Wizarding World

Fantastic, brilliant beasts and an epic return to a wonderfully detailed, intriguing fantasy world.

Some stilted moments, but a worthy enough successor that greatly improves the world-building and nicely increases the stakes.

A decent bridge film with some very powerful moments that does suffer from having to focus on the less interesting story arcs of the book.

The epic payoff to the darkness of the last few films, creating a cracking ending to a classic franchise. Magical!

The worst adaptation in the franchise. Not terrible, but the scriptwriters clearly forgot to check that what they had left actually worked once they got it to fit within the timeframe of a movie.

Unfortunately focuses on budding love interests rather than the real stories at the heart of the plot and the parallels of Snape, Dumbledore, Draco and Harry. Very much a setup movie for the big finalé.

Turns out, this is my favourite. A dark yet relatable plot, with a strangely realistic vision of evil in Umbridge, make for some very interesting social commentary and a much deeper, more personal experience. Harry Potter grows up!

A solid entrance to the franchise which has held up surprisingly well whilst maintaining a genuine sense of mysticism.

Still the best-directed film of the series, with some truly stunning cinematography and thematic linkages, but the plot feels a little less well put together than I had remembered.

A more interesting plot and some excellent excuses for fantastic critters made for a slightly better third outing.