12 Huge Problems With Harry Potter Movies Nobody Admits
No franchise is perfect, but some of these problems could have easily been avoided...
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00:00Maybe the most remarkable thing about the Harry Potter movies is how consistently good
00:05they are.
00:06With any lengthy series, however, there are going to be problems here and there.
00:09Some of these issues or lapses in logic are well-known, but others, big or small, don't
00:14really get any attention.
00:15With that in mind, I'm Wilford Culture and here are 12 Problems With The Harry Potter
00:19Movies Nobody Admits.
00:2112.
00:22Harry, Ron and Hermione's Midnight Stroll – The Philosopher's Stone
00:26Every Hogwarts student knows they are forbidden to roam around the school at night.
00:30And as such, Harry usually wears his invisibility cloak during his many nighttime adventures
00:34around the castle.
00:35However, after being introduced to Hagrid's new pet, a dragon named Norbert, the main
00:40trio stroll back through the castle in the dead of night without a care in the world.
00:44They don't even bother to keep their voices down as they head back to Gryffindor Tower,
00:48and Harry also conveniently forgets his father's invisibility cloak.
00:52If Harry, Ron and Hermione had been more cautious during this scene, it would have
00:56been a lot more believable.
00:57It doesn't ruin the plot of the movie or anything, but it's still rather odd that
01:01the filmmakers didn't recognise this rather obvious blunder.
01:0411.
01:05Voldemort's Death – The Deathly Hallows Part 2
01:08The Dark Lord's death is strange, to say the least.
01:11The terrific exchange between Harry and Voldemort written by J.K.
01:15Rowling is replaced with an entertaining, if rather cheesy, action sequence which ends
01:19with the two characters locked in battle.
01:21This is all perfectly fine, but Voldemort's demise makes no sense whatsoever.
01:25After Harry claims his opponent's wand, the Dark Lord starts to deteriorate.
01:29His body crumbles into an ash-like substance which floats away into the sky.
01:33The only possible explanation is that Voldemort was so dehumanised that he wasn't able to
01:38die normally.
01:39Regardless of why the filmmakers thought this was an acceptable way to finish the Dark Lord,
01:44it would have been much more striking if his body had remained intact and Harry was forced
01:48to look at the lifeless form of his archnemesis.
01:5110.
01:52Percy's Estrangement – The Order of the Phoenix
01:55Percy Weasley is probably the least popular member of the Weasley family, and this is
01:59understandable.
02:00He's pompous, annoyingly ambitious, and obsessed with following rules.
02:04Percy occasionally makes an appearance in the first three movies, but in The Goblet
02:08of Fire, he simply disappears from the story.
02:10In The Order of the Phoenix, he has no dialogue, but he does crop up regularly alongside Cornelius
02:15Fudge.
02:16The issue is that there's no explanation given about Percy's transformation from
02:20a loyal member of the Weasley family into the minister's assistant.
02:23We're supposed to just accept that he's sided with the corrupt politicians.
02:27In the books, it's actually explained, but in the films, we get nothing.
02:319.
02:32Harry's First Quidditch Match – The Philosopher's Stone
02:35Madame Hooch might be the worst referee in the history of magical games and sports.
02:40She starts Harry's first Quidditch match with a blow from her whistle, and then disappears
02:44for the rest of the game.
02:45The Slytherin's tactics are barbaric, to say the least.
02:48Oliver Wood is walloped with a bludger, and Angelina Johnson is forced into the stands
02:52by two of her opponents.
02:54Both of them are rendered unconscious, and yet Madame Hooch does absolutely nothing in
02:58response to these illegal actions.
03:00While the violence of the Slytherin team is rather amusing, they really shouldn't have
03:04been allowed to get away with it.
03:05Their actions are totally illegal in the context of the sport, yet for whatever reason, neither
03:10Madame Hooch nor any of the other teachers did anything to stop them.
03:148.
03:15Lumos Maxima – The Prisoner of Azkaban
03:18Most Harry Potter fans agree that The Prisoner of Azkaban is the best movie in the franchise.
03:22Unfortunately, this terrific film doesn't get off to a particularly good start.
03:27Just before the opening titles, the camera zooms into Harry's bedroom, and we see him
03:31underneath the covers with his schoolwork.
