What do you really think about the Harry Potter movies? There are many book readers who would trash the adaptations for not accurately bringing to life J.K. Rowling's masterful work. However, for an entire generation (including a number of celebrities), the Potter movies were a major aspect of their life. Like the books before them, the Harry Potter movies seemed to grow up with their target fanbase. As they got older, the stories became more mature, darker, and filled with tremendous depth. But that doesn't mean they were critically acclaimed or seen as 'masterpieces. In an article published before the release of the final film in the original Harry Potter series, The Deathly Hallows Part 2, Entertainment Weekly summed up what they thought about each of the movies. Let's take a look...
The Weakest Links May Surprise You
Without a doubt, most people would agree that the casting in Harry Potter was nothing short of superb. Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton, Bonnie Wright, and all of the young actors perfectly fit their roles. More impressive was the adult actors. That, of course, includes the casting of the late-great Alan Rickman as Severus Snape, Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes, Robbie Coltrane, Michael Gambon, the late Sir Richard Harris, Julie Walters, Dame Maggie Smith, David Thewlis, Jason Isaacs, John Cleese, Sir Kenneth Branagh, Gary Oldman, Brendan Gleeson, and the list just goes on and on and on...
While Entertainment Weekly was always constantly positive when reviewing the casting of the Potter films, the movies themselves didn't always get rave responses. Relatively, all the films faired well, according to EW. But among the worst was the first film...
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (originally Philosopher's Stone) impressed EW film critic Lisa Schwarzbaum in terms of the spectacle but believed it was "long, dense' and included far too many subplots that offered little to no surprises.
In fact, she claimed that the movie "drags through the air rather than flies; at some two and a half hours, it’s one long game of heroes-and-challenges. By the time Harry faces the evil Lord Voldemort, Harry Potter tilts, overloaded with fact at the expense of magical fiction. Still, this is an engineering problem that ought to be correctable."
Ultimately, the first film earned a "B" rating from the magazine and online editorial.
Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, reviewed by EW film critic Owen Gleiberman, also earned a fairly low review of "B-". Owen said, "As grand as [the dragon sequence] is, the film peaks a little too soon. [Goblet of Fire director Mike] Newell, unlike [Prisoner of Azkaban director Alfonso] Cuarón, jams sequences together like bricks of LEGO, without giving the story an emotional flow. The other Triwizard labors are all staged as hermetic set pieces, with each one a little less exciting than the last. The biggest disappointment of Goblet of Fire is that Harry’s first romantic stirrings, stoked by his new celebrity status as a Triwizard competitor and also by the suddenly dolled-up appearance of Hermione (Emma Watson) at a Hogwarts ball, are every bit as self-contained as the action. Young love, having finally reared its head, becomes just another LEGO block.
The Films Stuck In The Middle
Most of the Harry Potter movies received a B+ review from Entertainment Weekly. This includes The Chamber of Secrets, which Lisa said was "An improvement on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone not only because the director and his team are more confident about what they can do, but also because they’re less uptight and defensive about what they can’t."
Funnily enough, the film that many consider being 'the best' in the series, Alfonso Cuarón's The Prisoner of Azkaban, received the same rating as Chamber of Secrets, although Owen Gleiberman called it "the first movie in the series with fear and wonder in its bones, and genuine fun, too."
The fifth film, The Order of The Phoenix, was praised for the introduction of beloved characters such as Luna Lovegood and Bellatrix Lestrange, as well as for taking some risks. But the movie lost a lot of what made J.K. Rowling's book of the same name so special and purposefully didn't answer a lot of what was set up at the beginning of it... That tends to go with the territory of these films.
The Last Three Were The Best Three
That leaves The Half-Blood Prince, The Deathly Hallows Part 1, and The Deathly Hallows Part 2. Each of these final three movies earned an "A-" review from Entertainment Weekly.
The Half-Blood Prince, although drastically different in tone from the previous movies, was praised for its evolution:
"The new tone is disquieting because it’s so different from what came before. Yet if Harry and his world didn’t continue to evolve, they would soon become nostalgic curiosities. It’s heartening, both as an author and a reader, to see that J.K. Rowling is brave enough to experiment with her beloved series, and that she has remained true to the emotional and physical development of her characters."
Lisa Schwarzbaum called The Deathly Hallows Part 1 "the most cinematically rewarding chapter yet". She praised the quiet moments within the film:
"In one of the movie’s sweetest wordless moments, Harry comforts Hermione. Ron has stormed off after a fight with Harry, Hermione is sad and troubled, and Harry spontaneously leads his dear friend in a dance. The scene isn’t in the book; it’s the rare deviation of an addition to the sacred text, rather than an unavoidable cut made for Muggle-driven movie purposes. Yet the gesture is so tender, and such a welcome breath of warmth in such a dark time, that the grace note demonstrates an integrity I feel sure Rowling would applaud."
Finally, The Deathly Hallows Part 2was praised for being visually grand, epic, and emotionally satisfying. Perhaps most complimentary was Lisa's final line in the review:
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2 leaves us with the dawning, awesome recognition that the world is huge, fraught, enigmatic, magical, dangerous, delightful, and, ultimately, the responsibility of young people who must first find their own footing. That’s quite an accomplishment for a story about a boy with a wand."