00:00Maybe the most remarkable thing about the Harry Potter movies is how consistently good they are.
00:05With any lengthy series, however, there are going to be problems here and there.
00:09Some of these issues or lapses in logic are well known, but others, big or small, don't really get any attention.
00:15With that in mind, I'm Will For What Culture, and here are 12 problems with the Harry Potter movies nobody admits.
00:2112. Harry, Ron, and Hermione's Midnight Stroll.
00:24The Philosopher's Stone.
00:25Every Hogwarts student knows they are forbidden to roam around the school at night,
00:29and as such, Harry usually wears his invisibility cloak during his many nighttime adventures around the castle.
00:35However, after being introduced to Hagrid's new pet, a dragon named Norbert,
00:40the main trio stroll back through the castle with a rather obvious blunder.
00:4411. Voldemort's Death.
00:45The Deathly Hallows Part 2.
00:47The Dark Lord's death is strange, to say the least.
00:50The terrific exchange between Harry and Voldemort written by J.K. Rowling is replaced with an entertaining,
00:55if rather cheesy, action sequence which ends with the two characters locked in battle.
01:00This is all perfectly fine, but Voldemort's demise makes no sense whatsoever.
01:04After Harry claims his opponent's wand, the Dark Lord starts to deteriorate.
01:08His body crumbles into an ash-like substance which floats away into the sky.
01:12The only possible explanation is that Voldemort was so dehumanized that he wasn't able to die normally.
01:18Regardless of why the filmmakers thought this was an acceptable way to finish the Dark Lord,
01:22it would have been much more striking if his body had remained intact,
01:26and Harry was forced to look at the lifeless form of his arch-nemesis.
01:3010. Percy's Estrangement.
01:32The Order of the Phoenix.
01:34Percy Weasley is probably the least popular member of the Weasley family,
01:38and this is understandable.
01:39He's pompous, annoyingly ambitious, and obsessed with following rules.
01:43Percy occasionally makes an appearance in the first three movies,
01:46but in The Goblet of Fire, he simply disappears from the story.
01:49In The Order of the Phoenix, he has no dialogue,
01:51but he does crop up regularly alongside Cornelius Fudge.
01:54The issue is that there's no explanation given about Percy's transformation
01:58from a loyal member of the Weasley family into the minister's assistant.
02:02We're supposed to just accept that he's sided with the corrupt politicians.
02:06In the books, it's actually explained, but in the films, we get nothing.
02:119. Harry's First Quidditch Match.
02:13The Philosopher's Stone.
02:14Adam Hooch might be the worst referee in the history of magical games and sports.
02:18She starts Harry's first Quidditch match with a blow from her whistle,
02:22and then disappears for the rest of the game.
02:24The Slytherin's tactics are barbaric, to say the least.
02:27Oliver Wood is walloped with a bludger,
02:29and Angelina Johnson is forced into the stands by two of her opponents.
02:33Both of them are rendered unconscious,
02:35and yet Madame Hooch does absolutely nothing in response to these illegal actions.
02:39While the violence of the Slytherin team is rather amusing,
02:42they really shouldn't have been allowed to get away with it.
02:44Their actions are totally illegal in the context of the sport,
02:47yet for whatever reason,
02:49neither Madame Hooch nor any of the other teachers did anything to stop them.
02:538. Lumos Maxima.
02:55The Prisoner of Azkaban.
02:56Most Harry Potter fans agree that The Prisoner of Azkaban is the best movie in the franchise.
03:01Unfortunately, this terrific film doesn't get off to a particularly good start.
03:05Just before the opening titles, the camera zooms into Harry's bedroom,
03:09and we see him underneath the covers with his schoolwork.
03:11In order to see what he's doing, he uses the incantation Lumos Maxima.
03:16Yet, even a casual Harry Potter fan could tell you that the use of underage magic outside of school is forbidden.
