Harry Potter enchanted us on their television screens for eleven years before leaving on Platform 9 3/4. They were left feeling as Harry, Ron, and Hermione thought after Deathly Hallows — puzzled and confused to do with ourselves once ‘Harry Potter Mania’ had stopped. With four different filmmakers adding a variety of flavours to the series from film to film without sacrificing character development, narrative development, or continuity, it allowed the Harry Potter films to grow and mature with the books. It’s an incredible accomplishment made even more remarkable because there isn’t a single bad film among them. The Harry Potter franchise continues to be as popular as it was a decade ago and with the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Part 2: Return to Hogwarts is just around the corner; it seems like a good time as any to revisit the films and rank them from best to worst—a somewhat tricky task given the high level of quality throughout the series.

There is a “definitive” instalment in every film series. In Harry Potter’s case, he feels that the film is Prisoner of Azkaban, which captures the essence of Hogwarts and the Wizarding World in a single hour and forty-five minutes. In addition, the fact that the film spends just as much time outside of the school, in locations like Hogsmeade Knight Bus, contributes to the picture’s tremendous sense of sweep. Although the tale is its most exciting part, time travel is also involved. There’s an escaped murderer on the run, nasty Dementors on the prowl, a mysterious werewolf on school grounds, and even a touch of time travel. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a work of absolute magic at the risk of sounding trite.