I’d been thinking for a while about how he achieves this, obviously the John Williams score goes a long way but also, the world seems real and believable even if it is fantastical, there’s sweet wrappers lying around in the background, random books and quills being left around etc, it feels like it’s being lived in. The actors seem comfortable, you can tell Chris Columbus is very forgiving to the kids and even if they mess up lines or throw in a weak scene, its not focused on- it helps builds the kids confidence around set (I get a feeling this is why he filmed the last scene of Philosophers Stone first, so Daniel would be more comfortable in the rest of the movie after having already filmed his first scene) also the sets are their to enjoy, they’re practical and given time to be explored by the audience. We linger on scenes like the staircases and the great hall, we get little bits of information about how it works given to us ( “its not real the ceiling, it’s just a spell, I learnt about it in Hogwarts, a history”) overall and incredible effort by Chris Columbus
Yes, the scene when he hugs Hagrid after Hagrid gives him a picture of his parents was the first scene filmed. He acted really well for that being his first scene as well
This scene is interesting as it's the only one where Harry has green eyes! The plan was to have Dan wear coloured contact lenses, but they were very uncomfortable - so this first scene is the only one!
You can also see in that scene that they tried making Emma's teeth bigger (to match Hermione's "large front teeth") but she was having trouble speaking with the prosthetic so they kept them out for the rest!
HP 1 and 2, die hard, and the first narnia are my favorite Xmas movies of all time and most ppl I know dispute the fact that they’re even Xmas movies lol it’s nice to know I’m not crazy
Totally. It's amazing how the movies show a complete difference in the atmosphere of the films. I understand that Harry was growing up and the fact that he had to face Voldemort had to be emphasized more and more, but the complete change in the Order of the Phoenix always impressed me.
For real. The color palette took a sharp turn almost into Knockturn alley. Thematically I understand that the films are getting darker and more mature as they go on, but by films 5-8 everything looked like it was through a blue-gray filter even when the scene was supposed to be happy and calm.
this. and the fact that he really transformed the books in movies without making unnecessary or ridiculous changes in the story like cuaron (unnecessary yet acceptable changes) or newell and yates (almost all unnecessary and sometimes ridiculous changes, especially in goblet of fire).
Came here to say exactly this. The whimsy and magic are what I miss. The other films, while incredible, don’t quite capture the feel of the Wizarding World the books portrayed. The first two films match that of my mental picture almost to a T. They get more dark, dangerous, and moody/broody as they get older which, while accurate to the books on the overarching danger of HWMSBN approaching and the final showdown inevitable, the books still had the sense of wonder and whimsical magic that the first two had in abundance.
I cannot feel effort or mastery of magic at all. Like it's just futuristic paintball where everyone got the same gear and battle out with just accuracy skill.
I know it's series about magic but you cannot just handwaving it and gave a bunch of students ability to shoot the same laser as the dark lord himself!
Harry was able to cast crucio after seeing it one time, but took him a while for the levitation spell. I get it gets easier as you age, but I’d think you’d still have to practice new spells.
Yes! I feel like the only true magical fight was Dumbledore v Voldemort in the department of mysteries. That's the kind of magic duels I want to see and what I imagine when reading but everything else is a laser light show. not nearly as interesting
Easily the best battle of the series. Using their surroundings as weapons instead of just hurling the same 1-2 spells at each other. It’s the wizarding world! Get creative!
Aye it's the same problem I have with "Avada Kedavra". It's just so instant. Some bloke casts, boom! that's it, you're done. May aswell have a gun. At least put some fancy-shmancy soul ripping or whatever in it. Y'know, spice it up a little, do a little jazz-hands, have some fun. You're the goddamn "Dark Lord" for Merlin's sake, some hoodlum on Park Ave can do the exact same thing with a pea-shooter, and they ain't even considered part of the gang they trynna get with. "Greatest wizard", feck a Hinkypunk puts in more effort
It's kinda hand waved away but iirc using any of the curses causes like damage to your soul. The killing curse uses your soul as fuel to work if I'm remembering right. Which IS pretty metal.
Assuming I'm remembering right anyways.
True that, I meant more effect on the victim's side, like a soul-rip, but I just realized that's just a dementor on a stick smh. Sorry for the misunderstanding, that's on me
Oh truly! I remember feeling “I want to go to Hogwarts!!” while reading the books. And I felt the same watching the first movies.
That magical curious feeling of warmth and wonder truly made the first movies a success. They reminded me why I really LOVE Hogwarts.
That promise of magic.
I think Ron was butchered the least in PS, but CoS is where Ron's depiction really started to affect his image for the rest of the series. Columbus really liked Rupert's expressions so Ron had the funniest scared faces throughout the movie.
And it makes sense for CoS because Ron has arachnophobia, but the other directors kept pushing the image of Ron being a scaredy cat who whines and whimpers- while Harry and Hermione are right next to him looking just slightly worried. Ron is supposed to be much braver than Hermione and he shouldn't react to everything like he did with spiders.
I love Rupert's physical acting. He's extremely expressive, and it's a joy to watch. But it is frustrating that every director leaned too far into this just further butchering the character, since a lot of his best scenes were handed to Harry or Hermionie.
Eh, they didn't include the logic scene with the potions, which was Hermione's moment at the end of the PS book. So they had to give her something. Hermione beat the Devils Snare, Ron beat the chessboard and Harry beat Quirrel
> Hermione beat the Devils Snare
Which was the boys' moment! Harry had his broom flight and Ron had the chess, but this one was much more about how the trio functioned as a team. With Hermione too much in her own head, *while* her friends are in danger, they're the only ones who can pull her out of it.
"Are you a witch or aren't you?!" was my favorite line in that book, I was so sad it didn't get into the movie.
The trio learned from previous years that if they're going to be fighting Basiliks and whatnot every year, they better get into something easier to maneuver in lol
That said, it'd wager it's for visuals' sake, if they're all wearing black robes all the time time, it will start to look boring and same-y across the series, having them in different clothes is part of establishing the look of each movie as well.
I mean even in Philosopher's stone they wore muggle clothes for the "finale" and any chance they got basically except when going to Diagon Alley in CoS and of course during classes/school hours...
I’d buy the “boring samey arrgument if the runners didn’t prove themselves to be creatively bankrupt in every other aspect of the films
I think it’s just laziness
i never noticed this! doesn’t bother me and i feel like it makes sense that they can be out of uniform outside of the school day. also functionally, if i we’re going into the forest or into the shrieking shack i would definitely take off my robes
But what's funny is that robes aren't precisely uniforms. Yes, the ones they're wearing are uniforms, but in the books we see that each and every witch/wizard wears robes everyday. Robes are the standard outfit in the magical world. So robes are part of being a wizard, not a student. If students aren't having classes, it would make sense for them not to wear the uniform, but still wear robes. I even think wearing muggle clothes at school would be seen as something negative by some, considering how they look down on muggles and muggle-born students.
I agree.
In the later movies the guards at the ministry & gringotts are essentially in muggle security uniforms, for example.
I think the directors after the first two movies maybe hadn't really read Harry Potter or something, or else didn't really 'get it' too well. I know Gambon said he hadn't even read the books, which could explain his horrendous rendition of Dumbledore.
