The Harry Potter Franchise (2001-2011) – Review

Raking in over 43 billion dollars the Harry Potter films are easily one of the most successful franchises in cinema history – I don’t know who will ever eclipse the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s ever-expanding franchise – but not only did the Harry Potter films make a killing at the box office they were also very good adaptions of the source material, something many comic book movies can claim, and with an amazing cast and fantastic visuals this series is a testament to thousands of people who brought this series to life.

Based on the seven fantasy novels by author J.K. Rowling, which Warner Bros. Pictures stretched into eight films, this was not only one of the most successful franchises to date but undeniably consisted of very solid films in their own right, below you will find my brief thoughts on this excellent movie series of love, magic and dark doings.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001)

Chris Columbus had the unenviable task of bringing the first Harry Potter book to life and had to do much of the heavy lifting when it came to the world-building thus a lot of the film’s running time is filled with exposition and this results in the mystery itself feeling rather secondary, which causes a lack of suspense or tension towards the end, not that Columbus did a bad job here just that it all seems rather workmanlike. That all said, the creative artists dreaming up how the world of Hogwarts looks really outdid themselves as the sets are truly staggering in their beauty and creativity, add to that the rousing score by John Williams and you have a very magical world to get lost in. On the acting front, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint are adorable as our heroic trio but at this age their acting abilities are not the greatest, to say the least, but they are supported by some of the greatest British thespians in the world has ever seen and that helps a lot.

Overall, this first film in the Harry Potter franchise may be far from the best entry in the series, with some very dodgy CGI that really dates the film, but it’s still a very fun film to watch if just to revel in the magical world and enjoy the company of the likes of Alan Rickman, Richard Harris, Robbie Coltrane and Maggie Smith.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)

With the heavy lifting done in creating the world of Harry Potter for the first film, director Chris Columbus was able to settle down and get to the meat and potatoes of storytelling and thus we not only get a stronger narrative than what was provided in the first movie but a dark and more suspenseful film overall, with Harry and Ron’s encounter with giant spiders being an especially terrifying sequence, and the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets was a lot more satisfying than that of the Philosopher’s Stone “big” reveal. We also get an improvement on the acting side of things with our three lead actors, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Ruper Grint, clearly having learned a lot more when it comes to the craft of acting and Columbus must have breathed a sigh of relief that his casting of these young stars turned out so well. Then we also have the addition of Kenneth Branagh as the hilariously inept monster hunter, Gilderoy Lockhart, and Jason Isacc simply breathes evil as the villainous Lucius Malfoy to really get things moving in fun and interesting directions.

With Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the franchise is given a nice boost in quality that will only see improvements as the series goes forward – in just one film the CGI took an immeasurable step forward – and as the magical world of Harry Potter expands in scope and danger we can not help but be impressed at all the hard work that went into these films.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

With Alfonso Cuarón taking over for the third film, the world of Harry Potter gets a bit of a new look, Cuarón wanted to limit the amount of CGI in favour of practical effects, and due to the book’s plot complexity it was necessary for a looser adaptation and so we get more emotional development between the three lead characters than what we had in the previous two films.
Prisoner of Azkaban also brings a darker tone to the franchise that lifts it up and away from being simply a kid’s movie, and the addition of Gary Oldman as Sirius Black definitely elevated the proceedings, the overall film is just rife with spooky atmosphere and danger at every turn.

Note: This book introduced the “Time-Turner” an idiotic device created by J.K. Rowlings and is forgotten as fast as it appears due to the fact that a time travel device would have made any further threats from Voldemort moot.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

Director Mike Newell takes over the fourth installment in the Harry Potter film series and where things got dark in The Prisoner of Azkaban this entry ups the danger and brings in real mortal peril for our heroes to face. With the Goblet of Fire novel being almost twice the length of Prisoner of Azkaban Newell had quite the task of condensing so much story into one 157-minute movie and he did a remarkable job – though I could have done without the whole “Ron is a jealous asshat” that makes literally no sense – and Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort puts a terrifying visage to villain our heroes have been “facing” over the past few movies. The transition of Harry, Ron, and Hermione into teenagers is deftly handled, with a certain future romance nicely seeded, and the Tri-Wizard Cup had some truly awesome moments – Harry versus a dragon is more than we could have hoped for – and this is the first film in the series that has a real emotional weight to it as the stakes are raised as the villains’ muster to bring murder to young Harry Potter.

