Harry Potter movies ranked – every film from worst to best

Later this year, HBO Max will be bringing a brand-new adaptation of the Harry Potter books to our screens with a rebooted television series featuring an all new cast.

But for many fans, the new show has a very hard job on its hand if it is to live up to the hugely popular films that were released between 2001 and 2011.

The eight movies starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson (as well as a parade of the most revered British actors of their generation) achieved all sorts of major box office success while further helping the Wizarding World became a genuine global phenomenon.

And so as fans wait to see whether the TV show will achieve similar results, we're looking back at the movies and ranking them in our order of preference. We'll be including excerpts from our original reviews, but, Albus Dumbledore once famously called time a "mysterious thing", so with the benefit of years of hindsight, this list won't be ranked by star rating.

So, grab your wands and your Patronus (if you can conjure one!), and read on for our countdown of the Harry Potter films from worst to best.

More of a reader? Check out our guide to how to read the Harry Potter books in order.

Harry Potter films ranked

8. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Kicking off the rundown is the second instalment in the series and last from director Chris Columbus. The 2002 movie, also the longest in the series (clocking in at over two hours and 40 minutes), introduced the much-loved character Dobby. At a time when CG characters came in for a bit of stick, the lovable Hogwarts house elf lifted the film above its slightly darker and more plodding scenes. Whilst certainly not bad, Chamber of Secrets is quite some way off the heady heights of its sequels.

• What the cast said: "The action scenes for me were so much fun. In the scene when I'm hanging out of the car window, that was actually me, I was hanging 25-30ft up in the air, and it was just really cool. I do as many of the stunts as possible." – Daniel Radcliffe

RT review

Those who worship the fantasy book series will find this sequel to The Philosopher's Stone even more to their taste. The mood is darker and more scary, but adventure tinged with danger has always been attractive to children. There’s a mandrake root with an ear-splitting scream and predatory spiders lurking in the Forbidden Forest, while Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) discovers he can speak to snakes – an ability that earns the mistrust of his fellow students and faculty alike.

Director Chris Columbus (again working from a screenplay by Steve Kloves) has allowed some mechanical repetition to creep in, but overall this manages to be ingenious as well as faithful to its source. Of the adult performers, Kenneth Branagh stands out as the egotistical new teacher Gilderoy Lockhart, managing to upstage even the special effects, but, sadly, the character of Dumbledore (Richard Harris) is mostly lost within the convolutions of the plot. – Tom Hutchinson

7. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone / Sorcerer's Stone

Chris Columbus had the unenviable task of introducing the world to his cinematic take on the already beloved series of books from author JK Rowling. But the Home Alone and Mrs Doubtfire director waved his magic wand, or camera at least, and created the cinematic universe millions would come to love.

• What the cast said: "They’d say a line and then they’d smile at the camera or they were just so happy to be in a 'Harry Potter' film that they couldn’t contain their excitement long enough to focus on an entire scene!" – Chris Columbus

RT review

With millions of Harry Potter books sold around the world, this CGI-packed fantasy adventure is more than just a big-budget movie adaptation – it’s a cultural phenomenon. Eleven-year-old Daniel Radcliffe makes a likeable Harry, the boy wizard who’s whisked off to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and is charged with finding the blood red stone of the film’s title.

A scene-stealing Robbie Coltrane is among a host of familiar adult faces who breathe life into JK Rowling’s charming characters – though some such as John Hurt and John Cleese only make cameo appearances. To criticise at all feels like an act of isolationism and yet there is a lack of emotional core – Harry’s orphan status fails to move – and, at over two-and-a-half hours in length, the movie is surely too long for the younger fidgets.

However, this faithful rendition of the inaugural Potter book demonstrated that the franchise was in safe, sensible hands – writer Steve Kloves (The Fabulous Baker Boys) and director Chris Columbus (Home Alone) were both on board for the first sequel The Chamber of Secrets the following year. – Andrew Collins

6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Harry’s final book would be split into two, which was the style at the time, though many feel that perhaps, in hindsight, one epic movie would have sufficed. The second part is much-lauded but this opening salvo feels too bogged down in setting up the sensational climax.