03:33In order to see what he's doing, he uses the incantation Lumos Maxima.
03:37Yet even a casual Harry Potter fan could tell you that the use of underage magic outside
03:41of school is forbidden.
03:43In fact, in the previous movie, Harry was given a severe warning by the Ministry just
03:48because Dobby performed a hover charm in the Dursley's living room.
03:51It's a fun scene, and a good demonstration of the Dursley's dislike of magic, but it
03:55also contradicts all the established rules of the universe for very little payoff.
04:007.
04:01Snape and the Prophecy – The Half-Blood Prince – The Deathly Hallows
04:05One of the more overlooked chapters in the Harry Potter series is the Seer Overheard.
04:10In this chapter, Harry learns from Professor Trelawney that it was Snape who told Voldemort
04:14about the prophecy.
04:15In the movies, on the other hand, this significant piece of information is simply left out.
04:19And while Snape's memories are adapted relatively well, they lack that extra emotional punch.
04:25In Rowling's version, Snape feels responsible for Lily's death, because his information
04:30led Voldemort to hunt down the Potters.
04:32In other words, he's dealing with guilt as well as loss.
04:35This is a key aspect of why he agrees to protect Harry.
04:38He's redeeming himself while simultaneously making sure Lily did not die in vain.
04:446.
04:45Helena Ravenclaw and the Location of the Diadem – The Deathly Hallows Part 2
04:50Toward the end of the second part of The Deathly Hallows, Helena Ravenclaw tells Harry the
04:53Diadem is located in the Place Where Everything is Hidden, the Room of Requirements.
04:59But how would she know this?
05:00It's very unlikely that Voldemort told her because he was so protective over his horcruxes.
05:06The book version of events, though more complex, is much more satisfactory.
05:10Back in The Half-Blood Prince, Harry is shown a memory which involves Tom Riddle asking
05:14Dumbledore for a job.
05:15Later on, Harry hides his copy of Advanced Potion Making in the Room of Requirement,
05:20and purely by chance, he covers the hiding place with a wig and a tiara to make it more
05:24distinctive.
05:25After speaking with Helena during the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry comes to the sudden realisation
05:30that Voldemort hid the Diadem the night he asked Dumbledore for a job, and that the tiara
05:34he'd used to hide his potions book the previous year was, in fact, the Diadem.
05:39Granted, there is a fair bit of luck involved with such a revelation, but at least there's
05:43a reasonable explanation given, whereas in the movie, we're supposed to just accept
05:47the fact that Helena knows where Voldemort hid her mother's Diadem.
05:515.
05:52Death Eaters Attack the Borough – The Half-Blood Prince
05:55For those who are not familiar with the sixth Harry Potter novel, Harry's visit to the
05:59Borough during the Christmas holidays is pretty quiet.
06:01He discusses his suspicions about Malfoy with Lupin and Mr Weasley, and enjoys the time
06:06away from the school with the other Weasley kids.
06:08In the movie adaptation, on the other hand, his holidays are ruined by a random attack
06:13from Bellatrix Lestrange and Fenrir Greyback.
06:15The pair of them attempt to destroy the Borough, and Harry and Ginny chase them into the surrounding
06:20countryside.
06:21Though the scene is fine as a standalone action sequence, it's also completely nonsensical.
06:26Like most buildings connected with the Order, the Borough was given extra protection, defensive
06:30spells and enchantments to prevent unwanted visitors from wrecking havoc.
06:35As such, Bellatrix and Greyback should not have been able to arrive at the Borough, let
06:39alone destroy it.
06:40Also, why didn't Voldemort come himself?
06:43If the Borough was so easily accessible, it would have been an ideal place to try and
06:47take Harry whilst he was away from the protection of Dumbledore.
06:504.
06:51Barty Crouch Jr's Escape from Azkaban – The Goblet of Fire
06:55Barty Crouch Jr's backstory is fascinating.
06:58The way Rowling ties together the Quidditch World Cup, the disappearance of Bertha Jorkins
07:02and the events of Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts is superb.
07:06Whilst it would be tricky to cover everything in the movie adaptation, the lack of explanation
07:10here is unforgivable.
