Festive Fortnight [5]: A Very Merry Potter Post

Some of you might be wondering: “what does Harry Potter have to do with Christmas?” Well, let me explain! Not all that much, really. Yet, for some reason, the Harry Potter films have become a part of Christmas for a whole lot of people around the world.

Perhaps it’s the cosiness of the earlier films, or the Christmas celebrations within them. I don’t know. All I know is that I wanted to do a Harry Potter post during this Festive Fortnight, because I love Harry Potter and I’ll take any excuse to talk about it.

Some time last year, I made a post in which I ranked the Harry Potter books. It was horrible and difficult, but also kind of fun! So, I decided to do the same for the films. The ranking is different from my ranking of the books, but there are definitely similarities, mostly at the top and the bottom. I just want to say as a kind of disclaimer before we start that I love all of these films a lot and that this ranking might change the next time I see any one of them. Although the top two and the last one are pretty much fixed.

Also, I did my best to be vague, but there might be a few spoilers here and there. Just thought I’d mention that

Anyway, here’s my ranking of all eight of the Harry Potter films!

1. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban There’s no doubt about it; this is my absolute favourite. It’s also my favourite of the books because I really like the story with the time-turner and the introduction of Sirius. But I think the time-turner stuff might be done even better in the films. It’s so cool to see it visualised! Plus, the cinematography is absolutely brilliant and the way the film is structured… It’s by far the best out of the eight films, in my opinion.

2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt. 2 Oh man, this film is so cool. I just saw it again recently and it’s so amazingly done! It has a couple of great one-liners and professor McGonagall makes me squeal with glee every time. And that moment with the big reveal in the Great Hall when Harry comes out… Oh man. So much happens in this film, and it’s all done amazingly. The only thing I’m always slightly disappointed about is the fact that the final standoff between Harry and Voldemort isn’t the way it was in the book (with everyone watching). Although I guess the way it was handled in the film also has its own charm.

3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt. 1 This seems to be a bit of an unpopular opinion, but I love this film. I recently watched this one as well (on the same day I watched part 2), and this only strengthened my love for this film. It’s a bit like a road trip film, and I love that about it. Some people say hardly anything happens, but I think everything that happens is both vital to the story and super fun to watch. There’s so much character development and there are some really exciting bits as well. I think it’s a great film and the perfect counterpart to Part 2.

4. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix I haven’t seen this one in a while, but I remember really liking it. The battle in the Ministry is truly epic and can we talk about Imelda Staunton as professor Umbridge?! What a performance! I like the start of the film a lot as well, when we get to see Grimmauld Place for the first time. I also think it’s pretty impressive that they managed to adapt the longest book in the series in such a coherent and well-rounded film in just over two hours.

5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire This is my least favourite out of the books, yet I really like the film. For some reason, it’s also the one I’ve seen most often, I think. My ‘problem’ with the book is that it feels rather slow to me at the start, but that’s not the case for the film, so that fixes that. The World Cup and the Triwizard Tournament are so cool to see visualised, as is the graveyard scene at the end. Also, let’s just briefly mention David Tennant as Barty Crouch Jr.! Love him in that (small) part!

6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Okay, I’m going to be honest with you. I just don’t remember this film very well. It’s been quite a long time since I last saw it, and it’s all just a bit hazy. I mean, I remember the core scenes, of course. And I’m pretty sure I liked it a lot (I seem to remember it being quite funny) but it doesn’t feel right to put it high up on the list if I can’t even remember the ‘feel’ of it all.

7. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone Ah, the one where it all began! It’s cute, and this one has a special place in my heart, but compared with the other ones it’s kind of just child’s play, isn’t it? It’s an amazing start to the series, and it’s so fun to see the magical world visualised for the first time. In fact, I don’t have anything bad to say about this film. It’s just a little less good than the others, in my opinion. Also, quick shout out to the original Dumbledore A.K.A. the best Dumbledore. Richard Harris’ Dumbledore is how I imagine him when I’m reading the books.

8. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Ranking these films was really difficult, but I knew from the start that this one would be last. The main reason for that is that I literally will not watch it. I’m terribly afraid of spiders, which makes Aragog and his gang a complete no go. And it’s not that much of a waste, because from what I can remember the rest of the film isn’t that great. Did you guys know it’s the longest out of the whole series (161 minutes)? That came as a bit of a surprise to me!

Do you agree with my ranking (probably not)? What would you have done differently? Let me know in the comments!