Harry Potter: The film series that remain, after all this time and rewatches, my all-time favorite films
July 14, 2020
“Lily! After all this time? — Always.”
Firstly, I have to say that the Harry Potter films are my all-time favorite films by far, so this will be more of a love letter than an actual review. I grew up with the Harry Potter films and my massive Harry Potter LEGO collection. I still remember, as a 6-year-old, that my dad asked me if I wanted to see a film about a boy that can do magic. My response was, “nah, I don’t like that”. 20+ years and 30+ viewings have passed, and I still love all the films. They remain my favorite films to watch!
Growing up with the films
The first film introduced me to the wizarding world of Harry Potter and all the characters that live within it. The following films guided me through the beautiful and interesting story about Harry Potter and his friends. Changing the Director from Chris Columbus, to Alfonso Cuarón, to Mike Newell and to David Yates provided the films with different cinematography and a tonal change. This personally made it feel like the films grew up simultaneously with me, and also made every film feel fresh, although I do understand people don’t like the visual inconsistency. I prefer the more saturated and warmer color grade from the earlier films, but I also like the more desaturated color grade from The Order of the Phoenix. The color grade on The Half-Blood Prince might be a bit too desaturated for my liking, compared to the other films.
After the first 2 films, the tone of them became way darker, which I really liked. The darker tone, captivating story and character arcs in; The Order of the Phoenix, The Deadly Hallows Part 2 and The Prisoner of Azkaban worked really well for me, that’s why those are my favorite Harry Potter films out of all 8. I have to admit that my favorites can change every time I watch the films again, because I really love all of them. I usually don’t watch one Harry Potter film at the time, I always watch all eight of them back to back within two days, about twice a year. This way, I can be fully transported into the wizarding world.
The Wizarding World
The Harry Potter films are not the type of films where I pay close attention to the cinematography, because the world building is so strong and alive that the importance of the cinematography fades to the background. What enhances this world building are the magical and mysterious scores by John Williams, Nicholas Hooper, Patrick Doyle and Alexandre Desplat. Especially the John William scores have a distinctive sound that is, arguably, one of the best and most memorable film scores of all time.
I tried to implement some negative aspects about the films, but I literally can’t come up with one. These films are, for me personally, perfection and as good as it gets.
I will forever appreciate the experience the Harry Potter films provided me during my life, and I will never take that for granted. My love for these films will never fade away as time goes by, I will love and appreciate them for the rest of my life!
