A Critical Review of Harry Potter Movie Series

Running head: A critical review of Harry Potter film series
A Critical Review of Harry Potter Movie Series:
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Author Note

1A critical review of Harry Potter film series
Introduction:
For most of the fans of fiction novels and fiction films, Harry Potter isn’t an unknown
character, which was based on the novels by the British Author J. K. Rowling. Based on the
novels, a series of films were made, and distributed by Warner Brothers. The British
American series started with the release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (in UK)
or Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (US and worldwide) on 2001, and the series
completed with Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (part 2) on 2011, with a total of eight.
Each sequel in the film was based on each novel, except the last two films which were made
into two films. The success of the film even inspired sequels to be made, and still has a global
fan following years after the final film and novel on the series were released (Vezzali et al.,
2015).
Discussion:
The Harry potter films were adapted from the novel series written by J K Rowling.
The films saw a gradual evolution in the characters, as well as they way their stories have
been portrayed in the films. Starting from the casting of the crew, J K Rowling retained a
considerable amount of control, ensuring that only British Actors were selected to play the
British characters in the film. The main characters of the film: Daniel Radcliffe (playing the
role of Harry Potter), Rupert Grint (playing Ron Weasley) and Emma Watson (playing
Hermionie Granger) were all cast when they were children, as the characters playing their
classmates and schoolmates. This allowed keeping true to the novel’s focus on the
backgrounds of each characters. In the series of the 8 films, the viewers were able to witness
the development of each character in their maturity, confidence and ability to execute serious
scenes with great ease. Harry Potter was shown as a timid young orphaned boy, under the
control of their relatives, the Dursleys, where he lived until he reached the age of schooling.

2A critical review of Harry Potter film series
The first movie, the Sorcerer’s Stone set up the platform for the audiences to understand the
plight faced by Harry Potter while living with his relatives, and how they were always afraid
of the special ‘gifts’ Harry had. The opening credit of the film became an iconic music, which
exuded an aura of magic and at the same time had an innocent undertone. It can be
understood, that the first film was mainly aimed towards the children, and hence the film bore
all the hallmark attributes for the same. The characters were portrayed in a simpler manner:
like Hagrid as a gentle giant; Malfoys as evil; Weasleys and faithful friends; Harmione
Granger as an exceptionally brilliant student; Dubledore as the wise head of the institute. The
visual of the films were also aimed to show a child like comprehension of the magical world,
from the perspective of someone completely new to the world. The adaptation of the
Hogwarts express for instance was very simplistic, whose role in later films grew more
prominent, with students facing many situations while travelling on it. The films saw several
different changes from what was there in the novel, in an attempt to create a little different
narrative of the story, and prevent them to be completely predictable, and incorporated few
new elements in the movies.
Due to the enormous volumes of different plots and sub plots in the novel, it was not
possible to keep each and every event, instead several plots were consequently removed, and
only the most important ones were filmed. Many critiques and fans also showed
disappointment due to the changes made in the films, however still most of the movies saw
major success in the box office.
In the first film deferent aspects from the novel were changed, several characters from
the novel were omitted, such as professor Binns, the History of Magic teacher and Peeves the
poltergeist. The film also removes the beginning part of the novel where Dumbledore and
Professor McGonagall meet outside the house of Durseleys, in the aftermath of the attack on
the Potters by Lord VOldemort, which killed Harry’s parents. Also, the time Harry spent in