Ranking the Harry Potter Films

As just about everyone is aware, the Harry Potter franchise, one of the most successful and entertaining in cinematic history, came to an end last week. In my review of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2," I mentioned the nostalgic and sentimental reactions most audience members have had recently, so I won't do that again. Instead, I would like to provide a simple list and explanation ranking all eight of the Harry Potter films.

8. The Sorcerer's Stone

Also known as "The Philosopher's Stone" in strange foreign lands, the initial film was rumored to be directed by Steven Spielberg, who reportedly wanted to direct it as an animated film with Haley Joel Osment to star in the title role. After those negotiations fell apart, Chris Columbus, who had worked with young actors in films like "Home Alone" and "Mrs. Doubtfire," was chosen. Columbus got together a magnificent team--art and set designers Stuart Craig and Stephanie McMillan, cinematographer John Seale, costume designer Judianna Makovsky, composer John Williams (none of whom won an Oscar that year due to tough competition from "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" and "Moulin Rouge!"), and a magnificent cast of British who's-who actors like Maggie Smith, Richard Harris, Robbie Coltrane, John Hurt, Alan Rickman (after Tim Roth turned down the role of Severus Snape to be in Tim Burton's "Planet of the Apes"), and three new actors named Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint.

"The Sorcerer's Stone" isn't necessarily a bad film, but there's such a long explanation of who Harry Potter is, why he's special, and what happened to his parents before there's any adventure at Hogwarts. Even though it's arguably the most wondrous because it was introducing audiences to something so novel, it's the silliest and most child-like of all the films, with effects that looked aged even then (remember Fluffy and that troll?). Still, I was at least impressed by it.

7. The Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Warner Bros. made a win-win decision by splitting up the final installment into two individual films, thereby giving the director David Yates and screenwriter Steven Kloves (who wrote all the adaptations) more breathing room to adapt Rowling's story but also making the company an even sweeter load of money. The problem is that all the slower, more talkative parts to "The Deathly Hallows" seemed to have been shoved into this one. I don't even remember most of it; I remember liking the character Rhys Ifans played, and the animated segment (maybe Spielberg's idea wasn't so bad after all). Yup, that's about all I remember.

6. The Half-Blood Prince

This is an "on-the-one-hand-on-the-other-hand" type of Harry Potter movie. One the one hand, I liked the gloominess of the film. I think the zenith of the darkness in the later Potter films was with "The Half-Blood Prince," and the result is that it's very stylish, earning an Oscar nomination for its cinematographer Bruce Delbonnel. But on the other hand, this is a Harry Potter film, isn't it? At times it feels more like "The Exorcist" than a Harry Potter film.

One of the things I liked most about "The Half-Blood Prince" was Voldemort. Ralph Fiennes did not appear in this film as the character, but his nephew Hero Fiennes-Tiffin did, as a young boy, alienated and angry. He's afraid, lonely, vulnerable and dislikes that he's "different." Whereas Harry knew how to put his being different to good use, young Tom Riddle never discovered how, and so the seeds of his wickedness were planted. But the young actor's portrayal of the terrible wizard is proof that Rowling's characters have so much depth to them; not even Voldemort is perfectly evil. There are reasons for his feelings, and he finds them to be just.

(There were three young actors who played pre-Voldemort Tom Riddle in the Potter films: Fiennes-Tiffin, Frank Dillane, and Christian Coulson, and they were all terrific.)

5. The Goblet of Fire

It's my understanding that the novel "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" was twice the length of its immediate predecessor "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," which itself was longer than the first two novels. The result is that a considerable portion of scenes and information were stripped from the final movie, and it shows. But what's really odd is that even with those scenes removed, the film still feels considerably slower and duller compared to the previous Potter films. Also, the death of Cedric Diggory (Robert Pattinson), changing the tone of Harry Potter films from "Oh, look, love. 'Ere we are in 'ogwarts and look at that fun thing o'er there" to "Oh, look, yet anova characta died," thereby introducing a generation of young Harry Potter fans to Prozac.

But the best part of this installment is that we finally see Voldemort in a non-teenage, non-back-of-another-guy's-head form, played by Ralph Fiennes, in what was arguably the best casting in the entire series. (Also keep in mind that rumors were spreading that John Malkovich and Rowan Atkinson were in negotiations to play the role.) Fiennes is perfectly villainous, frightening as he is funny and totally in command of his scenes.

4. The Order of the Phoenix

I never found much politics in the Harry Potter series as others did, but I did in "The Order of the Phoenix" through the character of Dolores Umbridge, played by Imelda Staunton in the films (yet another flawless casting decision). Umbridge is an education "reformer," and what that meant to me was not necessarily an attack on No Child Left Behind but an attack on education reform in general, the kind that insists politicians, with their vast education experience, legislate the classroom. Those who can, teach; those who can't, write laws about teaching.

3. The Deathly Hallows: Part 2

You can read here for my review of the final film, but I will add once again how thankful I am that it was such a terrific movie.

2. The Prisoner of Azkaban

Columbus left the series to spend more time with his family, and so Alfonso Cuaron took over (fortunately, I'm sure, for most parents, this movie was more "A Little Princess" than "Y tu mama tambien"). (I remember reading that Cuaron joked that he was going to add "sex, lots of sex" to the Potter franchise, a joke at the expense of the worry of him being the director.) Cuaron makes this film much more Brothers Grimm-like in his depiction of the wizard world, with a giant clock and large pumpkins everywhere. As with the other films, he chose wisely with his cast, adding Gary Oldman as Sirius Black, Michael Gambon to replace Richard Harris as Dumbledore, and Timothy Spall as Peter Pettigrew. This is also a terrific Potter film for its perfect balance of the youthful novelty of the first films and the darkness of the later films. It was also the final Harry Potter score by John Williams, who earned an Oscar nomination for his work.

1. The Chamber of Secrets

I am possibly the only person on the planet who considers "The Chamber of Secrets" to be the finest Harry Potter film. I can't help it. It's simply the most entertaining and enthralling of them all, with the eerie yet captivating detective situation Harry finds himself in, trying to piece together creepy spiders, a giant snake, a diary, and a bumbling professor all while exceeding academically. There's an exciting car ride and a thrilling Quidditch match and an annoying house elf (voiced by Toby Jones). It also featured the final appearance of Richard Harris as Dumbledore before Harris passed away, Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy and Kenneth Brangh as Gilderoy Lockhart were added to the cast. (For the record, I liked Michael Gambon basically just as much as Harris, especially with Gambon's powerful baritone voice.) All the actors helped demonstrate what extraordinary acting has been employed in this wonderful series.

I solemnly swear that it has been a great ten years of Harry Potter films.