Chris Columbus direction might be plodding but the goblins of Gringotts, meeting Hagrid, learning Quidditch with the most chipper of Scots and entering the Gryffindor common room are all silver screen joy.

Richard Harris’ Dumbledore is a bittersweet joy as he welcomes the adorable Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint to their future lives as Harry, Hermione, and Ron, and the joy of experiencing Rowling’s world for the first time can’t be undersold. Regardless though, it sets the scene for everything to come and if nothing else is two and a half hours of the promise of future excitement. Yet it's important to note that your memories of Harry receiving his letter are all about the first time you saw this world brought to life, not of the film itself which is distinctly average compared to what followed. The John Williams score twinkling for the first time… that defining shot of Hogwarts against an inky black starry sky… Diagon Alley. It feels like sacrilege to put the first movie so low. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) Read more: Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore ending explained 9. Honestly, now, all we want to see here is Newt Scamander and Tina Goldstein share awkward, loving glances while trying to wrestle a Demiguise back into the former's magical briefcase.

We got the whole epic Good vs Evil thing with the Harry Potter series.

That said, the film just concretes the fact that this spin-off series doesn't know what the heck it's supposed to be a set of warmhearted jollies about an adorable foursome and their animal-related antics, or an exploration of the complicated rise of a fascist wizard army that may have had something to do with World War 2!?Įither one might have been fine (though we have serious doubts about the latter), but you can't really have both. There are more cute creatures (we'd do pretty much anything for a pet qilin), the plot is much easier to follow, Mads Mikkelsen – replacing Johnny Depp – makes for a beguiling Grindelwald, and the film's willingness to make his romantic relationship with Jude Law's Albus Dumbledore explicit is refreshing given the franchise's history with such things. After the disappointing Crimes of Grindelwald, things could only get better, right? Well, turns out, yes, because follow-up Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is an improvement on its predecessor – though not by much.

Harry potter movie list