Harry Potter (film)/YMMV

• Adorkable:
  • Harry and Hermione's dancing in Deathly Hallows: Part 1.
  • Neville teaching himself to dance in Goblet of Fire, being completely unafraid of looking like a twat or a nerd, like a lot of boys his age would be. So cute, it almost goes into Crowning Moment of Heartwarming or Squee territory.
• And the Fandom Rejoiced:
  • Evanna Lynch is Luna Lovegood!
  • The Tale of the Three Brothers told in a beautifully animated sequence.
  • Alan Rickman is one of the least contested casting choices, with the main complaint being that he's so much older than Snape.
  • As soon as you see her, it's hard to imagine anyone but Maggie Smith playing McGonagall.
  • Bill Nighy is Rufus Scrimgeour!
• Award Snub: The series didn't win a single Academy Award during its 10 years.
• Awesome Music: Courtesy of John Williams above all; the music by the replacement composers is generally well-liked, too. The best can be found here.
• Better on DVD: While the movies don't make complete sense on their own, they make better sense when viewed in a marathon (esp. with the deleted scenes), especially since the installments are released one or two years apart, which adds up quite quickly. It's a bit much to expect someone who didn't rewatch the series on DVD to remember Gryffindor's sword after eight years.
• Non Sequitur Scene:
  • In Prisoner of Azkaban, there's-
    • The talking shrunken head on the Knight Bus.
    • The choir singing the witches poem from Macbeth.
    • Once in Griffyindor's Boy's Room in the middle of the night, Ron bolts up, shaking and whimpering something incoherently.

Harry: Ron! What is it?
Ron: (whimpering) Spiders... asking me to tap-dance... but I keep telling 'em I don't want to!
Harry: (forcing back a laugh) Well you tell 'em you don't want to!
Ron: (spaced) Yeah... (collapses immediately on the bed)

• • In Goblet of Fire, the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang introduce themselves with dance. It's even worse in the deleted scene, where the Hogwarts students responded by singing their school song. The Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students look reasonably uncomfortable.
  • In Half Blood Prince, the Death Eaters destroying the Burrow. The kids just go back to school and the Burrow's just fine in the next movie.
  • Harry and Hermione's dancing in Deathly Hallows Part 1. Whether you find the scene touching or hilarious, it still came out of nowhere.
  • Giant spiders suddenly attacking in the final battle of the final film. This was in the book, and it made only slightly more sense there.
• Continuity Lock Out: Because of time constraints, much of the backstory gets cut, leaving many viewers who haven't read the books scratching their heads: each individual movie is more or less comprehensible by itself, but when put into a movie continuity, certain things don't make sense.
  • In the third film, the simple fact that Sirius is innocent and was framed by Pettigrew is explained in the most confusing manner possible. This sentence probably just explained it more clearly than any line in the entire movie.
  • They also cut out Dumbledore's argument with Cornelius Fudge, which greatly foreshadowed the events of The Order of the Phoenix.
  • Prisoner of Azkaban never explains who Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are. Then, Harry calls Pettigrew "Wormtail" in the Goblet of Fire movie without explanation, and Sirius is called "Padfoot" in OotP.
  • Neither an explanation for how Lupin instantly recognizes the Marauder's Map for what it is nor for how Sirius knows that "The Map never lies" is given as well.
  • In Goblet of Fire, the corpse of Barty Crouch Sr. is removed from the woods… only for him and his death to never be mentioned again. (Not even when the assassin reveals himself.)
  • Barty Jr.'s back story is changed from "believed to be dead" to "still imprisoned in Azkaban". This may be very confusing for moviegoers, who are now expected to believe he could have escaped with nobody noticing while the plot previous film revolved around another escape that was discovered instantly.