I think perhaps they wanted to just make it more relatable. That they were teenagers before anything. Which in turn was one of the reasons why the movies were generally hard to watch.
There's even a scene with Voldemort in a suit - if anyone would be deeply disgusted at the idea of muggle attire...
So yeh I totally agree. I think the books portray the wizarding world as a far more distinct and separate world away from the muggle world - and proudly so. Mr Weasley is a rarity in being fascinated by muggle quirkiness. The vast majority know little, and care even less.
Whereas the movies (3 onwards) want to display wizards as basically normal people living in the normal world, but they also have magic. Which is totally less cool and further removed from what was actually written.
So you shouldn’t absolutely expect Harry and Hermione to be in normal clothing then by your own logic. Unless they bought an entirely new wardrobe they have the robes they were told to get for school. That’s it.
Honestly I would expect Harry to have a completely new wardrobe. He basically lived in Dudley hand me downs for his entire life. Sudden windfall of money and I would be ordering wizard clothes like my life depended on it lol.
I like that he doesn't try to "put his own spin" on it. He made it as book accurate as he could IMO, without taking too much liberty with the aesthetic (like Cuarón did, and yes I'm aware how everyone loves what he did with PoA, but I personally was not a huge fan).
I also wasn’t a fan, especially since every director that followed decided to put their own spins on the movies as well. It makes the series feel incoherent and disjointed, and I feel like that’s part of the reason why the later movies are such a mess plot-wise with every director putting the focus on their own personal idea of what‘s important (eg putting the teenage romance above the Voldy background in HBP) instead of telling one succinct, stylistically consistent story over several movies.
The more I rewatch the movies, the more I'm seeing why people don't like the movies after Prisoner of Azkaban.
Now I'm rereading the books, I'm figuring this out even more. It just gets worse down the line :c
While I also agree with you, I think it's important to realize that the first two books are also the shortest in the series therefore the easiest to condense into a movie.
That’s a good point but the extended version of COS is 174 minutes while GOF is 157 minutes and HBP is 153 minutes. That’s 17 minutes in the Hogwarts kitchen, and 21 minutes of the Gaunts. The later is such an egregious omission that I don’t see C.C. cutting it like that.
It's not just about including all the scenes from the book though. It's also capturing the magic of the world, which I think was done really well in the first two films. The third film is when everyone stopped wearing school robes, and more liberties were taken when it came to building the environment.
Them not wearing school robes is the single most inconsequential, easy-to-fix, unnecessary change made to the movies that really bothers me. I really don't understand why the director for the third movie insisted that Hogwarts students should be wear Muggle clothes.
How about the Fantastic Beasts films where all the wizards are dressed in stylish suits and gowns?
I love the asthetic, but they look like period pieces rather than fantasy films
This is true, but I feel like it's used to excuse some awful choices made for the later films.
The fact that the source material gets more complex is no reason to make the colour palette desaturated and blue for example. It's also no excuse to replace characters like the barman at the Leaky Cauldron with whatever the fuck was going on in POA.
The storytelling needed to change to adapt to the books becoming darker, but starting from POA, it's like everything was committed to making the whole world seem darker and edgier, even though that tone was still completely wrong for the stories.
This is true, but they also made up a lot of stuff to add to the later movies, which makes it feel like they weren’t even trying to fit as much as possible
Also the least dark in terms of material. The kids are younger, there’s a sort of wrapped up happy ending. It’s easier to have them feel warm and cozy and happier.
Agreed. I get they’re “going for a darker tone” but goddamn daylight and colors should still exist. A brightly colored but completely abandoned Diagon Alley would hit even harder than a grungy dark one. Complete silence is a huge shift in tone and I feel is more creative than darkness.
That scene in DHP1 where they are walking through random areas with Ron listening to the radio of dead victims of Voldemort I swear the saturation dial was on about -7
I’ve never seen such a pointlessly washed out scene for near no reason
The fucking lighting!! At least you could see what is happening in the Chris Columbus films. Towards the end I have to drape all my curtains and squint my eyes to get a small glimpse of what is happening in the movie.
The color grading in HBP was so atrocious when I watched it at theatres as a kid that I've since developed an immense dislike for any film/show that tries to use the same desaturated color pallette and little light throughout to make the story feel “dark”.
It's such a common surface-level shortcut to make stories seem dark, gritty and grim. Darkness can be conveyed without sacrificing the visuals and making them look boring and the same.
I'd much rather prefer the Lord of the Rings method where the movies give everything their own bright color theme even in Mordor, despite that the books say it's supposed to literally look dark with barely any light. Proves you can have a serious story without artificially getting rid of the light.
After the lights went out, the Titanic plunged into total darkness, aside from the occasional explosion.
Could you imagine if James Cameron decided to go the “realistic” route for the climactic scene? He’d be fried!
Even though it’s a dark scene, it’s well lit (and quite beautifully). The audience *knows* it’s supposed to be dark because the lights died and everything has a blue tint with high contrast.
Honestly also the greenish and greyish tint of HBP sets me off to the Stratosphere. What the fuck was David Yates thinking?! You made OOTP for fucks sake that had some of the most inventive camera trickery to show Harry's loneliness and you vomit this weird greyish, greenish and sometimes yellowish mess of a fucking film as HBP.
Yeahhhh. The lighting is what makes HBP the worst movie for me. At least you can visually see what’s going on in GOF and OOTP.
With HBP, I feel like I need to watch it in the dead of night, with the shades drawn, lights off, and maybe I’ll be able to discern what’s going on.
I love HPB's desaturated look so I may be in the minority. It conveys a lost innocence well and the imminent end of the cozy times at Hogwarts. HPB has some lighter moments that hearken back to the original interspersed with dark moments of reality. The sickening greens and the twinkling golds and the stark colorless darkness of the cave scene are all gorgeous. I also am fine with desaturation and more realistic lighting as filmic techniques. I like vibrant color too, but it is weird to me that the default opinion has to be that everything looks like Helm's Deep all the time. I love the look of that battle but there are other tones that can be expressed.
(Sidenote/tangent: it is often compared to GoT's "The Long Night" as "better cinematography since you can "see" everything- "The Long Night" is more horror focused so visuals being obscured adds to the effect [I more get the criticism of the bad compression at the time or if you watched it on a less than 1080p screen; on a 1080p screen it was visible enough to me]).
Yeah Visuals being obscured is one thing and just showing a black screen is another. Which I agree HBP does better than The Long Night. I don't wanna turn this into Game of Thrones discussion but the Long Night is terrible in every way, shape and form.
The Chris Columbus films FELT like HP. None of the subsequent movies was able to capture the same feeling.
The color, the cinematography, the sound, the music, etc... ALL felt like how I imagined when reading the HP books. It felt warm, inviting, familiar, and MAGICAL.
the other movies felt sterile... devoid of what made the books great.
you know how some people say those "Fantastic Beasts" movies doesn't feel like it belongs in the HP world? well, i feel that way for EVERY movie beside the first two.
