Movie mistakes

[jammi567]

I've had a look around the forum, but i can't find a topic on this. But feel dree to merge if there is one.

This a thread for spoting mistakes within the movies themselves, notmistakes made from the books to the movies! Because even movies can make them.

One example is where Quirrill is trying to strangle Harry at the end of the first movie, and doesn't get burnt. And yet, mere seconds later, Quirrill gets burnt from Harry touching his face. Why?

[BurrowGhoul]

I thought Quirrell's hands started to crumble, and that's when Harry realized he could keep him away by grabbing his face.

[DeathlyH]

One funny thing I noticed on my about quadrillionth wiewing on CoS was a crew member's head, clearly visible for just a second when the door to Hagrid's Hut is opened before the Forbidden Forest scene. That's kind of funny, huh? I'm sure that they'll go out and change that in the next edition of DVDs, though (or Blu-Ray, or whatever it is now...)

[jammi567]

Originally Posted by BurrowGhoul

I thought Quirrell's hands started to crumble, and that's when Harry realized he could keep him away by grabbing his face.

that was only from my memory, i can't exactly remember the scene, as i haven't watched the movies in ages.

[Martok]

Even though he buys his wand in PS and Olivander makes such a big deal of it, we never see Harry actually casting a spell with it in the entire movie.

During the dueling club scene in CoS - after Draco gets blasted in the air by Harry's spell - Snape helps Draco back on his feet. You can see the cameraman kneeling behind the catwalk.

Not a mistake - just an observation: When the trio heads for the Care of Magical Creatures lesson, they pass a fox and a rabbit on the grounds. In the book Lavender Brown's pet rabbit gets eaten by a fox.

In GoF after the 2nd task, Hermione wraps her towel around Harry's shoulders. Now he has 2 towels (the colours are a bit different). When the shot changes, the 2nd towel is around Hermione's shoulders again and Harry is left with only one towel. The towel keeps changing position as the shots change.

[_Flagrate_]

Originally Posted by Martok

Even though he buys his wand in PS and Olivander makes such a big deal of it, we never see Harry actually casting a spell with it in the entire movie.

During the dueling club scene in CoS - after Draco gets blasted in the air by Harry's spell - Snape helps Draco back on his feet. You can see the cameraman kneeling behind the catwalk.

Not a mistake - just an observation: When the trio heads for the Care of Magical Creatures lesson, they pass a fox and a rabbit on the grounds. In the book Lavender Brown's pet rabbit gets eaten by a fox.

Ill have to look out for that duelling club one in CoS, sounds funny. I never noticed Harry never cast a spell in PS, weird huh?

[RavenEye]

Not a mistake exactly, more a continuity problem, but I loved the bit in OotP where Harry is doing a voiceover bit indicating that autumn is coming (complete with leaves falling in front of Hagrid's hut) then we immediately switch to the scene in the Forbidden Forest with a shoeless Luna that was shot quite obviously in the middle of summer.

[xFluerDelacourx]

I'm sure someone else has noticed this, but it was either GOF or POA where Harry's scar was on the left side of his forehead instead of the middle.

[DeathlyH]

Originally Posted by xFluerDelacourx

I'm sure someone else has noticed this, but it was either GOF or POA where Harry's scar was on the left side of his forehead instead of the middle.

It does switch sides frequently. One of the most obvious instances is in PoA, the Boggart scene. It's on the wrong side there, and everyone notices that one, BUT, there's an explanation. The whole scene is filmed from the inside of the wardrobe, so everything is backwards. That's why Harry holds his wand lefty.

Did anyone notice all those times people mouthed each other's lines, like Hermione in CoS, after Ron starts vomiting slugs, and Dudley, when Vernon says "who's be writing to you?" I'm not sure why they do this.

