Release Year: 2007

Genre: Adventure, Fantasy

Director: David Yates

Writer: Michael Goldenberg

Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson

Some guys have all the luck. And some other guys…are named Harry Potter.

In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, our favorite boy wizard is attacked by dementors, nearly expelled from school, plagued by mysterious dreams, tortured by a teacher, possessed by Voldemort, and forced to wear an unflattering blazer.

And you thought high school was rough.

Full disclosure: some people complain that The Boy Who Lived is a tad bit angsty in this film. And to those naysayers, we say: of course he's angsty. You would be too.

Imagine how you'd react if your name was being smeared in the press by the government. Or if your classmates thought you were a big liar. Or if the adults in your life seemed to have crucial info they just wouldn't tell you.

Hey: you'd probably snap at your friends…even if one of them was a hilarious ginger and the other always finished your homework for you.

Harry's been dealt bad cards in life before, but this is the movie where he draws the line. He's not going to curl into a ball and cry about the fact that Voldemort is back and plotting to take over the wizarding world. He's gonna do something about it. (Even if that means breaking the rules big time and getting into deeper trouble than ever before.)

Of course, in the end, the big lesson Harry figures out is that he can't do this alone. That means he's got to go back to being nice to those same friends whose heads he was biting off just a few scenes ago. He knows he's going to need the support of the people he cares about if he stands a chance.

Plus, he's fifteen years old—he's probably not going to be able to fight off the most powerful dark wizard of all time just with the tricks he learned in fifth-year Charms. Just sayin.'

Yup: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a case study in light and dark: the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic-esque moral about sharing n' caring juxtaposed with the horrors of dementors, Death Eaters, and deadly curses. The lessons on family and togetherness juxtaposed with being tortured by authority figures and the realization that timidity is as lethal as hatred. And of course, the ongoing battle between Potter & Co. and ye olde Dark Lord.

It's Harry's worst year at Hogwarts yet. But in a totally entertaining way.

We'll let FDR introduce this one for us:

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

In The Order of the Phoenix, the whole dang wizarding world is peeing their robes in fear. The Ministry of Magic is shaking in their boots. The teachers at Hogwarts are petrified. The student body is quaking, the magical parents back home are shuddering, and even the stalwart rebels hunkered down at Number 12, Grimmauld Place are a wee bit on edge.

And some of these characters deal with fear a whole lot better than others.

Some of the fearful ones are turning their bravery up to eleven. Harry and his buds form Dumbledore's Army and start training: they're not going to take the re-emergence of Voldemort lying down. The titular Order of the Phoenix is busy hatching plots and planning for the future. Luna Lovegood is, um, doing her thing.

But some of the fearful ones are taking the path of least resistance: they're burying their heads in the sand instead of facing up to the harsh new reality of life outside of Muggle-land. They're spreading the news that Harry lied about Voldy's return. They're making sure that young wizards stop learning Defense Against The Dark Arts. Even the Minister of Magic himself is claiming that everything is sunny, happy, and unchanged.

And this fear-based inaction, as we see in this movie, is how the threat of evil turns into full-blown evil. By believing convenient lies instead of inconvenient truth, the Ministry of Magic and the hacks over at The Daily Prophet are essentially laying out the red carpet for Voldemort and his Death Eaters to wreck havoc.

It's an important lesson: when a population is so terrified they do the adult equivalent of plugging their ears and chanting, "Nyah nyah nyah, I can't hear you," they allow darkness to spread.

But the good news? Being terrified doesn't equate to rolling over and playing dead. The characters in this film that fight the good fight work to halt Voldemort's advance…at least until the next HP installment.