03:22In fact, in the previous movie, Harry was given a severe warning by the Ministry
03:26just because Dobby performed a hover charm in the Dursley's living room.
03:30It's a fun scene, and a good demonstration of the Dursley's dislike of magic,
03:34but it also contradicts all the established rules of the universe for very little payoff.
03:397. Snape and the Prophecy.
03:41The Half-Blood Prince slash the Deathly Hallows.
03:44One of the more overlooked chapters in the Harry Potter series is The Seer Overheard.
03:49In this chapter, Harry learns from Professor Trelawney that it was Snape who told Voldemort about the prophecy.
03:54In the movies, on the other hand, this significant piece of information is simply left out.
03:59And while Snape's memories are adapted relatively well, they lack that extra emotional punch.
04:04In Rowling's version, Snape feels responsible for Lily's death,
04:07because his information led Voldemort to hunt down the Potters.
04:11In other words, he's dealing with guilt as well as loss.
04:14This is a key aspect of why he agrees to protect Harry.
04:17He's redeeming himself while simultaneously making sure Lily did not die in vain.
04:226. Helena Ravenclaw and the Location of the Diadem.
04:26The Deathly Hallows Part 2.
04:28Toward the end of the second part of The Deathly Hallows, Helena Ravenclaw tells Harry the diadem is located in the place where everything is hidden,
04:36the Room of Requirements.
04:38But how would she know this?
04:39It's very unlikely that Voldemort told her because he was so protective over his horcruxes.
04:45The book version of events, though more complex, is much more satisfactory.
04:49Back in The Half-Blood Prince, Harry is shown a memory which involves Tom Riddle asking Dumbledore for a job.
04:54Later on, Harry hides his copy of Advanced Potion Making in the Room of Requirement.
04:58And purely by chance, he covers the hiding place with a wig and a tiara to make it more distinctive.
05:04After speaking with Helena during the Battle of Hogwarts,
05:07Harry comes to the sudden realization that Voldemort hid the diadem the night he asked Dumbledore for a job,
05:12and that the tiara he'd used to hide his potions book the previous year was, in fact, the diadem.
05:18Granted, there is a fair bit of luck involved with such a revelation.
05:21He covers the hiding place with a wig and a tiara to make it more distinctive.
05:25After speaking with Helena during the Battle of Hogwarts,
05:28Harry comes to the sudden realization that Voldemort hid the diadem the night he asked Dumbledore for a job,
05:33and that the tiara he'd used to hide his potions book the previous year was, in fact, the diadem.
05:39Granted, there is a fair bit of luck involved with such a revelation.
05:45Whereas in the movie, we're supposed to just accept the fact that Helena knows where Voldemort hid her mother's diadem.
05:515. Death Eaters Attack the Burrow, The Half-Blood Prince
05:55For those who are not familiar with the sixth Harry Potter novel, Harry's visit to the burrow during the Christmas holidays is pretty quiet.
06:01He discusses his suspicions about Malfoy with Lupin and Mr. Weasley, and enjoys the time away from the school with the other Weasley kids.
06:08In the movie adaptation, on the other hand, his holidays are ruined by a random attack from Bellatrix Lestrange and Fenrir Greyback.
06:15The pair of them attempt to destroy the burrow, and Harry and Ginny chase them into the surrounding countryside.
06:20Though the scene is fine as a standalone action sequence, it's also completely nonsensical.
06:26Like most buildings connected with the order, the burrow was given extra protection, defensive spells, and enchantments to prevent unwanted visitors from wrecking havoc.
06:35As such, Bellatrix and Greyback should not have been able to arrive at the burrow, let alone destroy it.
06:40Also, why didn't Voldemort come himself?
06:42If the burrow was so easily accessible, it would have been an ideal place to try and take Harry whilst he was away from the protection of Dumbledore.
06:504. Barty Crouch Jr.'s escape from Azkaban, the Goblet of Fire
06:55Barty Crouch Jr.'s backstory is fascinating.