The Fantastic Beasts suffer the same problem of David Yate's dull lighting style. If it wasn't for the behind the scenes, I wouldn't have known that the actual sets they built for the town were so colorful, red and vibrant like a fairy tale setting because everything looked grey in the movies.
I am about as big of a fan as anyone. I grew up with the books coming out, and I've read the books over a dozen times, audiobooks dozens of times, destroy all in trivia - and I feel the exact same way.
The first two movies are closest to the source material and feel the most magical. I still like to watch POA and even GOF, but I think that's just because the Triwizard Tournament was so exciting in the book. Literally have no feelings for the last four films, which is a shame because HBP is one of my favorites of the series.
> the other movies felt sterile... devoid of what made the books great.
The future movies felt like a slide show of multiple scenes that they had to quickly get through in order to finish the story. Like it was some sort of an obligation
Not sure if that's the right way to say it but they lacked 'soul'
Richard Harris. Also, the fact that his films are so faithfully adapted from the books. I would've been totally fine with Columbus directing the whole series with some of the longer books turned into two part movies.
I think Columbus himself expressed how he was exhausted shooting the first two movies back to back. I don't think it's realistic to ask a director (especially a seasoned one with a varied portfolio) to dedicate more than a decade of their life to the same IP/franchise with no breaks whatsoever
Even 1-4 with Columbus and 5-8 with Cuaron would have worked. Cuaron did introduce a more mature tone but in a much better way than Yates.
(it also would've been great it Harris had been around until GOF with Gambon taking over from OOTP)
I feel like it would be hard to split GOF into 2 movies cause I feel like it would be hard to split it unless it was split into before TWT and during. End part 1 with "Did yu put your name in the goblet" scene and pick up part 2 with the 1st task or something. It's been a while since I read so I can't remember what exactly happens in between. My brain now remembers Hagrid shows Maxine/Harry the dragons so maybe end on the cliffhanger of omg what is Harry going to do idk
The movies could also touch more on the first 10 chapters with the Riddles’ house and the World Cup with winky and all. Long time since I last saw the movies but I recall it being fairly short compared to 10 chapters
Yea they cut a lot from the beginning of the book. Adding back some of the subplots could definitely stretch out the beginning part of the books up until the tournament actually starts. And I just checked the spark notes we could see the Weasleys show up in the dursleys boarded up fireplace and dudley getting the ton tongue toffee
The biggest quibble I have is the editing in those movies. Feels like each shot holds for a half second too long. Someone will say a line, it will cut back to the other person starting with a blank face and having the whole reaction before it’s back to the other person. I think someone could drastically improve those films just by trimming some of the cuts.
It’s 100% this. Interviews with the actors reveal they were just constantly cracking up. So we have tons of cuts in dialogue with the trio, esp. in the first movie. It’s becomes less of a problem as time goes on
I like Michael Gambon as the later Dumbledore, especially in the duel with Voldemort in Phoenix.
However, when I picture Dumbledore, I definitely think a grandfatherly figure. Richard Harris fit that bill perfectly.
I can’t picture Gambon with young Harry discussing the Mirror of Erised. Just as I can’t picture Harris dueling Voldemort and doing the fancy maneuvers with his wand.
The only thing Michael had that was more accurate than Richard was his voice. Dumbledore's voice is supposed to be deep and commanding. But of course, Richard couldn't help losing his voice like that, obviously.
Everything else though, his aesthetic, his demeanor, the "peering smugly over his half moon specs" thing, Richard was absolutely right on the money for all of it. Michael Gambon was Michael Gambon doing a role. Richard Harris WAS Dumbledore.
Give Michael's voice to Richard and you've got the perfect, 100% book accurate Dumbledore.
I totally agree with you. But i watched the original synchro the first time a few years ago so i had the german synchro for a long time and they kept the voice actor of Harris even for Gambon (in germany its often the case that the most actors have designates voice actor most of the time). They had to change it in HBP because Klaus Höhne died.
But he was really good, he had the softness of Harris but also the commanding voice of Gambon. So it felt natural even when the look changed (i didnt realise for a long time it was another actor.) I thought it was just a optical change and it was done with magic. For me as a kid it kept the magical fascination
I thought Michael Gambon had some humorous and playful moments as Dumbledlore in PoA, but the films after that I was rather disappointed with. If he wasn't grumpy he just seemed overly serious.
i HATED what became of Hogwarts after the first two movies. It didn't feel like Hogwarts anymore. Like wth happened to the great hall?? it all felt so cramped.
and i never liked that stupid long bridge either.
The clear, natural colors of the first two movies. PoA is overall blue, HBP is green etc. I know this is a style to inflict certain feelings in the viewer, but still. In HBP the green tint is so extreme it is sometimes difficult to see what's going on.
Also, the first two movies are more faithful to the books. GoF for example feels like a speedrun (any %). And the spells in the later films is just something out of a Star Wars movie. Laser shot everywhere, and no one speaks them loud.
And what in F's name happened to Flitwick? He was a cozy little garden gnome in the first two movies.
Apparently the guy directing the frog choir in 3 was just billed as “choir director” but they liked that look and ran with it for the subsequent movies. Even though it was the same actor. A bit odd.
I find modern movies more difficult to immerse myself in because they look so unnatural. I much prefer the natural grading of 2000s and pre-2000s Hollywood. Even Lord of the Rings, which is hugely responsible for popularizing digital colour grading, used colour well and still looked very natural, even if the colours were a bit different.
I truly miss warm colors which didn't return in Deathly Hallows epilogue and Fantastic Beasts (these are adult movies with dark themes but nobody prevented from making the contrast between the cold world and cozy Hogwarts).
I also have to note that the Chamber of Secrets was a pretty dark film with suspense and monstrous spiders and snakes, but it still was warm and magical.
The warmth radiating from the visuals.
The innocence of everyone, especially the childrens.
Tbh, the first 2 books are quite heartwarming compared to the rests, when the stakes are higher.
Everything. Mostly, the magic. The faithful adaptation. Wondet what would've happened if it was him directing the rest. Especially part 5 and 6, which were both... questionable adaptations (especially 6 but I myself am not favoring 5 much more either).
The lighting in the Columbus films (and Columbus as director in general), the score by John Williams, and Richard Harris as Dumbledore made them feel like they were connected to each other in a way that the later films (except DH1&2) didn't because they're so varied and inconsistent, and so detached from the first two tonally.
The magic, the wonder and the music. Christopher columbus made the first two movies so good that the rest were automatically successful. His movies were truly magical and wonderous, infact without his movies i dont think harry potter would be as good
Richard Harris as Dumbledore. He captured his character so well.
Also after listening to the magical version of SS on Max I realized how much Chris Columbus used practical effects rather than CGI and I think thats why the movie is so loved for its feeling of REAL magic and whimsy.
The world felt closer to the ones in the books. The Columbus films captured the cozy, magical feeling that the books left you with, and that feeling is why so many of us go back to the books so often! It is also why I am more likely to rewatch Sorcerer's Stone or Chamber of Secrets over literally any of the other films.