07:12Harry knows who Barty Crouch Jr is because of his venture into the Pensieve, but there
07:17are no details given about how he escaped from Azkaban or how he managed to communicate
07:22with the Dark Lord.
07:23To make matters worse, Crouch's fate is left rather ambiguous.
07:27The implication is that he's sent back to Azkaban, but in the book he has his soul
07:31sucked out by Dementors due to the ineptitude of Cornelius Fudge.
07:35The book version is much more logical because it explains why he doesn't appear in any
07:39of the later entries.
07:41All things considered, the butchering of Crouch's fascinating story was a massive mistake.
07:46A ten minute flashback would have made for an interesting sequence in one of the more
07:49mediocre Harry Potter movies.
07:513.
07:52The Polyjuice Potion When adapting a novel, there are always going
08:01to be changes to the source material.
08:03Some aspects of the original story will be altered or removed, and new things will also
08:06be added.
08:07Unfortunately, the filmmakers complicated the Polyjuice Potion purely for the sake of
08:12it.
08:13In the Chamber of Secrets, Harry and Ron both take the Polyjuice Potion, and in terms of
08:16their appearances, they look exactly like Crabbe and Goyle.
08:20But for reasons that are never explained, they retain their original voices.
08:25While this does lead to a few comedic moments, there was really no need to impose this rule.
08:30That rule is then abandoned in The Goblet of Fire when Barty Crouch Jr. transforms into
08:34Mad-Eye Moody.
08:35But in both halves of The Deathly Hallows, the filmmakers revert back to the rule established
08:40in the Chamber of Secrets.
08:41This can be seen during the Battle of the Seven Potters and during the Gringotts heist.
08:46It would have been much easier if the filmmakers had just stuck with Rowling's version of
08:50the potion.
08:51This would have avoided any inconsistencies and saved a job for the sound department.
08:542.
08:55The Marauder's Backstory – The Prisoner of Azkaban
08:58Toward the end of The Prisoner of Azkaban, the truth about Sirius Black is revealed.
09:03The audience learns that Scabbers is actually Peter Pettigrew, and that it was he who betrayed
09:08Harry's parents and murdered a street full of muggles, not Sirius.
09:12And Lupin also reveals that he's a werewolf, which is why he's been missing classes.
09:15However, the details of this backstory are never explored.
09:19You wouldn't know from watching the film who created the Marauder's Map, or why they
09:23knew so much about Hogsmeade and the Hogwarts grounds.
09:26Most frustratingly, those who haven't read the book will not know that Harry's Patronus,
09:31which takes the shape of a stag, is the same animal James Potter transformed into as an
09:35Animagus.
09:36It's a shame, because The Prisoner of Azkaban is a terrific movie, yet the filmmakers managed
09:41to miss out what many Potter fans consider to be the best backstory in the entire franchise.
09:471.
09:48Harry doesn't do any magic in his first year, The Philosopher's Stone.
09:53As ridiculous as it might sound, Harry doesn't actually do any magic in his first year at
09:58Hogwarts.
09:59In fact, the only time he successfully casts a spell is whilst he's trying out wands in
10:03Ollivander's shop.
10:05If you watch The Philosopher's Stone closely, you'll notice that Hermione does all the
10:08major spell work.
10:10She uses her considerable talent to fix Harry's glasses, unlock doors, set Snape's robes
10:14on fire, petrify Neville, and take down the Devil's Snare whilst beneath the trapdoor.
10:20Even Ron does more than Harry, because at least he uses Wingardium Leviosa to take down
10:24the Troll on Halloween.
10:26It's really hard to believe the filmmakers didn't spot this crucial misstep at some
10:31point.
10:32Sure, Harry still has a lot to do in the first movie.
10:34He plays Quidditch and is incredibly brave when he fights Quirrell.
10:37But given he's the title character of a story about being a young wizard, he really
10:42should have performed some actual magic at some point.
10:45And there you have it, folks.
10:4612 Problems With Harry Potter Movies Nobody Admits.
10:49Feel free to drop this video a like if you enjoyed it and drop me a follow on Twitter
10:52at UwU.
10:53I'm Will for What Culture, thanks for hanging out, and I'll see you next time.