[Shanny41188]

It's not really a mistake, as it's pretty deliberate, but one thing that bugs me about the movies is the fact that Dan Radcliffe has blue eyes. I don't understand why they couldn't have either given him green contacts or CGI'd them to green or something. I wouldn't normally be bothered except it's the one physical thing that links Harry to his mum and it's not represented in the films. (Feel free to correct/explain to me if you can.)

[BurrowGhoul]

Originally Posted by Shanny41188

It's not really a mistake, as it's pretty deliberate, but one thing that bugs me about the movies is the fact that Dan Radcliffe has blue eyes. I don't understand why they couldn't have either given him green contacts or CGI'd them to green or something. I wouldn't normally be bothered except it's the one physical thing that links Harry to his mum and it's not represented in the films. (Feel free to correct/explain to me if you can.)

He's allergic to the contacts.

JKR has said the color doesn't matter, just that he has his mother's eyes, so as long as Lily's eyes are blue and similar to Dan's they are fine.

[MrsLupin]

Something that has always bothered me...

I know that certain details must be changed in the movies; I can accept that. But why did they change the country of origin of the snake in SS? The book says Brazil, the move says Burma. What possible benefit could there be for changing that?!

[DarwinMayflower]

Harry Potter and the Philsopher's Stone

• In Diagon Alley, In the background of the far right of the bank shot, you see a small enclosed walkway bridge leading from one building into the bank building. Perhaps only the front is the bank and the rest of the structure behind it is different shops and businesses?
  
• It might be a typo, but Ollivanders is written on the chapter title, where it should be Ollivander's.
  
• On the Train: Usually Radcliffe doesn't actually have glass in his glasses, or so I'm lead to believe on a TV interview when this film was near premiering. However you can distinctly see the shadow of the glasses on Radcliffe's face when Hermione fixes Harry's glasses. Nice attention to detail there.
  
• Fred (or George) gets a parcel. But I doubt it's from the Weasley's owl. Perhaps another Zonko product purchase?
  
• Ron does the spell for levitation on the club, however he does a "forehand" sweep before the flick. Hermione actually doing it properly is shown to have done a "backhand" sweep before the flick. Totally inaccurate, how can two different techniques result in the same spell?
  
• Kinda a small note, but the unicorn's blood doesn't seem as shiny before the cut to Hagrid kneeling down and touching the puddle of it.
  
• After Exams: We have a wide outside shot of the Trio coming out of the front doors of the castle. Then Harry and Co. is once again shown being inside the castle cominig out again. What's going on here?
  
• Is it me or is there a second door leading into the Mirror of Erised Chamber? What is it?
  

From the IMDB entry:

CLICK TO SEE THERE ARE ALOT:    