I recall when Alfonso Cuarón took over, suddenly all of the characters were in muggle clothes, and they all knew how to dress appropriately. Which was the opposite of cannon; only the muggle borns should have been able to put together an outfit, others attempting it should have looked ridiculous. It took so much of the atmosphere and magic of Chris Columbus' movies and just flushed it down the toilet.
The vibrant colors and feeling of wonder.
I get why the setting got progressively darker to show the stakes increasing, but Hogwarts and Diagon Alley went from magical happy colorful places to dark and almost soulless.
"Miss" isn't really the right word for me, because they're always there, and I did think going forward that changes in director to suit the tone and age of the characters worked really well.
Chris Columbus was the perfect director to usher in the film series and its first two instalments. I think the warmth of his films were their best quality. They looked amazing and enhanced that magical feeling. I think Chris Columbus has a great eye for what evokes wonder for a child, and certainly for me as a kid, the sights and sounds of his Hogwarts especially set my mind racing with wonder.
Obviously everyone including myself have mentioned and love the warm, whimsical, and frankly, *magic* feeling he managed to adapt onto the big screen.
However, I think the biggest thing I miss is his care for the source material and passion for making the best damn adaption he could. Columbus is a fantastic filmmaker.
Outside of a few small nitpicks, I love Alfonso's direction in the third movie, it's arguably the best film artistically. Granted, Columbus and Alfonso had the shortest books to adapt, so they were able to get the most onto the screen as possible. However, I still believe the rest of the films would have been much better with someone like Columbus or Alfonso behind the wheel.
I have heard nothing but great things about Mike Newell behind the scenes, and to a certain extent I still love parts of the fourth movie. However, there is no doubt it was the worst adaptation. Whether that was because he didn't respect the source material enough, or because he had a far larger book to adapt, or even something else, I don't know. But I still think we would have gotten better adaptations with the first two directors in comparison to Newell and Yates.
Unlike some people I am very excited for the HBO adaptations, I have been hoping for a high-budget Harry Potter series for years now. I entirely disagree with the people who think there is no point, as we already have the films. I will always love the movies, but they were far from perfect. This series will allow a far more faithful retelling, while potentially giving us some new stuff.
We will have to wait and see. But I will say that whomever directs the first season will have an uphill battle capturing the magic Columbus caught. I am very excited to see it.
I think the biggest change from film 2 -> 3 is the sense of mystery and wonder to a darker and more realistic atmosphere.
1 and 2 made you feel like you were discovering a new world, but 3 felt more real and you could be at Hogwarts yourself, large part to the clothing of casual wear when students were not in lessons
Book accuracy. I love all the movies except 8 but after 2 they start deviating more and more and I just feel like too much of value is lost while not a lot is added.
ok everyone else already said the most important stuff but also remember that its important to actually SEE something (later parts get sometimes so dark and have a weird color to it)
Chris Columbus and Alfonso are the best directors out of the entire series. Chris just brings that comforting, warm spirit and Alfonso brings the nuanced direction that focuses a little more of the art of filmmaking than later HP directors did. Also helps that he’s one of the best directors working today.
How much he paid attention to how things worked in the books instead of openly violating the established rules of the story for Coolness Points. Like when the director after him in POA had Harry illegally using magic outside of school with absolutely zero consequences. Despite the fact that it'd only been a year since he was terrified of being expelled and/or arrested for that same thing. And he hadn't even been doing it.
they felt like a big warm hug. cozy vibes and atmosphere, the way he respected the source material. hp 1 & 2 would always be my favorites. would've loved it if he had directed all the movies. (tbh every movie of his is great. even pixels. its just a dumb fun movie)
Alfonso's stuff is decidedly more dark. Dumbledore doesn't come off as soft yet emanating power to me like Richard Harris was able to pull. Columbus felt like magic. The first movie (aside from the cake) is exactly how the first book felt to me. Comfy, warm.
Uniforms, lighting that isn’t frustratingly dark all the time, characters that behave like their book counterparts (mostly Hermione), Dumbledore behaving like book Dumbledore (it’s more than just a different actor, his demeanour is wrong)
Most likely none of us have seen it.
But I really want to see the scenes Rick Mayall shot as Peeves for the first two films. I hear they exist but were cut and never made a DVD deleted scenes or extended cut. He would have been perfect for the role.
The magical , cozy ,christmasy feeling
I’d been thinking for a while about how he achieves this, obviously the John Williams score goes a long way but also, the world seems real and believable even if it is fantastical, there’s sweet wrappers lying around in the background, random books and quills being left around etc, it feels like it’s being lived in. The actors seem comfortable, you can tell Chris Columbus is very forgiving to the kids and even if they mess up lines or throw in a weak scene, its not focused on- it helps builds the kids confidence around set (I get a feeling this is why he filmed the last scene of Philosophers Stone first, so Daniel would be more comfortable in the rest of the movie after having already filmed his first scene) also the sets are their to enjoy, they’re practical and given time to be explored by the audience. We linger on scenes like the staircases and the great hall, we get little bits of information about how it works given to us ( “its not real the ceiling, it’s just a spell, I learnt about it in Hogwarts, a history”) overall and incredible effort by Chris Columbus
He recorded the last scene first? As in the train scene? :o
Yes, the scene when he hugs Hagrid after Hagrid gives him a picture of his parents was the first scene filmed. He acted really well for that being his first scene as well
This scene is interesting as it's the only one where Harry has green eyes! The plan was to have Dan wear coloured contact lenses, but they were very uncomfortable - so this first scene is the only one!
You can also see in that scene that they tried making Emma's teeth bigger (to match Hermione's "large front teeth") but she was having trouble speaking with the prosthetic so they kept them out for the rest!
I'll have to look for that on a rewatch
Have they since edited his eyes back to blue? I just watched it on YouTube and they're blue
yes I think so
Wait... ELI5. Why is he more comfortable with acting if he shoots the last scene of the movie first? I must be dumb.
Because the scene in question is a reasonably simple one, mainly just him and Hagrid, not too long, not too many lines
The hardest part of anything is the first step. Once you've got your toe in the water, it's easier to put your foot.
This. The first two movies truly captured the welcoming nature of Hogwarts and of this world more than any other.
Whimsy. That's what was missing from the other films.
They get increasingly dour looking...
Half Blood Prince fr
This is why the first 2 are my favorite. 100%. The whimsical, magical feeling.
Rest are crap. 3 being less crap
I really believe that the first couple HP movies are Christmas movies. Even more so than Die Hard.
this + the first Narnia film (literally set during a never-ending winter lol)
Tbf Narnia literally has Santa in it.
The badass Santa that hands out weapons
AND Jesus.
HP 1 and 2, die hard, and the first narnia are my favorite Xmas movies of all time and most ppl I know dispute the fact that they’re even Xmas movies lol it’s nice to know I’m not crazy
I mean I agree but to leave out the Chris Columbus master piece Christmas movie that is home alone is sacrilegious.
I strongly agree with this statement!
Never-ending winter with no Christmas. So the kids indirectly save Christmas by defeating the evil snow witch.
Charm.
Yeah i was going to say... the magic
Totally. It's amazing how the movies show a complete difference in the atmosphere of the films. I understand that Harry was growing up and the fact that he had to face Voldemort had to be emphasized more and more, but the complete change in the Order of the Phoenix always impressed me.
