8 Harry Potter Movie Moments Fans Wish They Could Unsee

The Harry Potter movie franchise is one of the best in the history of cinema because almost everything about it was great. The casting, world-building and (mostly) acting were top drawer. And the stories themselves weren’t bad either.

But nothing is ever perfect and there were some cringe moments throughout the series.

Here are 8 Harry Potter movie moments fans would love to unsee if they could:

1. The Quidditch World Cup

The problem with this scene was that it was pointless. Not in the context of the story but because, well it was great in the book and a complete non-event on the screen. Viewers had such high hopes for the visuals but nothing materialised.

It’s one of those where you think, if you’re not going to do it properly, don’t do it at all.

2. That Prisoner of Azkaban Freeze-Frame

What on earth were they thinking? The film was great, but for some reason, they decided to end with a cringeworthy freeze-frame that looked like it should have been on an 80s TV show. Everything about it is wrong, from the ridiculous scream to the blurriness of the image and the cheesiness of the whole idea.

3. Ron and Lavender Brown

Pick a scene, any scene. The idea of this as a subplot is a metaphor for the whole of the Half-Blood Prince. It was poorly thought out, badly concocted and went on for far too long. What made it even worse was that, while this nonsense was going on, the relationship between Harry and Ginny was given so little screen time.

4. The Foreign Students’ Arrival at Hogwarts

Yeah, ‘cos every group of exchange students announces their arrival with a dance. The Irony is that the Goblet of Fire was one of the best films in the entire series. Which just highlighted even more what an absolute travesty of a scene this was.

5. Shrunken Head

Consider for a moment that Prisoner of Azkaban came out in 2004. And yet this strange head on the Knight Bus with its weird quasi-Jamaican accent was somehow considered ok. And it’s not just the fact that this character – who wouldn’t even be considered in this day and age – was featured in the film. It’s that this muppets-esque figure was introduced in a film that, overall, saw the series take a darker twist.

6. Nice Skin

It’s completely believable that Harry and Ron would spend some time talking about normal teenage boy things. And, naturally, that was going to include them chatting about girls. Now, this was a film largely aimed at youngsters and it was never going to portray an authentic conversation of this nature. But this was vomit-inducing. Clearly it was more geared towards the relationship between Harry and Ginny. But they could have done better than this.

7. Did You Put Your Name in the Goblet of Fire?

The question is valid. Dumbledore needs to know. But if you read the book, he says it calmly. For the movie adaptation, that turned into a desperate Dumbledore yelling at the young wizard. Subsequently, that particular piece of dialogue made it into a meme. But nothing good ever gets turned into a meme.

8. But I am the Chosen One

In the library, when Hermione tells Harry that Romilda Vane is only interested in him because he’s the chosen one, young Mr Potter replies, “But I am the chosen one.” It’s cringey in the extreme and the scene is not supposed to be taken too seriously. But it’s so bad – and it’s the main character we’ve grown to love being…well, a bit of an idiot.