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* Revealing mistakes: The mechanism which makes the Quidditch box shake can be seen underneath the box when Wood falls over after catching the Bludger. * Miscellaneous: As the three children run across the field to Hagrid's hut, Harry says a few lines ending with "... why didn't I see it before?" Hermione is mouthing Harry's lines with him. * Crew or equipment visible: When Harry, Ron, and Hermione are struggling in the Devil's Snare, a puppeteer can be seen on the left of the screen, working at least some of the masses of tendrils. * Continuity: During the train journey, Ron's hair is parted in several different places. * Continuity: Harry's glasses sometimes have lenses, and sometimes don't, as do Dumbledore's. * Continuity: On the train, the same hill as well as lake (as seen by the waves in the middle of the water) are seen multiple times. * Audio/visual unsynchronized: Harry, Dudley, and Uncle Vernon during the flying letters sequence. * Revealing mistakes: When Uncle Vernon is ripping up the letters that come through the mail slot, you can see that the envelopes had already been cut, making it easier for him to rip up. * Crew or equipment visible: When Harry is in Ollivander's, after he goes up to Hagrid standing outside of the shop with Hedwig, you can clearly see the reflection of a camera in the window. * Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Harry is going home on the Hogwarts Express he says "I'm not going home, not really". The next view of the camera shows that Harry is still saying "not really" but you can't hear the words * Continuity: When Harry, Ron and Hermione are talking to Hagrid about Fluffy, Ron's scarf goes from being on his shoulder to being draped over his shoulder. * Continuity: Harry's scar clearly changes positions throughout the movie. * Miscellaneous: When Harry receives countless acceptance letters from Hogwarts, he fights with Uncle Vernon, saying the dialogue "They're my letters! Give it to me!" Harry's voice is far deeper than the Harry in the rest of the movie, indicating this line was re-dubbed long after main production when Daniel Radcliffe's voice had already begun to change. * Miscellaneous: When Harry receives his first letter, Uncle Vernon says "Your letter? Who would be writing to you?", Dudley is standing next to him and is seen mouthing Uncle Vernon's lines. * Continuity: When Hermione runs across the field her bag switches arms. * Revealing mistakes: When Dumbledore is awarding Neville 10 points, you can see the plastic used to make Neville's ears stick out when he turns toward Harry. * Continuity: When Harry wakes up in the beginning of the movie his shirt is tucked in the back of is trousers. In the next shot it is not. * Revealing mistakes: In the scene with the flying keys, we can see the string holding up the broomstick just before Harry grabs it. * Continuity: When Harry goes looking for a book on Nicolas Flamel in the restricted section he opens up the screaming book to the first page. When the book starts to scream he is in the middle of the book. * Crew or equipment visible: When Harry, Ron, and Hermione just left Fluffy for the first time and walk into their dorm area, we see, under the painting, the feet of someone closing the painting. * Continuity: The note that Hagrid gives to the teller in the bank is wrinkled in one shot, neat and clean in the next, and then back to wrinkled. * Continuity: In Diagon Alley, Harry and Hagrid walk past the same cart and storefront three times. In the opening wide shot, they walk past the purple storefront with the yellow moving scissors and the cart of market goods in front of it. Three shots later, the storefront and cart are shown again in detail, as Harry and Hagrid pass. The next shot shows them passing the cart (with a stack of cauldrons in the background). Several shots later, after passing the store with the owls, they are seen once again passing the cart with the same stack of cauldrons in the background. * Continuity: Just after passing Madam Malkin's shop and before the owl emporium in Diagon Alley, a woman dressed all in black and a man with a burgandy top hat and mutton chops pass on Harry's right walking in the opposite direction. In the next shot, as Harry looks to his left, the same pair can be seen standing and chatting in the doorway of the owl emporium. * Continuity: In Diagon Alley, Harry and Hagrid pass many groups of people multiple times, though they appear to be walking continuously in one direction. Watch for the wizard with curly red hair, the man with a top hat and mutton chops, and the group of three girls who cross in the foreground of the opening shot. * Continuity: When Ron gets drooled on by Fluffy and gets wet, but two shots later he's completely dry. * Errors in geography: When Harry arrives at Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall announces that the Sorting Ceremony will begin "momentarily". In UK English, momentarily means "for a moment" (i.e. briefly), and a Scottish witch as pedantic and precise as McGonagall would never use the American meaning of the word ("in a moment" or "soon"), even though the American meaning might be well understood. Then again, given that the otherwise equally pedantic Snape says "less" when he means "fewer", it could just be that the teaching staff's use of English is just as sloppy as it is in schools all over the muggle world. * Continuity: When the first years climb the stairs and meet Professor McGonagall for the first time, Ron's robe is hanging partly open in one shot, but is closed in the next. * Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Harry and Ron are fighting the troll in the girl's toilet, they use a spell to lift the troll's club over its head and drop it. The club does hit the troll and makes an appropriate sound effect, but then the club falls to the floor, it makes no sound at all. * Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Many viewers believe that the infant Harry in the flashback