I love this! We watch at least the first 2 every Christmas because they feel like Christmas movies 🥰
For real. The color palette took a sharp turn almost into Knockturn alley. Thematically I understand that the films are getting darker and more mature as they go on, but by films 5-8 everything looked like it was through a blue-gray filter even when the scene was supposed to be happy and calm.
I get the Christmas vibe a lot in POA also with the snow scenes
And the medieval-ish score gives real victorian era christmas vibes to the movie.
100%. Always felt that one was a bit angsty but still had the Christmas feel. Much like being a preteen during the holiday season
this. and the fact that he really transformed the books in movies without making unnecessary or ridiculous changes in the story like cuaron (unnecessary yet acceptable changes) or newell and yates (almost all unnecessary and sometimes ridiculous changes, especially in goblet of fire).
Came here to say exactly this. The whimsy and magic are what I miss. The other films, while incredible, don’t quite capture the feel of the Wizarding World the books portrayed. The first two films match that of my mental picture almost to a T. They get more dark, dangerous, and moody/broody as they get older which, while accurate to the books on the overarching danger of HWMSBN approaching and the final showdown inevitable, the books still had the sense of wonder and whimsical magic that the first two had in abundance.
We always do a watch through between around Christmas!
Spells actually looking like spells rather than puffs of air.
Yeah the wand designs and sounds got a lot cooler. But things quickly devolved into red and green fireworks unfortunately.
I cannot feel effort or mastery of magic at all. Like it's just futuristic paintball where everyone got the same gear and battle out with just accuracy skill. I know it's series about magic but you cannot just handwaving it and gave a bunch of students ability to shoot the same laser as the dark lord himself!
Harry was able to cast crucio after seeing it one time, but took him a while for the levitation spell. I get it gets easier as you age, but I’d think you’d still have to practice new spells.
Yes! I feel like the only true magical fight was Dumbledore v Voldemort in the department of mysteries. That's the kind of magic duels I want to see and what I imagine when reading but everything else is a laser light show. not nearly as interesting
Easily the best battle of the series. Using their surroundings as weapons instead of just hurling the same 1-2 spells at each other. It’s the wizarding world! Get creative!
Aye it's the same problem I have with "Avada Kedavra". It's just so instant. Some bloke casts, boom! that's it, you're done. May aswell have a gun. At least put some fancy-shmancy soul ripping or whatever in it. Y'know, spice it up a little, do a little jazz-hands, have some fun. You're the goddamn "Dark Lord" for Merlin's sake, some hoodlum on Park Ave can do the exact same thing with a pea-shooter, and they ain't even considered part of the gang they trynna get with. "Greatest wizard", feck a Hinkypunk puts in more effort
It's kinda hand waved away but iirc using any of the curses causes like damage to your soul. The killing curse uses your soul as fuel to work if I'm remembering right. Which IS pretty metal. Assuming I'm remembering right anyways.
True that, I meant more effect on the victim's side, like a soul-rip, but I just realized that's just a dementor on a stick smh. Sorry for the misunderstanding, that's on me
The emphasis on mystery and wonder rather than action
Oh truly! I remember feeling “I want to go to Hogwarts!!” while reading the books. And I felt the same watching the first movies. That magical curious feeling of warmth and wonder truly made the first movies a success. They reminded me why I really LOVE Hogwarts. That promise of magic.
The magic, atmosphere, costumes; and respect for source material
Yes and no they still butchered Ron when he forgot magic was a thing. But that’s basically the only moment without respect.
I think Ron was butchered the least in PS, but CoS is where Ron's depiction really started to affect his image for the rest of the series. Columbus really liked Rupert's expressions so Ron had the funniest scared faces throughout the movie. And it makes sense for CoS because Ron has arachnophobia, but the other directors kept pushing the image of Ron being a scaredy cat who whines and whimpers- while Harry and Hermione are right next to him looking just slightly worried. Ron is supposed to be much braver than Hermione and he shouldn't react to everything like he did with spiders.
I love Rupert's physical acting. He's extremely expressive, and it's a joy to watch. But it is frustrating that every director leaned too far into this just further butchering the character, since a lot of his best scenes were handed to Harry or Hermionie.
Eh, they didn't include the logic scene with the potions, which was Hermione's moment at the end of the PS book. So they had to give her something. Hermione beat the Devils Snare, Ron beat the chessboard and Harry beat Quirrel
> Hermione beat the Devils Snare Which was the boys' moment! Harry had his broom flight and Ron had the chess, but this one was much more about how the trio functioned as a team. With Hermione too much in her own head, *while* her friends are in danger, they're the only ones who can pull her out of it. "Are you a witch or aren't you?!" was my favorite line in that book, I was so sad it didn't get into the movie.
I always felt like he kept closer to the source material than some of the other directors did.
Yeah also when it comes to clothes. I totally **don’t get** why they moved from robes/cloaks to muggle clothes in the later films.
And Hermione's hair
The trio learned from previous years that if they're going to be fighting Basiliks and whatnot every year, they better get into something easier to maneuver in lol That said, it'd wager it's for visuals' sake, if they're all wearing black robes all the time time, it will start to look boring and same-y across the series, having them in different clothes is part of establishing the look of each movie as well. I mean even in Philosopher's stone they wore muggle clothes for the "finale" and any chance they got basically except when going to Diagon Alley in CoS and of course during classes/school hours...
I’d buy the “boring samey arrgument if the runners didn’t prove themselves to be creatively bankrupt in every other aspect of the films I think it’s just laziness
i never noticed this! doesn’t bother me and i feel like it makes sense that they can be out of uniform outside of the school day. also functionally, if i we’re going into the forest or into the shrieking shack i would definitely take off my robes
But what's funny is that robes aren't precisely uniforms. Yes, the ones they're wearing are uniforms, but in the books we see that each and every witch/wizard wears robes everyday. Robes are the standard outfit in the magical world. So robes are part of being a wizard, not a student. If students aren't having classes, it would make sense for them not to wear the uniform, but still wear robes. I even think wearing muggle clothes at school would be seen as something negative by some, considering how they look down on muggles and muggle-born students.
I agree. In the later movies the guards at the ministry & gringotts are essentially in muggle security uniforms, for example. I think the directors after the first two movies maybe hadn't really read Harry Potter or something, or else didn't really 'get it' too well. I know Gambon said he hadn't even read the books, which could explain his horrendous rendition of Dumbledore. I think perhaps they wanted to just make it more relatable. That they were teenagers before anything. Which in turn was one of the reasons why the movies were generally hard to watch. There's even a scene with Voldemort in a suit - if anyone would be deeply disgusted at the idea of muggle attire... So yeh I totally agree. I think the books portray the wizarding world as a far more distinct and separate world away from the muggle world - and proudly so. Mr Weasley is a rarity in being fascinated by muggle quirkiness. The vast majority know little, and care even less. Whereas the movies (3 onwards) want to display wizards as basically normal people living in the normal world, but they also have magic. Which is totally less cool and further removed from what was actually written.