  • The plot and tension of Order of the Phoenix hinge on the fact that the only person who will admit to Voldemort's return is Harry Potter. The problem is that if you saw Goblet of Fire, you know that isn't true. Because the Ministry of Magic clearly has someone in custody who could tell them (or they could magic it out of his head): Barty Crouch Jr, who is last seen alive and being taken into custody at the end of the film. Of course, the book of Goblet of Fire had him kinda-killed off. This is not done in the film, and thus you need to read the books in order for the continuity of the films to make sense.
  • Percy is given only a cameo with no explanation as to why he's on the Ministry's side, nor why he's suddenly fighting Death Eaters beside his family in Deathly Hallows Part 2.
  • The entire point of Snape's flashback during Occlumency, which was Lily - specifically him calling her mudblood. That was the entire point of it being Snape's Worst Memory, him ostracizing her was not in the final cut. It was the massive turning point for his character. They were apparently forced to cut it out due to Executive Meddling, but the problem remains the same.
  • Because the potion book subplot of Half-Blood Prince was so shortened, The Reveal that Snape is the Half-Blood Prince makes very little sense. It's clear that this is why the book let Harry be so good at Potions, but even that is minor.
  • It also left out what may be the single most important minor detail in the story. Specifically, the old tiara Harry puts on the stone bust of an ugly wizard in the room of requirement. This turns out to be the Diadem of Ravenclaw, and Voldemort's next-to-last proper Horcrux. In Deathly Hallows, Part 2, the writers handwaved it by having Harry "hear" the Horcruxes talk in Parselmouth.
  • The movie also fails to point out that the Diadem of Ravenclaw is a Horcrux in the first place since it left out the bits where Harry and Dumbledore make a list of possible Horcruxes and glean the clues from Voldemort's past, which enable them to predict his actions.
  • This trope is actually Inverted between Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows Part 1 - a Non Sequitur Scene halfway through Half-Blood Prince that wasn't in the book involves the bad guys burning The Burrow (the Weasleys' house) to the ground. With no explanation at all, it reappears without a scratch in Deathly Hallows.
  • Deathly Hallows Part One does not waste one second bringing people up to speed on who the characters are or what they're doing. Movie critics have not let this pass without comment.
  • It also relies heavily on a shard of the magical two-way mirror that Sirius gave Harry in OotP as a visual and plot device - despite the fact that it did not appear in the OotP movie. Turns out in Part 2 that Mundungus stole it from Grimmauld Place. But we don't know how it ended broken, or in Harry's hands. It seems highly probable that this was in the original cut of Order of the Phoenix, but thanks to Executive Meddling, it was cut for the theatrical version.
• Creator's Pet: Hermione, to a lot of people. She is known to be the screenwriter's favorite character. While in the first two films she was portrayed utterly correct to her role in the books, the third film prettied her up considerably (though this may have just been how the actress grew up), gave her most of Ron's better lines, had her wear pink, and generally portrayed her to be the leader of the Trio who could do no wrong. The fourth film, too, calls a lot of attention to how beautiful she apparently is. By the last film, this is toned down considerably (Ron actually figures out two important plot points before she does, for instance).
• Draco in Leather Pants: Barty Crouch, Jr. Thank you, David Tennant.
• Freud Was Right:
  • Cormac MacLaggen's deluxe-model broom, as compared to Ron's smaller thinner hand-me-down one in Half-Blood Prince.
  • When Voldemort takes Lucius's wand in Deathly Hallows (snapping off its cane handle), Lucius flinches as if he had just been castrated.
    • He decapitated poor Snakey! ^{[dead link]}
• Ensemble Darkhorse: Quite a few characters not given much attention in the books suddenly become more popular once there's an actor playing them. One example? Yaxley, who in the books was just a named Death Eater. In Deathly Hallows Part 1, he acts more like a well-dressed British gangster. It helps that he's played by the badass Peter Mullan. Also, his walking instead of running after the fleeing Trio in the Ministry made him a lot scarier!
• Evil Is Sexy: Bellatrix Lestrange. In the books, her stay in Azkaban had strongly diminished her beauty. In the movies, however...
  • Her teeth are really manky and disgusting, though. Then again...