is wearing anachronistic Blue's Clues pajamas. The design on the sleeve is actually a rabbit. * Crew or equipment visible: During the chess scene, the shadow of a figure can be seen covering a light shining on the chess board near the bottom of the screen. * Continuity: When Harry, wearing his cloak of invisibility, spies on Professor Quirrell being bullied by Professor Snape, the shots filmed from Harry's point of view have him at eye level with the adults even though he is clearly shorter than they are. * Continuity: In the scene in the hut on the rock, where Hagrid comes to fetch Harry, Harry's T-shirt is hanging off his left shoulder at the beginning of the scene, however, for the rest of the scene, it is covering both his shoulders. * Audio/visual unsynchronized: In the scene following the defeat of the troll, Quirrel is shown speaking with the other professors, at which point they, and the trio, leave the girls' bathroom. Their footsteps are clearly heard as they move down the hall; however, in the next shot of the troll laying on the floor, the sound effects have ceased. In the last shot, of Quirrell jumping nervously in response to the troll grunting, the footsteps can again be heard. * Crew or equipment visible: At the zoo, as Harry is talking to the snake, just before Dudley rushes over, you can see the reflection of a cameraman and camera just above the snake. * Continuity: When Mr. Dursley is talking about how there's no post on Sundays and the first letter shoots out of the fireplace, the log poker is in the middle of the hearth, when all the other letters come shooting out, the poker is on the right side. * Miscellaneous: When Filch enters the Restricted Section of the library in search of the disturbance, he passes Harry, who's hiding under the Invisibility Cloak. The camera angle leads the viewer to believe Harry is as tall or taller than Filch. Harry should be a foot or two shorter. * Continuity: When the troll attacks Hermione the first time, its club demolishes the first three stalls. Right before the troll swings its club again, the door of the second stall is still standing. * Factual errors: According to the book, Hogwarts students reach the train by going through platform no. 9¾, which is secretly located in the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. In reality, platforms 9 and 10 are in separate buildings, and there is no barrier between them, but railway tracks. People wrote to Rowling about this, and she admitted getting confused between King's Cross and Euston stations. The Platforms actually used in filming are platforms 4 and 5. * Continuity: During the first meeting of Harry, Ron and Hermione on the Hogwarts Express, Hermione's tie changes from being crooked to one side, to straight then back to crooked again * Revealing mistakes: When Harry and Hagrid are in the Bank at Diagon Alley. Hagrid gives the goblin a card. Multiple time through camera shots the cards corners have been bent and smoothed. * Crew or equipment visible: When Harry takes Ron to the Mirror of Erised, when Harry drops his cloak and runs away, you can clearly see the lime green from the outside. * Continuity: Dudley eats Harry's birthday cake with his hands, but when he turns around, after Hagrid has given him a pig tail, there is no cake or icing on his hands or face. * Miscellaneous: When Harry, Ron, and Hermione are walking up the stairs and the stairs are changing, you can still see the banister wobbling back and forth even after they've reached their final position. * Factual errors: During the chess scene, the bishop moves in a straight, rather than diagonal line as he attacks the bishop. * Miscellaneous: During the chess scene when the chess pieces and being destroyed the bits of rubble can be seen flying in opposite directions and sometimes even just a split second before the actual piece is destroyed. * Crew or equipment visible: At Kings Cross the camera crew is reflected on the side of the train on the right. * Continuity: After Harry gets sorted into Gryffindor he goes and sits down next to Ron with Hermione across from him who is sitting next to Percy. In the next shot when Harry asks who’s that teacher next to Proffesor Quirrell he asks Percy and Hermione is sitting to the right of him and Ron is across from him. * Continuity: After Harry has received his wand in Ollivander's, his hair is parted to show his scar. However, when Hagrid knocks on the window and Harry sees Hedwig, his scar has mysteriously disappeared. * Revealing mistakes: When the multiple letters fly into the house from the fireplace, Harry catches one out of the air and it is obviously a single sheet of paper rather than a stiff envelope like the first one that was delivered and opened. * Continuity: When Harry is in the restricted section, he sets down the lamp to his left before taking off his invisibility cloak, setting the cloak to his right. When Filch's voice is heard and Harry grabs the cloak, the lamp is on top of the cloak and thus falls onto the floor. * Revealing mistakes: When Aunt Petunia is cracking the eggs and finding they are filled with letters rather than yolks, the envelopes are clearly a thin sheet of paper, not a thick envelope with a letter inside. (You can tell they are envelopes because you can see one is addressed the same as the previous envelopes) * Miscellaneous: When Harry is quoting the article about Gringotts being broken into, he reads "... the vault in question; number 713...." however if you look closely at the article shown, it does not mention the vault number. Everything else about his quote is accurate, however. * Continuity: When Dumbledore leaves Harry at Privet Drive, he is a newborn baby, but in the flashback scene, when we see Voldemort attacking Harry's family before he was taken to the Dursleys, he is at least one year old. * Revealing mistakes: In the very beginning of the movie, Dumbledore is walking towards McGonagall who is still in cat form. As he is walking, you can see his shadow cast against a backdrop of trees.