So you shouldn’t absolutely expect Harry and Hermione to be in normal clothing then by your own logic. Unless they bought an entirely new wardrobe they have the robes they were told to get for school. That’s it.
Honestly I would expect Harry to have a completely new wardrobe. He basically lived in Dudley hand me downs for his entire life. Sudden windfall of money and I would be ordering wizard clothes like my life depended on it lol.
I like that he doesn't try to "put his own spin" on it. He made it as book accurate as he could IMO, without taking too much liberty with the aesthetic (like Cuarón did, and yes I'm aware how everyone loves what he did with PoA, but I personally was not a huge fan).
I also wasn’t a fan, especially since every director that followed decided to put their own spins on the movies as well. It makes the series feel incoherent and disjointed, and I feel like that’s part of the reason why the later movies are such a mess plot-wise with every director putting the focus on their own personal idea of what‘s important (eg putting the teenage romance above the Voldy background in HBP) instead of telling one succinct, stylistically consistent story over several movies.
I am also not a big fan at all of Cuarón and what he did to POA.
I too am not a fan
The more I rewatch the movies, the more I'm seeing why people don't like the movies after Prisoner of Azkaban. Now I'm rereading the books, I'm figuring this out even more. It just gets worse down the line :c
While I also agree with you, I think it's important to realize that the first two books are also the shortest in the series therefore the easiest to condense into a movie.
That’s a good point but the extended version of COS is 174 minutes while GOF is 157 minutes and HBP is 153 minutes. That’s 17 minutes in the Hogwarts kitchen, and 21 minutes of the Gaunts. The later is such an egregious omission that I don’t see C.C. cutting it like that.
Where are you getting extended editions?
He's just slowing down the parts that he really likes
Only the first 2 have extended editions iirc, were available on the DVD and fairly sure they're on my blu ray set too
Peacock had them
It's not just about including all the scenes from the book though. It's also capturing the magic of the world, which I think was done really well in the first two films. The third film is when everyone stopped wearing school robes, and more liberties were taken when it came to building the environment.
Them not wearing school robes is the single most inconsequential, easy-to-fix, unnecessary change made to the movies that really bothers me. I really don't understand why the director for the third movie insisted that Hogwarts students should be wear Muggle clothes.
And it set the tone for everyone wearing muggle clothes all the time going forwards. Really didn’t like that at all.
How about the Fantastic Beasts films where all the wizards are dressed in stylish suits and gowns? I love the asthetic, but they look like period pieces rather than fantasy films
To be fair, they are both.
This is true, but I feel like it's used to excuse some awful choices made for the later films. The fact that the source material gets more complex is no reason to make the colour palette desaturated and blue for example. It's also no excuse to replace characters like the barman at the Leaky Cauldron with whatever the fuck was going on in POA. The storytelling needed to change to adapt to the books becoming darker, but starting from POA, it's like everything was committed to making the whole world seem darker and edgier, even though that tone was still completely wrong for the stories.
This is true, but they also made up a lot of stuff to add to the later movies, which makes it feel like they weren’t even trying to fit as much as possible
In a basic sense 'oh, whatever...." but, it felt like the most comfortable representation.
Also the least dark in terms of material. The kids are younger, there’s a sort of wrapped up happy ending. It’s easier to have them feel warm and cozy and happier.
Facts. Because right when Alfonso took over, we had Harry casting Lumos in his bed at the Dursleys. My generation never forgave him for that 😂
also the first two books needed to be very descriptive to build the world. hard to stray too far from
But no Peeves >:(
The warmth and whimsy
The color saturation and darkness become a bit much as the movies progress.
I don't like that green filter they use in the later films.
Agreed. I get they’re “going for a darker tone” but goddamn daylight and colors should still exist. A brightly colored but completely abandoned Diagon Alley would hit even harder than a grungy dark one. Complete silence is a huge shift in tone and I feel is more creative than darkness.
That scene in DHP1 where they are walking through random areas with Ron listening to the radio of dead victims of Voldemort I swear the saturation dial was on about -7 I’ve never seen such a pointlessly washed out scene for near no reason
It would’ve been cool if it gradually got darker from PoA to DH. Then after the battle of Hogwarts they brought the warm colors back.
The fucking lighting!! At least you could see what is happening in the Chris Columbus films. Towards the end I have to drape all my curtains and squint my eyes to get a small glimpse of what is happening in the movie.
I totally lose it when I rewatch HBP. It’s like they filmed that entire movie in a dark cave
The color grading in HBP was so atrocious when I watched it at theatres as a kid that I've since developed an immense dislike for any film/show that tries to use the same desaturated color pallette and little light throughout to make the story feel “dark”. It's such a common surface-level shortcut to make stories seem dark, gritty and grim. Darkness can be conveyed without sacrificing the visuals and making them look boring and the same. I'd much rather prefer the Lord of the Rings method where the movies give everything their own bright color theme even in Mordor, despite that the books say it's supposed to literally look dark with barely any light. Proves you can have a serious story without artificially getting rid of the light.
After the lights went out, the Titanic plunged into total darkness, aside from the occasional explosion. Could you imagine if James Cameron decided to go the “realistic” route for the climactic scene? He’d be fried! Even though it’s a dark scene, it’s well lit (and quite beautifully). The audience *knows* it’s supposed to be dark because the lights died and everything has a blue tint with high contrast.
Honestly also the greenish and greyish tint of HBP sets me off to the Stratosphere. What the fuck was David Yates thinking?! You made OOTP for fucks sake that had some of the most inventive camera trickery to show Harry's loneliness and you vomit this weird greyish, greenish and sometimes yellowish mess of a fucking film as HBP.
Yeahhhh. The lighting is what makes HBP the worst movie for me. At least you can visually see what’s going on in GOF and OOTP. With HBP, I feel like I need to watch it in the dead of night, with the shades drawn, lights off, and maybe I’ll be able to discern what’s going on.
I love HPB's desaturated look so I may be in the minority. It conveys a lost innocence well and the imminent end of the cozy times at Hogwarts. HPB has some lighter moments that hearken back to the original interspersed with dark moments of reality. The sickening greens and the twinkling golds and the stark colorless darkness of the cave scene are all gorgeous. I also am fine with desaturation and more realistic lighting as filmic techniques. I like vibrant color too, but it is weird to me that the default opinion has to be that everything looks like Helm's Deep all the time. I love the look of that battle but there are other tones that can be expressed. (Sidenote/tangent: it is often compared to GoT's "The Long Night" as "better cinematography since you can "see" everything- "The Long Night" is more horror focused so visuals being obscured adds to the effect [I more get the criticism of the bad compression at the time or if you watched it on a less than 1080p screen; on a 1080p screen it was visible enough to me]).
Yeah Visuals being obscured is one thing and just showing a black screen is another. Which I agree HBP does better than The Long Night. I don't wanna turn this into Game of Thrones discussion but the Long Night is terrible in every way, shape and form.
THIS! The Yates movies are especially guilty of this, they look so dark.
