# Best Harry Potter movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 19, 2011, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-harry-potter-movie/589522 "2011-07-19T00:31:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-harry-potter-movie/589522/21 "2011-07-19T19:19:20Z")
> [@mac\_bolan00](#): > > most first installments are expositions. remember that a good part of potential movie fans found the book enjoyable, and will definitely want the flavor preserved on the big screen. in my experience, variance from the best-selling book rarely works. I sort of disagree with that statement. Fellowship had hardly any overt exposition, it’s still a very powerful story. Also, to further use that example, had Peter Jackson done the same thing Chris Columbus did, he would have put Tom Bombadil in the movie, in a 90-second scene that serves absolutely no purpose to the plot and leaves non-readers baffled who the hell that guy is. So many things in Philosopher’s Stone could have been left out without damaging the core of the story, but short as they all were they still stole screen time from elements that had to be rushed because of them. Not sure about other series from books, as I have not and shall never read/see Twilight and can’t think of another good example. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-harry-potter-movie/589522/22 "2011-07-19T19:23:54Z")
I don’t really care for the Order of the Phoenix _book_, but think the \*movie \*is perhaps the second-best of the series, after POA. ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-harry-potter-movie/589522/23 "2011-07-20T00:35:37Z")
> [@Pitchmeister](#): > > I sort of disagree with that statement. Fellowship had hardly any overt exposition, it’s still a very powerful story. Also, to further use that example, had Peter Jackson done the same thing Chris Columbus did, he would have put Tom Bombadil in the movie, in a 90-second scene that serves absolutely no purpose to the plot and leaves non-readers baffled who the hell that guy is. > > So many things in Philosopher’s Stone could have been left out without damaging the core of the story, but short as they all were they still stole screen time from elements that had to be rushed because of them. > > Not sure about other series from books, as I have not and shall never read/see Twilight and can’t think of another good example. here’s what, i didn’t enjoy FOTR. it was an outright disappointment to me (as i already explained in another thread.) i agree it spun a cinematic story that was good. but the casting, the acting, and direction all fell flat for someone who was too much bound to the book. to be fair, i got used to the movie soon enough and enjoyed TTT and ROTK. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-harry-potter-movie/589522/24 "2011-07-20T00:49:06Z")
> [@Kiros](#): > > Put me on that train too. PoA is my favorite, but Order is strong in the running for second (with HBP and Hallows p2). Whenever it’s on TV, I keep muttering, “stop being such a dick, Harry”, but it’s another one where they’ve made the right choices on what to put in and not put in so that it flows well for a non-series-reader. The movie did a good job of cutting out most of the more obnoxious Harry-being-an-ass behavior so it does flow well. In the book he’s much worse, but he has a good reason, lots of good reasons, so I cut him a lot of slack. One of the reasons I love the book (and movie, but especially book) is how in-depth it goes into just how much the power of the press and peer pressure can hurt someone’s reputation. All this real-life News of the World publicity? Rowling took us into that tabloid/lies world in Order of the Phoenix. It was timely then and it’s even more timely now. Rita Skeeter lives. I think I’ll go read it again! ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-harry-potter-movie/589522/25 "2011-07-20T01:28:53Z")
Most people seem to love _Prisoner of Azkaban_, both the book and movie, and also like Sirius. Buggered if I can figure out why. I thought the _Deathly Hallows_ as a whole, but especially Part 1, was the most thrilling and the best adaptation. My favourite of the books is still _Goblet of Fire_. ---
**Author:** ![Carmady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@Carmady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carmady)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-harry-potter-movie/589522/26 "2011-07-20T07:27:14Z")
It’s Prisoner of Azkaban, but all of them after the abysmal first two have been very good and hard to rank. I think I would put Half-Blood Prince slightly below the other five. I’m surprised people are surprised to see OotP love: wasn’t Umbridge agreed to be a colossal success in the movie? ---
**Author:** ![Tanbarkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@Tanbarkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanbarkie)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-harry-potter-movie/589522/27 "2011-07-20T19:08:06Z")
_Prisoner of Azkaban,_ hands-down. It’s the “Wrath of Khan” of the Harry Potter films - a strong, character- and theme-driven tale skillfully told. PoA succeeded in adapting the essence of the story rather than adhering mindlessly to each letter of the text like the first two films, which were pretty awful IMO. It helps that PoA as a book was perhaps the tightest _story_ Rowling wrote, but Cuaron took what was already one of the high points of the series and elevated it further. Stellar direction (including a sense of visual metaphor sorely lacking in the other films before _Deathly Hallows_) and pitch-perfect acting performances from Gambon, Thewlis, and Rickman. This was also the first film in which the three kids in the lead really started to become actors rather than line-readers, something I attribute heavily to Cuaron’s uncanny ability to bring great performances from young actors. I’m a huge fan of the books, but I’m not hugely enamored of the film series overall. PoA and the two Deathly Hallows installments are the only ones I’d consider truly “great movies” when isolated from the books. I found that the best scenes in the other films held their power primarily by evoking my memories of those scenes in the books. But their overall quality as _movies_ suffered first from overly slavish adherence to the text (for films 1 and 2), and then a sense of choppiness (for films 4-6), as they excised _so much_ that the plots probably made absolutely no sense to people who hadn’t read the books beforehand. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-harry-potter-movie/589522.md?page=1)