• What the cast said: "There’s a lot of tension in that scene [the famous dancing scene]. It’s nice because it’s sweet, but at the same time it’s strange. Hermione always tries to stop the boys from fighting and she knows how to react. She’s positive, but after Ron leaves she’s devastated. So Harry tries to make her snap out of it and cheer her up." – Emma Watson

RT Review

After an unbroken run of excellent family films, the franchise runs aground in its seventh instalment, which tackles the first half of the series' epic final volume. With the supporting players reduced to the status of high-cost extras, it falls to Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) to carry the bulk of the action on an extended road trip.

While the production values remain impeccable, a drifting story, sluggish pacing and choppy transitions will likely frustrate all but the most devoted of fans. Ending on a skirmish rather than a climax, the film plays more like an extended prologue than a story in its own right. But some stunning set pieces and a beautiful animated segment redeem things considerably. – Steve Morrissey

5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

British director David Yates comes in from 2007 and sees the series out behind the camera. Yates, who continued with the Wizarding World franchise by helming the Fantastic Beasts films, kept up the mature tone set by its predecessor (higher up this list). Of course, any discussion around Order of the Phoenix has to mention Imelda Staunton’s performance as the you-love-to-hate-her Dolores Umbridge. A character Imelda herself described as a "bloody monster".

• What the cast said: "I love the last one, but I also really love the fifth, which is not a lot of people's favourite, I kind of realise. I love it because of the relationship between Harry and Sirius [Black], and you get a lot of Gary Oldman in that movie. That was my favourite one. Probably to film as well. We had a really, really good time making that one." – Daniel Radcliffe

RT Review

The magic is still there but the mood remains resolutely dark in this engrossing fifth episode in the fantasy franchise. With no Quidditch matches or tournaments to divert him, the task facing Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) is to convince the wizarding community of the re-emergence of Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes). His cause isn't helped when Dumbledore's position as Head of Hogwarts comes under threat.

Adapting the bumper-size book was always going to be a challenge, and it's therefore surprising that David Yates's film is one of the shortest in the series. Less may not necessarily be more, however, as some characters are given short shrift and subplots are sketched over.

That said, Yates instils proceedings with the requisite sense of wonder, Alan Rickman is deliciously dour as Snape and Rupert Grint's Ron injects some much needed light relief, while Imelda Staunton steals the show as prim but poisonous tutor Dolores Umbridge. In a spellbinding finale set in the Ministry of Magic, we finally see the forces of good and evil engaging in full-on combat, and it's well worth the wait. – Jamie Healy

4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Fourth film in and a third director for the series. This 2005 gem was helmed by England’s very own Mike Newell (known for Four Weddings and a Funeral and Donnie Brasco), but this time things were very different for the Hogwarts gang.

Harry and his chums were growing up and, even from the marketing with its more subdued colours, you could tell this was a more adult affair. The innocent magical wonder of the preceding instalments has firmly gone and become super gritty.

Who can forget Cedric Diggory’s father howling in grief at his son’s death? A turning point in the series.

• What the cast said: "[Mike Newell] brought out the best performances in all of us yet... he was very focused on the fact that you know you can pump huge quantities of money into special effects... but none of it would matter if we didn't have good performances." – Emma Watson

RT Review

As young wizard Harry Potter continues to mature, so too does this exciting fantasy franchise. This fourth instalment continues the dark and gritty atmosphere initiated by Prisoner of Azkaban, offering genuine scares alongside the customary magical mayhem. Now aged 14, Daniel Radcliffe’s Potter faces the ultimate challenge after being mysteriously entered into the Triwizard Tournament – a prestigious affair in which representatives of three schools of wizardry compete in a series of life-threatening tasks.

The imaginative tournament scenes more than compensate for Radcliffe’s anaemic performance, featuring, among other treats, a brilliantly rendered CGI dragon and creepy mermaid creatures. Like Alfonso Cuarón before him, British director Mike Newell really stamps his mark on the movie, making Hogwarts seem like the most fabulous school ever.

However, his vision is perhaps too frightening – and lengthy – for the under-12s, with a pupil’s murder and Ralph Fiennes as Potter’s evil nemesis, Lord Voldemort, adding particular intensity to events. – Sloan Freer

3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Aka Harry Potter and the Full-Blown Puberty. This love potion is hot with hormones and (Tom) riddled with romance – not to mention Harry and Ginny’s secret kiss. A romcom with wizards and witches.

Elsewhere, Harry’s sixth year at Hogwarts saw the Death Eaters memorably mess up London and a much-loved character bites the big one during a shocking finale (if you hadn’t read the book, of course). The visuals were on point and, rather fittingly, the film was Oscar-nominated for its cinematography.

