A few weeks ago I wrote a post ranking the Harry Potter books from least to most favourite. Today, however, I’m going to rank my favourite Harry Potter movies, because let’s be honest – there’s a pretty big difference when comparing the books to films. This is only natural, of course, because films have the difficulty of having to translate all the material in a book onto the screen in two to three hours. I think that as a franchise overall, the films were done really well. However, there was a ton of material that was left out in the movies, and that’s a huge contributing factor in the way I ranked them. Let us know which movies were your favourites!
#7. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001)
This ranking mirrors the book list, and don’t get me wrong: I actually think that Philosopher’s Stone was incredibly on point when it comes to book comparison. Of course, it was the shortest book, so I imagine it was easier to include almost everything from the book into the film. The campy, over the top fantasy style of Chris Columbus set up a good foundation for the franchise, and obviously creative liberties were taken as the directors changed. The reason it’s my least favourite is simply its content, much like the book. That’s not a fault of the film adaptation, because it did a solid job at taking the book’s content and adhering to that.
#6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
Nobody is more disappointed than I am about this ranking. Half-Blood Prince is my favourite book, particularly because of the compelling Tom Riddle back-story and the reveal of the Horcruxes. The book is mapped out so brilliantly, interconnected in the most important of ways. However, this did not translate well to the screen. Particularly Dumbledore’s pensieve moments with Harry, in which we learn about the potential Horcruxes, were severely cut down on. As well, the history of the Gaunts (the family that Tom Riddle came from) was entirely nonexistent in the film. This made for a choppy, rushed, and confusing film, because many things didn’t add up. Even Snape’s history, when he is revealed to be the Half-Blood Prince, is removed. Having all these major moments cut out entirely was bad enough, but what made it even worse was the addition of a scene that wasn’t even a part of the book. Yes, I’m referring to the entirely unnecessary, cringe-worthy scene where Bellatrix burns down the Burrow. What frustrates me is that this time could have been used for important content that was actually from the book. A lot of the elements of Half-Blood Prince are crucial set-ups for plot points in Deathly Hallows, but since many of them were ignored, the Deathly Hallows film fell short.
#5. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
Chris Columbus was still director for the Chamber of Secrets, and his overly saturated fantasy style is why this film is so low on the list. I actually loved the whole storyline though, and the way the chamber of secrets was depicted was amazing because it was exactly how I pictured it from the books. The addition of the great Kenneth Branagh as the insufferable Gilderoy Lockhart added a level of entertainment to the film. The basilisk was frightening, the performance of Christian Coulson as Tom Riddle was brilliantly chilling, and the overall adherence to the book was spot-on. All things considered, I think Chamber of Secrets is one of the most underrated of the franchise, both book and movie-wise.
#4. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
Okay, so this one might be an unexpected ranking, because Order of the Phoenix was pretty low on the list of my favourite books. However, I think the film did an excellent job turning the longest and most monotonous book into a fairly exciting, action packed film. In this particular case, there was a lot of extra material in the book that didn’t need to be included on screen, which worked in film’s favour. The casting of Imelda Staunton as the atrocious Dolores Umbridge was so spot-on that it was legitimately scary. What I particularly loved about this film was the depiction of Dumbledore’s Army, and their lessons in the Room of Requirement. The duel between Voldemort and Dumbledore at the Ministry of Magic was directed artfully. Aside from small issues here and there like the hasty introduction of Occlumency or the lack of focus on interesting characters like Nymphadora Tonks or Remus Lupin, I think the film did a great job sticking to the most important elements of the book.
#3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 & 2 (2010-2011)
To be honest, I’m not a massive fan of films that are split up into two parts, especially when none of its predecessors did so. However, I do understand why this was done for Deathly Hallows. After all, this was to be the last installment of an extremely long-lasting book and film phenomenon. Overall I thought these films were done really well – the action, the settings, and the intrinsically dark tone paired up quite accurately to the book. However, as mentioned before, because of the poor job that the Half-Blood Prince film did in terms of including important information, Deathly Hallows fell a bit short. Where in the book, Harry knew which Horcruxes to look for because of the memories he explored with Dumbledore through the Pensieve, in the film they changed it so Harry could “sense” when a Horcrux was near (which I think is completely ludicrous, honestly). As well, the entire history of Dumbledore and Grindelwald was cut out, which was one of my favourite elements from the book. I understand why the filmmakers had to do so, but I also wish they hadn’t shot themselves in the foot by excluding so many important factors in Half-Blood Prince, because that’s assuredly why they had to improvise in strange ways to have Deathly Hallows make sense.
#2. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
It shouldn’t be a surprise that the film directed by Alfonso Cuarón, who just recently won two Academy Awards for his film Roma, was a massive success. Sure, the Prisoner of Azkaban film cut out some of the book information, like the back story behind the Marauder’s Map and its creators, but I honestly didn’t have too much of a problem with that. Cuarón’s vastly different oeuvre from Chris Columbus’, who had directed the previous two films, was a refreshing and welcome change. This was also the first film in which Michael Gambon, who replaced the role of Albus Dumbledore following Richard Harris’ death, appeared. While he initially seemed a much more brazen choice for the character, I learned to love the youthful vigor he embodied, a vigor that was so present in the book Dumbledore. Prisoner of Azkaban brought a marked change of tone, graduating the franchise from being garish and child-like to more artistic and decidedly mature. The time-turner section of the film is one of the most memorable for me, and overall I really loved the tonal, acting, and setting changes that Cuarón brought about, setting up a stylistic foundation that the following films would adhere to.
#1. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
Regardless of the discrepancies between book to film, I honestly didn’t care to be too nitpicky about the details when watching Goblet of Fire. Part of it might have been the whole basis of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, the setup of which automatically makes a great storyline to be translated onto the big screen. Every challenge was depicted in a way that brought viewers to the edge of their seats, and the stunning visuals helped transport me into the action-packed world of dragons, mermaids, and giant labyrinths. The Yule Ball was magical, the resurrection of Voldemort in the graveyard terrifying, and the death of Cedric Diggory heart-wrenching beyond belief. The book was packed with major reveals and massively important plot points. In turn, the film never had a dull moment. It was intense, it was fun, and most importantly, the movie embodied the fact that this was the true game-changer for the rest of the books and films to come.
What are your thoughts on this ranking list? Sound off in the comments below!
~ Z ~
