The Best Harry Potter Movies

With millions of fans around the globe, the Harry Potter phenomenon will be around long after the release of the last book, even long after the release of the final film. While fans rightly take to each book written and each movie made, there are certainly comparisons to be made. Here are the best Harry Potter movies made to date.

If you have not seen it yet, you will be dazzled by the latest Harry Potter installment to reach the silver screen. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, released this summer, is easily the best Harry Potter movie to date. Directed by British TV director David Yates, the movie is a streamlined version of the 870-page book. It weighs in at a lean, mean two hours and eighteen minutes, and is the shortest of the Harry Potter films so far. And it is a masterpiece. Of course, this next won't be popular with the fans, but the novel Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ran a bit too long (about 200 pages by my count), even for the most ardent readers. The movie cuts out the fat and leaves a beautiful work that is all at once seamless and complete. The acting by Daniel Radcliffe as the boy wizard Harry Potter is noticeably superior to his earlier performances, and both Emma Watson and Rupert Grint (Hermione and Ron) are also more subtle and effective. Luna Lovegood, who doesn't play well on the page, is magnificent on-screen. And Gary Oldman and Helena Bonham Carter as Sirus Black and his evil cousin Bellatrix LeStrange are spectacular. The only lacking came again from Michael Gambon, who makes Albus Dumbledore almost evil, as opposed to the whimsical way he is portrayed in the books. At the risk of being unpopular, I must say, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the first film that can be considered better than the book.

The second best Harry Potter movie, in this author's opinion, is Chamber of Secrets. Kenneth Branagh is brilliant as Professor Gildroy Lockhart, and of course, Chamber of Secrets is the last film to feature Richard Harris as Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. You might feel a bit of nostalgia watching Chamber of Secrets now that the children are grown. And you will certainly feel a longing for the Dumbledore of old.

Of course, there are still two films to go - The Half-Blood Prince and The Deathly Hallows. But we will all have to wait a while for them.