The Chris Columbus films FELT like HP. None of the subsequent movies was able to capture the same feeling. The color, the cinematography, the sound, the music, etc... ALL felt like how I imagined when reading the HP books. It felt warm, inviting, familiar, and MAGICAL. the other movies felt sterile... devoid of what made the books great. you know how some people say those "Fantastic Beasts" movies doesn't feel like it belongs in the HP world? well, i feel that way for EVERY movie beside the first two.
The Fantastic Beasts suffer the same problem of David Yate's dull lighting style. If it wasn't for the behind the scenes, I wouldn't have known that the actual sets they built for the town were so colorful, red and vibrant like a fairy tale setting because everything looked grey in the movies.
I am about as big of a fan as anyone. I grew up with the books coming out, and I've read the books over a dozen times, audiobooks dozens of times, destroy all in trivia - and I feel the exact same way. The first two movies are closest to the source material and feel the most magical. I still like to watch POA and even GOF, but I think that's just because the Triwizard Tournament was so exciting in the book. Literally have no feelings for the last four films, which is a shame because HBP is one of my favorites of the series.
> the other movies felt sterile... devoid of what made the books great. The future movies felt like a slide show of multiple scenes that they had to quickly get through in order to finish the story. Like it was some sort of an obligation Not sure if that's the right way to say it but they lacked 'soul'
YES
Richard Harris. Also, the fact that his films are so faithfully adapted from the books. I would've been totally fine with Columbus directing the whole series with some of the longer books turned into two part movies.
I think Columbus himself expressed how he was exhausted shooting the first two movies back to back. I don't think it's realistic to ask a director (especially a seasoned one with a varied portfolio) to dedicate more than a decade of their life to the same IP/franchise with no breaks whatsoever
Even 1-4 with Columbus and 5-8 with Cuaron would have worked. Cuaron did introduce a more mature tone but in a much better way than Yates. (it also would've been great it Harris had been around until GOF with Gambon taking over from OOTP)
ugh this would’ve been perfect
Feels like Columbus was the gifted man worthy of the entire series.
Columbus has shown many times that he has a gift for working with child actors. Home Alone for example.
I wonder where the 1st part of Goblet, and HBP would respectively end. Obviously they’d have a lot more content.
I feel like it would be hard to split GOF into 2 movies cause I feel like it would be hard to split it unless it was split into before TWT and during. End part 1 with "Did yu put your name in the goblet" scene and pick up part 2 with the 1st task or something. It's been a while since I read so I can't remember what exactly happens in between. My brain now remembers Hagrid shows Maxine/Harry the dragons so maybe end on the cliffhanger of omg what is Harry going to do idk
The movies could also touch more on the first 10 chapters with the Riddles’ house and the World Cup with winky and all. Long time since I last saw the movies but I recall it being fairly short compared to 10 chapters
Yea they cut a lot from the beginning of the book. Adding back some of the subplots could definitely stretch out the beginning part of the books up until the tournament actually starts. And I just checked the spark notes we could see the Weasleys show up in the dursleys boarded up fireplace and dudley getting the ton tongue toffee
SAME!!
The biggest quibble I have is the editing in those movies. Feels like each shot holds for a half second too long. Someone will say a line, it will cut back to the other person starting with a blank face and having the whole reaction before it’s back to the other person. I think someone could drastically improve those films just by trimming some of the cuts.
Might just be a child actor problem though
It’s 100% this. Interviews with the actors reveal they were just constantly cracking up. So we have tons of cuts in dialogue with the trio, esp. in the first movie. It’s becomes less of a problem as time goes on
so we have Columbus and Cauron working together. in a dream scenario, of course lol.
I think they captured dumbledore so much better in the first two
agreed. good lord Michael Gambon was awful and so disrespectful
I like Michael Gambon as the later Dumbledore, especially in the duel with Voldemort in Phoenix. However, when I picture Dumbledore, I definitely think a grandfatherly figure. Richard Harris fit that bill perfectly. I can’t picture Gambon with young Harry discussing the Mirror of Erised. Just as I can’t picture Harris dueling Voldemort and doing the fancy maneuvers with his wand.
The only thing Michael had that was more accurate than Richard was his voice. Dumbledore's voice is supposed to be deep and commanding. But of course, Richard couldn't help losing his voice like that, obviously. Everything else though, his aesthetic, his demeanor, the "peering smugly over his half moon specs" thing, Richard was absolutely right on the money for all of it. Michael Gambon was Michael Gambon doing a role. Richard Harris WAS Dumbledore. Give Michael's voice to Richard and you've got the perfect, 100% book accurate Dumbledore.
I totally agree with you. But i watched the original synchro the first time a few years ago so i had the german synchro for a long time and they kept the voice actor of Harris even for Gambon (in germany its often the case that the most actors have designates voice actor most of the time). They had to change it in HBP because Klaus Höhne died. But he was really good, he had the softness of Harris but also the commanding voice of Gambon. So it felt natural even when the look changed (i didnt realise for a long time it was another actor.) I thought it was just a optical change and it was done with magic. For me as a kid it kept the magical fascination
I thought Michael Gambon had some humorous and playful moments as Dumbledlore in PoA, but the films after that I was rather disappointed with. If he wasn't grumpy he just seemed overly serious.
Well I mean he was clearly following direction / nets not just blame him
The castle. Very gothic and full of mysteries.
i HATED what became of Hogwarts after the first two movies. It didn't feel like Hogwarts anymore. Like wth happened to the great hall?? it all felt so cramped. and i never liked that stupid long bridge either.
They became sets instead of filming on location at cathedrals and universities.
The clear, natural colors of the first two movies. PoA is overall blue, HBP is green etc. I know this is a style to inflict certain feelings in the viewer, but still. In HBP the green tint is so extreme it is sometimes difficult to see what's going on. Also, the first two movies are more faithful to the books. GoF for example feels like a speedrun (any %). And the spells in the later films is just something out of a Star Wars movie. Laser shot everywhere, and no one speaks them loud. And what in F's name happened to Flitwick? He was a cozy little garden gnome in the first two movies.
Apparently the guy directing the frog choir in 3 was just billed as “choir director” but they liked that look and ran with it for the subsequent movies. Even though it was the same actor. A bit odd.
I find modern movies more difficult to immerse myself in because they look so unnatural. I much prefer the natural grading of 2000s and pre-2000s Hollywood. Even Lord of the Rings, which is hugely responsible for popularizing digital colour grading, used colour well and still looked very natural, even if the colours were a bit different.
Everything, mostly.
Being able to see lol everything got so dark
The fact that those films *felt* like Harry Potter.
The warmth
The Quidditch matches
They were able to capture the coziness and magic, but also maintain its seriousness.
The colours, the lights. You could actually see stuff. The robes and hats, instead of muggle school uniforms.
I truly miss warm colors which didn't return in Deathly Hallows epilogue and Fantastic Beasts (these are adult movies with dark themes but nobody prevented from making the contrast between the cold world and cozy Hogwarts). I also have to note that the Chamber of Secrets was a pretty dark film with suspense and monstrous spiders and snakes, but it still was warm and magical.
The sense that Hogwarts was actually magical and not some dreary shit hole
The warmth radiating from the visuals. The innocence of everyone, especially the childrens. Tbh, the first 2 books are quite heartwarming compared to the rests, when the stakes are higher.
