach the students proper defensive magic, Harry turns subversive and forms 'Dumbledore's Army' to teach the Patronus charm to students in secret. Meanwhile, Voldemort is gunning for a showdown with Harry and he can roam inside the teen's thoughts. So Harry learns from Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) that he must control his thoughts to defend himself.

There's plenty of other plot threaded in too, which makes for a very convoluted school term.

There's a spacey new character, Luna Lovegood, played by Evanna Lynch from Co Louth. And Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) take a bit of a back seat.

Director David Yates shows little facility for bringing the best out of his young players but the all-star Irish and British professionals are a treat.

The series clearly wants to grow up but it is going to have to thoroughly shed its kiddie image to succeed properly next time.