The Harry Potter movies really varied in quality. HP1 and HP2 stuck close to the books but were very pedestrian (I loved the scene with the giant snake though - very well done). HP3 was different to the book but excellent as a standalone movie. HP4 looked nice but was rushed and confusing (and I've read the book several times). HP5 was refined to it's most basic elements but I felt this really worked well (the first 200 or so pages are mostly pointless fluff) and I loved this movie. HP6 had some good scenes but it was a very unfocused piece of film-making. The censorship and shortening of vital scenes did nothing to help this instalment - a PG rating? Honestly? The ending should've been much better and more emotional. For goodness sakes people! HP7 Parts 1 and 2 look amazing. I'm hoping that they're the best entries in the series (just like the book).

Hmm, I like that assessment. I think 1 and 2 stayed true to the books but quality was pretty bad. In my oppinion the 3rd movie was easily the worst of them, with not much better quality than the first two and an annoyingly artistic style that took presidence over the plot. I agree with your assessment of 4; I think the scene of Voldemort's return did not translate well to screen at all. The 5th movie was great, although they cut out alot of very important dialogue at the end. I think the 6th was the best made movie personally, true to the book and very well told. I honestly don't think there was anything cut from the book that was missed, I really like that movie alot. As for Deathly Hallows, while my hopes are not too high for part one, they are very high for part two! (:

I might have had a better opinion of HP6 if they had focused on Dumbledore's erm... fall. It's so vital to the story and yet they didn't treat it with respect or screen-time.

I'm gonna do this whole quick movie-by-movie assessment thing

1- I though a very good adaptation to the book, they were so cute when they were little! I'm glad alot of the same lines were kept!
2- same as for 1, very close to book and I enjoyed it alot
3- not as close but decnt parts, and the love the acting from Sirius and Lupin! amazing casting on those points!
4 my least favorite movie(as book) I'm not sure why but for some reason I just wasn't enjoying it
5- I really enjoyed this movie, though they got rid of things they really kept most things that were very important
6- ok movie but just by the PG rating alone scared me, how they did the whole Ginny and Harry thing really annoyed meI dont think they did that well, and I wish the "Dumbledore" scene was better
7- very very very excited for both parts, the whole thing looks fantastic!

as for the more excited for DH vs VDT I'm more excited for DH as well, I'm sad for it to come though because after the last 2 movies, the series will be done!

Since we're recapping our personal "snapshot" reviews in anticipation of the finale of the Harry Potter series, I thought I'd chime in too:

1 & 2) Chris Columbus's best films ever (topping Mrs Doubtfire). They are the closest films to the books, but thats because they're the shortest books making that task an easier prospect. Great casting, acting, directing, sets, and special effects (except for the centaurs). Columbus's strongest points are set and image designs "borrowed" from Terry Gilliam's style. His weakest point is the relatively pedestrian paint by numbers approach to pacing, making the scenes seem a bit episodic, but to be fair, by film 2 Columbus has largely overcome this.

3) Other than a dodgy CGI dog (why? ) and Werewolf design, this film demonstrates how a visionary artist can make an adaptation work better as good film by not slavishly following the book at every turn. A Masterful balance of Humour, Drama, Atmosphere, and Characterization.

4) The most disappointing film, despite some excellent scenes. My biggest complaints are that the butchery of the book, wasn't compensated for by a seamless approach to pacing, making the film far too episodic, the maze (no creatures and magical traps), and the complete ditching of the House-elf sub-plot which I've always felt is integral to the series. But a lot of the film's problems are compensated for by some great directing regarding character interactions and relationships, and of course, one of the best, most realistic Dragons in film history .

5) Despite being disappointed again by the fact that the book is far too long to be adequately adapted into one 2 1/2 hour film, Yates, like Cuaron, demonstrates how a visionary director can still develop a coherent and compelling film that stands on its own. At turns, both Moody and Funny.

6) Yates outdoes himself by packing as much as he possibly can of the book into the film, and yet still turning out a well paced and coherent film. The added scenes convey information, characterization and drama that would otherwise be missed due to the truncation of a hefty tome. There is a truly frightening moment in the film reminiscent of The Omen, and the humour and the relationships are handled brilliantly. Some spectacular Special Effects really round out the film. My only real complaint is that the House-elf sub-plot is still missing. Not really a complaint, but I was disappointed that--as creepy as they are--the zombies weren't a little more gruesome; Dawn of the Dead style .

7-8) So far the trailers and sneak peeks are looking sweeeeeeet . They presage a truly epic adaptation that finally is allowed the time to do an 800 page novel "right" with a 2 part film.