Overall, The Goblet of Fire takes us on a wonderfully dark journey full of magic and death that keeps the viewer on the edges of their collective seats.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)

Of the 766 pages that make up J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I’d say forty percent of those pages consisted of Harry Potter acting like a whiny git, lucky for us, director David Yates spares us as much as possible of this cringe-inducing teen angst. In this fifth installment, Harry and his friends must face the threat of Lord Voldemort and the evils of bureaucracy as well, and Imelda Staunton as the cruel and malicious Dolores Umbridge is the point of the spear of this new danger. Learning that Harry’s parents were normal, flawed human beings added a nice realistic touch to an otherwise magical story, and the sweet, if tragically short, relationship between Harry and Cho Chang brought more depth to our hero.

Note: The wizard duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort is pretty much what I expect a wizard duel to look like, and it was bloody marvelous.

Even though major cuts had to be made to adapt this massive tome to the big screen the film still maintains the book’s darker edge as the Ministry of Magic and the Death Eaters bring the adult world crashing into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft, which one could never call a “safe place” in this entry danger comes from all sides. With Helena Bonham Carter joining the cast and a returning Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort the stakes are raised higher than ever before and it all goes towards making an exciting and emotional entry in an already excellent franchise.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

This sixth chapter in the Harry Potter franchise has some decidedly dark elements and has one of the more dramatic moments in the entire series, but it should be noted that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince also has some truly fun moments – Ron and his various love interests being a particular highlight – and the budding relationship between Harry and Ginny was superbly handled by both the script and the young actors. In this outing, both Ron and Hermione also seem a little more fleshed out and the romance brewing between them is quite sweet, though a little one-sided in this chapter, and Emma Watson and Rupert Grint have solid screen chemistry.

Overall, this entry was visually stunning and emotionally satisfying with characters we’ve grown to love being pushed to the limits as the climax to the story quickly approaches, David Yates back at the helm showed a deft hand with the material and he made a film about wizards somehow seem grounded. That is no mean feat.

Harry Potter and the Death Hallows: Part 1

With David Yates once again at the helm, we get another very solid entry in the Harry Potter franchise and this time out the palette is expanded as Harry, Ron and Hermoine are no longer confined to the walls of Hogwarts and thus we get more locations and a larger canvas for our heroes to traipse through, which brings us to this installment’s one key problem, the walking. Author J.K Rowling borrows heavily from J.R.R. Tolkien for this book, with Voldemort’s Horcrux amulet corrupting the bearer much as the One Ring corrupted Frodo in The Lord of the Rings, and if you thought there was a lot of walking in The Rings Trilogy this first part of the Deathly Hallows has more camping and walking than we really needed. That all said, this is still a fantastic movie, one that did get off with a big bang with some truly emotional moments – Hermione having to wipe the memory of her parents so they would forget they ever had a daughter was heartbreaking – but as this is only”part one” there could be no proper payoff and the tight storytelling of the previous films is missing here.

Note: The animated section depicted the story of the “Deathly Hallows” was pure gold and one of my favourite parts in the whole series.

Overall, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 gives the viewers an even darker journey than previous entries had provided and while there is an occasional light moment it’s a pretty bleak installment that sets us up for a banger of a finish.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Being an adaptation of the second half of the last book in the series certainly gave this film an advantage, no wasted time spent camping or wandering around in the woods, so this entry was able to get off with a bang, and once it got going it never really stopped. From the dazzling bank robbery at Gringotts, with its amazing dragon, to the epic final battle at Hogwarts Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is an emotional roller coaster that you never want to get off. This movie is a perfect example of how to end a trilogy, not only did all key characters get a fitting resolution – Ron really stepped up to the plate in this outing – but even tertiary characters got proper payoffs, even if that meant dying valiantly in battle and boy what a battle it was. The terrifying showdown between Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort was a brutal knockdown drag-out fight that is so intense that even those who have read will be on the edge of their seat in suspense.

Overall, this final chapter should delight both cinema goes and fans of the books as it wonderfully encapsulated the magical world of Harry Potter and brought the series to an end that revealed the emotional core of the whole franchise, that even those who may appear to live within darkness may have a little light of their own, and it’s that simple message that makes all the spectacle more grounded and heartfelt. This is a movie series I look forward to revisiting time and time again.