06:58The way Rowling ties together the Quidditch World Cup, the disappearance of Bertha Jorkins, and the events of Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts is superb.
07:06Whilst it would be tricky to cover everything in the movie adaptation, the lack of explanation here is unforgivable.
07:12Harry knows who Barty Crouch Jr. is, but here in any of the later entries.
07:16All things considered, the butchering of Crouch's fascinating story was a massive mistake.
07:21A 10-minute flashback would have made for an interesting sequence in one of the more mediocre Harry Potter movies.
07:273. The effect of the Polyjuice Potion, the Chamber of Secrets slash the Goblet of Fire slash the Deathly Hallows.
07:34When adapting a novel, there are always going to be changes to the source material.
07:39Some aspects of the original story will be altered or removed, and new things will also be added.
07:43Unfortunately, the filmmakers complicated the Polyjuice Potion purely for the sake of it.
07:48In the Chamber of Secrets, Harry and Ron both take the Polyjuice Potion, and in terms of their appearances, they look exactly like Crabbe and Goyle.
07:56But for reasons that are never explained, they retain their original voices.
08:00While this does lead to a few comedic moments, there was really no need to impose this rule.
08:06That rule is then abandoned in the Goblet of Fire, when Barty Crouch Jr. transforms into Mad-Eye Moody.
08:11But in both halves of the Deathly Hallows, the filmmakers revert back to the rule established in the Chamber of Secrets.
08:17This can be seen during the Battle of the Seven Potters, and during the Gringotts heist.
08:22It would have been much easier if the filmmakers had just stuck with Rowling's version of the potion.
08:26This would have avoided any inconsistencies, and saved a job for the sound department.
08:302. The Marauder's Backstory, The Prisoner of Azkaban.
08:34Toward the end of The Prisoner of Azkaban, the truth about Sirius Black is revealed.
08:38The audience learns that Scabbers is actually Peter Pettigrew, and that it was he who portrayed Harry's parents and murdered a street full of muggles, not Sirius.
08:47And Lupin also reveals that he's a werewolf, which is why he's been missing classes.
08:52However, the details of this backstory are never explored.
08:55You wouldn't know from watching the film who created the Marauder's Map, or why they knew so much about Hogsmeade and the Hogwarts Grounds.
09:02Most frustratingly, those who haven't read the book will not know that Harry's Patronus, which takes the shape of a stag, is the same animal James Potter transformed into as an animagus.
09:12It's a shame because The Prisoner of Azkaban is a terrific movie, yet the filmmakers managed to miss out what many Potter fans consider to be the best backstory in the entire franchise.
09:22One, Harry doesn't do any magic in his first year, the Philosopher's Stone.
09:28As ridiculous as it might sound, Harry doesn't actually do any magic in his first year at Hogwarts.
09:34In fact, the only time he successfully casts a spell is whilst he's trying out wands in Ollivander's shop.
09:41If you watch the Philosopher's Stone closely, you'll notice that Hermione does all the major spell work.
09:45She uses her considerable talent to fix Harry's glasses, unlock doors, set Snape's robes on fire, petrify Neville, and take down the Devil's snare whilst beneath the trapdoor.
09:55Even Ron does more than Harry, because at least he uses Wingardium Leviosa to take down the troll on Halloween.
10:02It's really hard to believe the filmmakers didn't spot this crucial misstep at some point.
10:07Sure, Harry still has a lot to do in the first movie.
10:10He plays Quidditch and is incredibly brave when he fights Quirrell.
10:13But given he's the title character of a story about being a young wizard, he really should have performed some actual magic at some point.
10:21And there you have it, folks.
10:2212 problems with Harry Potter movies, nobody admits.
10:25Feel free to drop this video a like if you enjoyed it, and drop me a follow on Twitter at YouSlyDaoGyu.
10:30I'm Will for WhatCulture, thanks for hanging out, and I'll see you next time.
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