GB

So two days ago StarKidPotter released A Very Potter Sequel
Who saw it?

A Very Potter Sequel? So cool! I loved the first one. 'Pigfarts indeed!' Thanks for sharing the link.

Now it is my turn to say what I think about the HP movies so far.

1. Philosopher's Stone is still the highest earning film of the series, and justly so. This movie, when I first saw it, was pure magic, and it is the movie which got me involved with the series.

2. COS is still the longest movie of them all, but I still enjoyed it very much. Watching it with all the deleted scenes added in is a real treat as the movie is a little more coherent and funny than with the original theatre version. I loved Fred and George's teasing Harry, and the scene where polyjuiced Harry and Ron inadvertently meet Crabbe and Goyle.

3. I agree that film POA covered the story adequately. But although it was enjoyable, I can't forgive the film for not explaining the Marauders well enough, most particularly, how Sirius knew that Scabbers/Wormtail was at Hogwarts. We were shown the newspaper cutting of the Weasleys in Egypt at the Leaky Cauldron - why couldn't there have been a second newspaper cutting pinned up somewhere in the Shrieking Shack, for example? And I didn't really like the shrunken heads.

4. Goblet of Fire really is not my favourite book of the series. But I like the movie, despite its faults. It reduces quite a long book to the main elements of the story, which is a discussion of LV's plans overheard by Frank Bryce, and Harry, the QWC, Harry's name coming out of the Goblet of Fire, the three tasks plus Yule Ball and LV's rebirthing and the subsequent denouement about Barty Crouch. Many of the subplots were simply left out, such as house elves, the screwts, Percy Weasley, the activities of Rita Skeeter and the trouble it caused when she, as well as Harry and Ron, overheard Hagrid and Madame Olympe at the Yule Ball.

Of course the movie made too much of the first task. The champions were each supposed to retrieve a golden egg from a clutch of real dragon eggs, despite a defending mother dragon. They weren't supposed to hurt the dragon or damage the real eggs, unlike in the film. It also made too much of the Yule Ball, at the expense of other important parts of that story, such as Cornelius Fudge's behaviour at the end of the story, which we didn't see at all in the movie.

5. The fifth book translated quite well into the fifth film, the shortest of the HP films so far. The things I didn't like so much about this movie was its failure to mention that it was Umbridge who sent the dementors at the beginnng of the film, and also Petunia's howler. Kreacher gets only a passing, somewhat begrudged mention, and Dobby not at all.

6. HBP was a good enough film, portraying a book which is essentially a link between the first five books and the finale. The introduction of the concept of Horcruxes was reasonably well done, as was Draco's role in the story. But I thought Dumbledore visiting the Dursleys could have been mentioned, rather than that waitress at the railway station. And again no house elves, even when they were necessary.

I'm looking forward to the last two movies, but not more so than I am looking forward to VDT. I hope they all do well.

@ W4J It's great, eh? I mean it's Harry freaking Potter

Ha, ha! Very true! I enjoyed the first production more overall but this sequel had much better production values, costumes and choreography. I think they could tighten the productions up (there's quite a few dull moments in the middle of both) but I enjoyed them very much. Draco is still my favourite and Ron's pretty good too - "Red Vines: what can't they do?"

"Favorite way to say Red Wines in a German accent."
"Red vines"
lol
yeah, they actually had a budget for this one, and depending on how well it goes, they will produce a third. also they produced an album with all the songs form the sequel, it is available on iTunes for $9.99 (in the U.S. that is). it is called A very Starkid Album. I bought because I like the music mainly, but it is a very good purchase if you just want to help some starving college actors.

*is proud to say that she has now reached the end of the Harry Potter series*

And I am now an official fanatic.

My favorite characters were Sirius, Snape, Lupin, Tonks, Harry (heh), and Neville---the majority of which ended up dying. BUT. I thought the final defeat of Voldemort was absolutely fabulous, and I loved how everything [finally!] fit into place.

The books were nothing as I expected them to be---I know everyone's opinion is different, but I personally did not find them at all to be satanic (which was what I grew up hearing). They were an amazing read.

[...] the majority of which ended up dying.

This made me laugh harder than it should have.

Snape and Luna were my favorites. I was so terrified that Luna was going to die at the end of DH.

I'm more waiting for Part 2, i want to see the big battle.
Part I will be more of a road-movie.
I was really dissapointed by book 7, and thought the ending was very anticlimatic. I hope the film improves on that. But it's also about time the movies end, i'm getting less and less interested.

You found the ending anti-climatic? Wow. To each his or her own I guess. I loved it (not so much the children's names in the epilogue though - talk about well-intentioned but awkward).