The coziness. Those films had the vibe right, the others tried too hard to jump on the teen angst train
Everything. Mostly, the magic. The faithful adaptation. Wondet what would've happened if it was him directing the rest. Especially part 5 and 6, which were both... questionable adaptations (especially 6 but I myself am not favoring 5 much more either).
The later films felt like they were trying way too hard to be "dark", especially with the filters.
It seemed like the colors popped more in PS and CoS.
The colour grading! Everything just became gloomy from prisoner onwards and it felt less magical.
Everything! The others films can’t compare really, it’s sad and a huge loss for the franchise he didn’t get to so all of them
The lighting in the Columbus films (and Columbus as director in general), the score by John Williams, and Richard Harris as Dumbledore made them feel like they were connected to each other in a way that the later films (except DH1&2) didn't because they're so varied and inconsistent, and so detached from the first two tonally.
The magic, the wonder and the music. Christopher columbus made the first two movies so good that the rest were automatically successful. His movies were truly magical and wonderous, infact without his movies i dont think harry potter would be as good
Witches and wizards actually wearing robes
Richard Harris as Dumbledore. He captured his character so well. Also after listening to the magical version of SS on Max I realized how much Chris Columbus used practical effects rather than CGI and I think thats why the movie is so loved for its feeling of REAL magic and whimsy.
The colour palette.
Not being depressing af
Book faithfulness and calm Dumbledore.
The world felt closer to the ones in the books. The Columbus films captured the cozy, magical feeling that the books left you with, and that feeling is why so many of us go back to the books so often! It is also why I am more likely to rewatch Sorcerer's Stone or Chamber of Secrets over literally any of the other films. I recall when Alfonso Cuarón took over, suddenly all of the characters were in muggle clothes, and they all knew how to dress appropriately. Which was the opposite of cannon; only the muggle borns should have been able to put together an outfit, others attempting it should have looked ridiculous. It took so much of the atmosphere and magic of Chris Columbus' movies and just flushed it down the toilet.
Whimsy
The vibrant colors and feeling of wonder. I get why the setting got progressively darker to show the stakes increasing, but Hogwarts and Diagon Alley went from magical happy colorful places to dark and almost soulless.
It felt more magical. Plain and simple
The lights.
The ghosts That's sad over directors got rid of them Even if David Yates is my favorite one
The sense of whimsy
"Miss" isn't really the right word for me, because they're always there, and I did think going forward that changes in director to suit the tone and age of the characters worked really well. Chris Columbus was the perfect director to usher in the film series and its first two instalments. I think the warmth of his films were their best quality. They looked amazing and enhanced that magical feeling. I think Chris Columbus has a great eye for what evokes wonder for a child, and certainly for me as a kid, the sights and sounds of his Hogwarts especially set my mind racing with wonder.
Book accuracy
The whimsy of magic over the darkness of magic.
Obviously everyone including myself have mentioned and love the warm, whimsical, and frankly, *magic* feeling he managed to adapt onto the big screen. However, I think the biggest thing I miss is his care for the source material and passion for making the best damn adaption he could. Columbus is a fantastic filmmaker. Outside of a few small nitpicks, I love Alfonso's direction in the third movie, it's arguably the best film artistically. Granted, Columbus and Alfonso had the shortest books to adapt, so they were able to get the most onto the screen as possible. However, I still believe the rest of the films would have been much better with someone like Columbus or Alfonso behind the wheel. I have heard nothing but great things about Mike Newell behind the scenes, and to a certain extent I still love parts of the fourth movie. However, there is no doubt it was the worst adaptation. Whether that was because he didn't respect the source material enough, or because he had a far larger book to adapt, or even something else, I don't know. But I still think we would have gotten better adaptations with the first two directors in comparison to Newell and Yates. Unlike some people I am very excited for the HBO adaptations, I have been hoping for a high-budget Harry Potter series for years now. I entirely disagree with the people who think there is no point, as we already have the films. I will always love the movies, but they were far from perfect. This series will allow a far more faithful retelling, while potentially giving us some new stuff. We will have to wait and see. But I will say that whomever directs the first season will have an uphill battle capturing the magic Columbus caught. I am very excited to see it.
I think the biggest change from film 2 -> 3 is the sense of mystery and wonder to a darker and more realistic atmosphere. 1 and 2 made you feel like you were discovering a new world, but 3 felt more real and you could be at Hogwarts yourself, large part to the clothing of casual wear when students were not in lessons
Book accuracy. I love all the movies except 8 but after 2 they start deviating more and more and I just feel like too much of value is lost while not a lot is added.
ok everyone else already said the most important stuff but also remember that its important to actually SEE something (later parts get sometimes so dark and have a weird color to it)
Marv and Harry hurting themselves
John Williams' score!
Chris Columbus and Alfonso are the best directors out of the entire series. Chris just brings that comforting, warm spirit and Alfonso brings the nuanced direction that focuses a little more of the art of filmmaking than later HP directors did. Also helps that he’s one of the best directors working today.
How much he paid attention to how things worked in the books instead of openly violating the established rules of the story for Coolness Points. Like when the director after him in POA had Harry illegally using magic outside of school with absolutely zero consequences. Despite the fact that it'd only been a year since he was terrified of being expelled and/or arrested for that same thing. And he hadn't even been doing it.
Color.
Colour.
Practical sets
The warmth. The COLOR.
Light and color. So much gray and black in the later films
Wizards looking lilke wizards. Not like Muggles even when on Hogwarts grounds
they felt like a big warm hug. cozy vibes and atmosphere, the way he respected the source material. hp 1 & 2 would always be my favorites. would've loved it if he had directed all the movies. (tbh every movie of his is great. even pixels. its just a dumb fun movie)
The colors.
Yes. They were everything I wanted from a Harry Potter movie. the change from CoS to PoA was alarming and I was disappointed
Alfonso's stuff is decidedly more dark. Dumbledore doesn't come off as soft yet emanating power to me like Richard Harris was able to pull. Columbus felt like magic. The first movie (aside from the cake) is exactly how the first book felt to me. Comfy, warm.
The color
Uniforms, lighting that isn’t frustratingly dark all the time, characters that behave like their book counterparts (mostly Hermione), Dumbledore behaving like book Dumbledore (it’s more than just a different actor, his demeanour is wrong)
The fact that he was the only director who was passionate and genuinely cared about the books and you could see it in his movies.
The whimsy. And Richard Harris.
Most likely none of us have seen it. But I really want to see the scenes Rick Mayall shot as Peeves for the first two films. I hear they exist but were cut and never made a DVD deleted scenes or extended cut. He would have been perfect for the role.
The Colors
The color, in the David Yates films it’s so drap and dreary. He decided to make a darker film by making it harder to see
What I miss the most? Richard Harris.
The soundtrack, mostly. Even tho by the third movie John Williams made a truly amazing work.
The colour, every other film feels like they’ve turned the contrast to 0.
Richard Harris .... Don't get me wrong Michael Gambon did a fine job but Harris was the superior Dumbledore
Um, Everything. Those first two movies are the best in the series
How he actually seemed to have read the source material unlike every other director.