Tom Felton: "...Even with those teeth, I'd still... you know."

• • Barty Crouch Jr.
  • Scabior.
  • Lucius Malfoy.
• Everybody Remembers the Stripper: The frequently asked topic of conversation in most press interviews for Deathly Hallows Part 1 was the filming of the Horcrux visions of topless Harry and Hermione kissing.
• Fountain of Memes: Deathly Hallows, Part 2. Hundreds, if not thousands, of Facebook pages sprang up over night. "Boom?", Neville's cardigan, Voldemort's NYEAH, hugging Draco...
• Growing the Beard:
  • Definitely debatable, but Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire were the best reviewed movies in the series, so this applies for critics. It was with Prisoner of Azkaban that the series became a more Pragmatic Adaptation.
  • Deathly Hallows Part 2 appears to be the most universally-approved adaptation - critics loved it, and the fanbase is largely positive towards the overall product (though not without the occasional quibble). Given that Part 1's reception was a little more lukewarm and rather more divided, this is especially impressive.
• Hate Dumb:
  • We all knew Sir Michael Gambon was never going to top Richard Harris as Dumbledore, but some of the hate he got for it is really scary.
  • Let's not forget Katie Leung aka Cho Chang getting lots of fangirl hate, death threats included.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • The sixth film suddenly just got a lot less funny due to Lavender Brown getting the Death by Adaptation treatment in the last film.
  • A more long-term one: all of Neville Longbottom's Butt Monkey moments become this as his childhood traumas are eventually revealed. In particular, Goblet of Fire, fainting during Mad-Eye Moody's Crucio demonstration, when the Pensieve scene later reveals that that was what happened to his parents.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Cedric Diggory makes his entrance jumping out of a tree. Maybe he was bothered.
    • Furthermore, Harry's incredibly handsome fangirl magnet of a rival is played by Edward Cullen's actor!
  • After Bill gets mauled by Greyback, the narration states that he "now bore a distinct resemblance to Mad-Eye Moody. Moody is played by Brendan Gleeson. Bill is played by his son Domhnall.
  • One reason to never take Cedric's death seriously ever again: A Very Potter Musical. Seriously, try watching it without thinking "YOU'RE SUCH A SPARE!!!". At the same time, Voldemort's resurrection will never be scary again because of that damn musical. "TO DANCE AGAAAAAAAAIIIINNN!!!!!!
• Ho Yay:
  • In Deathly Hallows, the book, Malfoy intentionally stays far away from Harry at Malfoy Manor and doesn't look at him directly because he's afraid of what will happen if he identifies him. In the movie, he comes very close, kneels down to Harry's level, and stares deep into his eyes for a long moment....
  • The movie of Deathly Hallows actually downplays a (possibly one-sided) gay relationship present in the book between Grindelwald and Dumbledore, rendering it no more than Ho Yay.
• Internet Backdraft: Want to have some fun? Find some Potter fans and claim you prefer the films to the books. Expect them to retort that that is because you haven't read the books. And then, if you really want to have some fun, say you have read the books and still prefer the films.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks: The film series' fanbase's opinion, especially if they prefer the later films to the first two. See also They Changed It, Now It Sucks, below.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "Dobby never meant to kill! Only maim, or severely injure!" is quickly picking up steam.
  • "Turn to page 394." It's due mostly to Snape fangirls finding Alan Rickman's delivery of this very random line extremely sexy. The fact that he repeats "page 394" a couple times later in the scene pushed it to full-blown meme status.
  • In less than a day, Voldemort's scream of "NYEAAHHHHH!" found in the trailer for Deathly Hallows Part 2, mainly because the exact same scream is repeated four times throughout the trailer, with the result that it becomes rather... amusing.
  • The pimp cane.
  • Voldemort and Draco's incredibly awkward hug in Deathly Hallows Part 2. Along with his awkward laughter.
  • Edward fears Voldemort.
• Memetic Outfit: Hermione's pink hooded sweater in the third film.
• Moe: Gabrielle Delacour is tiny and cute and French. Luna Lovegood (Evanna Lynch) is so cute, and so much The Woobie, that you just want to give her a hug and some soup and tell her it will all be better tomorrow.
• Moral Event Horizon: In Chamber of Secrets, Lucius was clearly about to cast Avada Kedavra on Harry, as opposed to the book version where his spell is ambiguous. He's about to kill a 12-year old, over a house elf! This is really Jason Isaac's fault - he was told to just use "a spell", and the first thing that came to mind was the words of the Killing Curse. He later admitted that he hadn't realised which spell he'd been wording until after filming was completed.
• Periphery Demographic: Hermione and the actress who portrays her, Emma Watson, are really popular among male fans.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Many reviewers and fans feel that Dobby's appearance in Deathly Hallows, Part 1 significantly improves his character.
• Retroactive Recognition: OMG ITS EDWARD!!!!!!
• Ship Tease: The end of the last movie shows a single, silent scene where Luna joins Neville resting in the Great Hall after the last battle. This scene doesn't have much purpose other than to be a Ship Tease. This could also be an example of Pair the Spares.
• Smurfette Breakout: Out of the three leading actors, Emma Watson has received the most publicity. While Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint have gotten a large amount of roles, it is Emma who has remained in the public eye the most.
• Special Effect Failure:
  • The "19 years later" epilogue in Deathly Hallows, Part 2 appears to attempt to make the actors (who are as much in their early-to-mid 20's) look like they're in their late thirties solely by putting them in big coats. It's hilariously awkward.
  • The first film is somewhat infamous for its obvious Chroma Key composites and quickly dated CGI. Chris Columbus has spoken about this in interviews and indicated that he made a deliberate effort to do better on the second film. His mistake on the first movie was shooting all the effects scenes towards the end of the shooting schedule, giving the effects people only a few months to complete their work. On the second movie, Columbus shot the effects scenes at the beginning of the shooting schedule, giving them a whole year instead.
  • Lily and James' gravestone in Godrics Hollow finally confirms that the films are following the same timeline as the books (in spite of the whole Millenium Bridge incident). Then in Snape's flashback scenes the make-up artists/visual effects team apparantly decided not to help out 64-year-old Alan Rickman in his portrayal of a 21-year-old man. The same goes for Lily and James' actors looking in their forties in the same scenes.
• Tainted by the Preview: On August 14, 2008, Warner Bros. announced to push Half-Blood Prince's intended November 21, 2008 release date to July 15, 2009 due to the Writers' Guild of America strike of 2007-2008, despite releasing a teaser trailer for the film a month earlier. This caused so many angry outbursts from hundreds of Harry Potter fans, who called for boycotts of the studio and their products, and sent numbers of nasty hate-mail to the studio. After that, Warner Bros. responded to these outraged fans by sending an apology letter, which promptly ended with "We love the fans". But the fans think this letter is an insult and continue to boycott the studio.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks: The film series' fanbase's opinion, especially if they preferred the first two films to the later films. See also It's the Same, Now It Sucks, above.
• The Woobie: The list of Woobies in the movies pretty much correspond to the one in the book version. However, Professor Trelawney gets Woobie status in Order of the Phoenix in the scene where she's fired by Delores Umbridge and forced to leave Hogwarts with her bags in front of the whole school. Emma Thompson's heartbreaking performance makes it an absolute Tear Jerker in the movie.