[SeverusSnapeHBP]

This is a stupid error, but does anyone else notice that Expelliarmus in the movies rarely stays the same consistency? Sometimes it's invisible, sometimes it's white, and sometimes it's the color that it's supposed to be: red. It gets annoying after a while.

[BurrowGhoul]

In PS/SS when they are doing "Wingardium Leviosa," Hermione corrects Ron as it is in the script, but not as he actually says it. He says something like "Wingardrium Leviosa," and she says "Leviosa, not Leviosar."

[RavenEye]

Originally Posted by MrsLupin

I know that certain details must be changed in the movies; I can accept that. But why did they change the country of origin of the snake in SS? The book says Brazil, the move says Burma. What possible benefit could there be for changing that?!

It's because the snake that plays the snake in the reptile house at the zoo is a Burmese python rather than a boa constrictor. If they'd said it had come from Brazil it would have been another mistake and fans (like us ) would have moaned about how Burmese pythons don't come from Brazil! I don't think the particular species of snake in that scene is of any importance to the plot.

[Shanny41188]

Originally Posted by BurrowGhoul

He's allergic to the contacts.

JKR has said the color doesn't matter, just that he has his mother's eyes, so as long as Lily's eyes are blue and similar to Dan's they are fine.

oh thanks so much! That's fair enough then. Sucks for him though. Never will he have the chance to have cat eyes. Poor Dan.

[CoeurDeLyon]

The one I hate the most is almost a continuity issue, and I believe its in CoS. When the Weasleys and Harry meet Hermione in Diagon Alley, Hermione performs the spell "occulus reparo" on Harrys broken glasses. Ummmm, how many letters has Harry gotten about doing underaged magic outside of school even in the movies, but yet Hermione gets away with it. This bothers me.

[IenjoyAcidPops]

Originally Posted by CoeurDeLyon

The one I hate the most is almost a continuity issue, and I believe its in CoS. When the Weasleys and Harry meet Hermione in Diagon Alley, Hermione performs the spell "occulus reparo" on Harrys broken glasses. Ummmm, how many letters has Harry gotten about doing underaged magic outside of school even in the movies, but yet Hermione gets away with it. This bothers me.

Well, he's only gotten one such letter in the movies, but yes, it is a mistake. It's also a mistake Rowling made more than once. For instance, in 'Goblet of Fire', Hermione and Ron (underage wizards, age 14) peformed the Lumos charm in the Forest of Dean. You know, outside of school. So, as annoying as it is, it does have precedence.

[Vadermort]

The Trace doesn't identify who did the magic, just that magic was done in that area. With hundreds of thousands of wizards around, not to mention protective charms over the entire camp area and Quidditch stadium, there's no way the ministry could pinpoint that Ron or Hermione did the magic and not someone else.