Harry Potter Reviews: Our Verdict on Every Film

Our Harry Potter reviews give each of the eleven films a verdict and a rating out of 10, and the short answer is that all eight main films are worth watching, with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban at the top. Cinvibe's rating weighs direction, performances, pacing and how well a film stands within the series. If you want the whole run in sequence, the harry potter movies in order guide sets it out, and the harry potter movies hub lists every title.

Our ratings run from 5 for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald to 9 for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and the table gives each film's year, director and US age rating.

Yes, the eight main films are worth watching, and I would say the first four work well as stand alone family films while the last four reward anyone who stays for the full story. The tone darkens steadily, and Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson grow up on screen across ten years of release dates. The spin-offs are a different proposition, and you can skip them without losing anything from the main saga. The harry potter cast page lists who returns and who is recast along the way.

Harry Potter was a hit at every stage of the main saga: each of the eight films grossed more than $800 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo and The Numbers. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone took about $1.03 billion on a $125 million budget, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 reached $1.31 billion, the highest of the series. Paradoxically, the lowest earner of the eight, Prisoner of Azkaban at $812 million, is also my favorite. The spin-offs tell a different story, with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them at $816 million on a $180 million budget, The Crimes of Grindelwald at $656 million on $200 million, and The Secrets of Dumbledore at $407 million on $200 million. The full table sits on the harry potter box office page.

By our rating, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), directed by Alfonso Cuarón, is the best, at 9 out of 10. Cuarón took over from Chris Columbus, and in my opinion that change of director is what lets the series grow out of its storybook first chapters. The film also has strong additions in Gary Oldman as Sirius Black and David Thewlis as Remus Lupin, with Michael Gambon taking over as Dumbledore, and John Williams wrote the score that includes Double Trouble. For a full ordering of all eleven, see harry potter movies ranked.

No, only four of the eight main films are rated PG-13 in the US: Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix and both Deathly Hallows films. The first three films and Half-Blood Prince carry a PG. In the UK the first three are PG and the rest of the main films are 12A, and in Australia the first three are PG and the rest are M. All three Fantastic Beasts films are PG-13 in the US and 12A in the UK.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is rated PG in the US, the UK and Australia, which makes it the film most families begin with. It runs 152 minutes, so younger children may do better with a break halfway through. Whether it suits your child is a judgment for you, and I would watch it first if they are sensitive to dark scenes, because the sequels step up in tone.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001), directed by Chris Columbus, is the gentlest way into the saga, and I rate it 8 out of 10. The shopping trip through the hidden London street and the arrival at Hogwarts carry the film. It plays as a faithful tour, which is both its strength and its limit.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), also directed by Columbus, earns a 7. It is the longest of the eight at 161 minutes, and it spends that time on the flying car rescue, Toby Jones as the voice of Dobby and Kenneth Branagh as the vain Gilderoy Lockhart. Branagh is the best thing in it, in my opinion. Richard Harris died on October 25, 2002, shortly after finishing his work as Dumbledore.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), directed by Alfonso Cuarón, is the one I would hand to a newcomer who wants to see what the series can do, and it earns a 9. The Knight Bus, the Dementors posted around the school and the sense that Harry is being hunted all give it a sharper edge than the two before. It runs 141 minutes and wastes very little of that.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), directed by Mike Newell, earns 7.5. The Quidditch World Cup and the Triwizard Tournament give it set pieces on a larger scale, Robert Pattinson plays Cedric Diggory and Ralph Fiennes plays Lord Voldemort. Patrick Doyle replaced John Williams as composer, and the film opened to more than $100 million in the US.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), directed by David Yates, earns 8. At 138 minutes it is one of the tightest in the series, and Imelda Staunton makes Dolores Umbridge a villain whose menace comes from paperwork and politeness rather than spells. Helena Bonham Carter adds Bellatrix Lestrange to the ensemble. Yates went on to direct every later main film.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), directed by Yates, earns 7.5. It had the biggest budget of any film in the franchise at $250 million, and Warner Bros. moved its release from November 2008 to July 2009. Jim Broadbent is a good fit as Horace Slughorn, and the film is quieter than the ones around it, which I found a relief and others may find slow.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010), directed by Yates, earns 7.5. Alexandre Desplat took over the score, and the film turns the saga into a road story of three friends on the run, with O Children by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds as its notable song. It is patient and bleak, and it works best when you watch it directly before Part 2.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011), directed by Yates, earns 8.5. At 130 minutes it is the shortest of the eight and the highest grossing, with the Gringotts visit and a final act that gives Matthew Lewis as Neville Longbottom and Alan Rickman as Severus Snape real moments. It pays off a decade of setup without feeling rushed.

The three Fantastic Beasts spin-offs all come from director David Yates, and only the first earns a recommendation from me.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016), written for the screen by J.K. Rowling in her first screenplay, earns 6.5. Eddie Redmayne's Newt Scamander and Dan Fogler's Jacob Kowalski are an appealing pairing in 1926 New York, and Colleen Atwood won the Oscar for costume design.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) earns 5. Johnny Depp plays Grindelwald and Jude Law plays a younger Dumbledore, and the story moves to Paris, but I found it crowded with characters and light on momentum.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022) earns 5.5. Mads Mikkelsen replaced Depp as Grindelwald, and the film is steadier than its predecessor, yet its $407 million worldwide gross makes it the lowest of all eleven films.

A good Harry Potter movie review for students names the film, its year, its director and its runtime in the first lines, then picks one scene to argue about. Choose a moment, such as the Knight Bus ride in Prisoner of Azkaban, say what it shows about the film, and end with a clear verdict. The harry potter characters page is a useful reference for names and actors.

Watch Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban first if you have seen the others, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone first if you have not. After the films, the HBO adaptation is covered on the harry potter tv series page, and the new harry potter movie page tracks its December 25, 2026 date, which is reported but not yet confirmed.