It's action-packed, darker, more epic and thankfully schmaltz-free. And it's the best "Harry Potter" film yet.

Like many 30-something adults, I was slow to join the Hogwarts phenomenon. If not for a 14-hour flight and an understocked airport book store, the adventures of Harry Potter might have passed me by.

But they didn't. And unless you live under a rock, there will be no escaping Pottermania over the next two weeks. First, there's the opening Wednesday of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," the fifth film in the cinematic series, then the hotly anticipated July 21 release of the seventh and final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

Like many of his fans, Harry Potter is growing up fast. And from the first scene of "Phoenix" - our hero sits grimly on a child's swing surrounded by parched earth - it's obvious that the next two hours and 18 minutes are not going to be child's play.

Harry (a much more mature and confident Daniel Radcliffe) has spent a long, lonely summer with his relatives back in the land of Muggles. But all that teenage introspection is abruptly brought to an end when Harry and his cousin Dudley are attacked by dementors - evil, life-sucking apparitions not usually found outside the walls of the wizard prison Azkaban.

After saving himself and his odious relative, Harry is charged with using magic outside of school and is to be expelled from Hogwarts.

But those who saw the previous film, "The Goblet of Fire," know an even bigger problem is afoot. Harry's nemesis, the evil Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) has returned to flesh and blood form and wants to take over the world.

Pity nobody believes it. A smear campaign by the Ministry of Magic leaves Harry and Professor Dumbledore (an always excellent Michael Gambon) branded as liars and those wishing to fight Voldemort and his growing band of followers are driven underground.

Harry is soon back at school - but even the safe haven of Hogwarts is now under threat.

Enter Dolores Umbridge, dressed in head-to-toe pink (and deliciously played by Imelda Staunton) as the new Defense against the Dark Arts professor. She's also a ministry plant and one of the best things about "Phoenix." Think your worst substitute teacher, multiplied by 100.

With help from friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson), Harry secretly begins training a small band of classmates in nonministry sanctioned spells to protect themselves against Voldemort's rapidly growing forces - and "Dumbledore's Army" soon becomes a thorn that Umbridge must remove from her side.

In previous "Potter" movies, nonessential story lines and silly character set pieces added little but minutes to the film's running time. Here, British director David Yates (TV's "Sex Traffic" and "The Girl in the Cafe") keeps the subplots, the over-sentimentality (most notably in a crucial death scene) and regular supporting cast (Emma Thompson, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane, Alan Rickman) firmly in check.

But die-hard Potter addicts should have no fear about "Phoenix." Even as they are swept toward the effects- and action-filled climactic battle, fans will rejoice that Yates has distilled J.K. Rowling's broad universe with care and reverence.

And, of course, there's the spellbinding scene of a young wizard's first kiss.

The magic is definitely back.

cbertram@nydailynews.com