• What the cast said: "[At the time,] we weren’t privy to where our characters were going so all I did really was just focus on who [Draco] was in that particular film. Which is why shooting Half-Blood Prince was probably the most enjoyable." – Tom Felton

RT Review

In the outstanding sixth adaptation of the fantasy book series, Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) lures potions professor Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent, in an entertainingly eccentric performance) back to Hogwarts. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) is then charged with trying to dislodge a key clue regarding Slughorn's former pupil, the future Lord Voldemort, from the retired teacher’s resistant mind.

This is a difficult book to adapt because it is mostly concerned with setting up the two-part finale, but screenwriter Steve Kloves does an admirable job of condensing the plot without losing the emotional depth of the surprisingly adult narrative.

The dark tone of the film, as the forces of evil grow ever stronger, is leavened by the romantic entanglements and rampaging hormonal comic relief. Director David Yates dazzles with an evocatively brooding style and raises the storytelling and visual-effects bar for the entire series. – Alan Jones

2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

And so HP fans around the world mourned as the final year at Hogwarts for our heroes came to an end. Undoubtedly, Warner Bros was mourning too as its cash cow came to an end – with this one raking in $1.34 billion (of course the Fantastic Beasts films would follow, less successfully, and there’s the aforementioned small screen reboot coming).

The final battle enthralled and the coupling-up satiated all those shippers around the world. For those who followed from the start, this finale was worth the wait and kept the magic bubbling in that cinematic cauldron for so many years.

• What the cast said: "I hardly ever know my lines in the film. But my favourite is when I appear as a ghost on the station platform in the final film, "I say, ‘Harry...’ And I felt like crying." – Michael Gambon

RT Review

The fantasy franchise comes to a hugely satisfying and teary-eyed conclusion, as Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) clash for the last time. Continuing where Part 1 left off, Harry, Hermione and Ron search for the magical horcruxes, the key to the evil lord’s immortality. Meanwhile, dark forces are amassing around Hogwarts, as its plucky pupils prepare for battle.

Every beloved character gets their moment in the spotlight, with the backstory of Snape (Alan Rickman) and a sensational revelation about the hero schoolboy’s destiny packing a real emotional wallop. There's a deliciously menacing gravity lacking from previous episodes that puts the final spectacular confrontation on a truly mythic plane. The technical wizardry on display is perfectly crafted, with David Yates directing with the surest of hands. – Alan Jones

1. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Given that director Alfonso Cuarón was known for films such as Y tu mamá también and the 1998 modern interpretation of Great Expectations (with Robert De Niro and Gwyneth Paltrow), the Spanish filmmaker did seem like an off-the-wall choice. But the results speak for themselves.

Harry's third year at Hogwarts introduces ‘bad guy’ and the titular prisoner, Sirius Black. Except, he’s a prisoner no more and he’s not really bad. With a franchise-stealing turn from Gary Oldman, a heavy dose of time-turning, and the introduction of Buckbeak, Prisoner of Azkaban moved the series up several gears.

Despite being roundly lauded by fans and audiences alike, its performance at the box office is actually the lowest in the series (unable to break $800 million). But many wondered what could have been had Cuarón been able to stay on for more outings.

• What the cast said: "It is a very grown-up movie, so full of daring that it made me smile and smile. Every frame of it is the work of an artist and storyteller. Stunning effects that are somehow part of the life of the film, not show-off stunts." – Alan Rickman
  

RT Review

The franchise holders took a real risk by handing this third Harry Potter film to a Mexican director who was then best known for the smart, sexy but low-budget road movie Y Tu Mamá También. (He's since gone on to win Oscars for Gravity and Roma.)

But the decision has paid dividends. Alfonso Cuarón brings a darker, edgier, scarier feel to this instalment, which has boy wizard Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) contending not only with Gary Oldman's escaped convict, but also with the difficulties of becoming a teenager.

But there’s still plenty of fun to be had, with ghosts, ghouls and gizmos galore, the most striking being a shape-shifting triple-decker bus that, were it real, would solve London's traffic congestion at a stroke. David Thewlis, Emma Thompson and Timothy Spall join the list of cameoing stars, while the young leads are all growing into their roles. Potter fans will not be disappointed. – Dave Aldridge

Harry Potter movies and the entire Wizarding World collection are available to watch now on HBO Max.

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