Harry Potter: 10 Moments Where The CGI Is Outdated

It’s been twenty years since Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was released in theaters, so it’s no surprise that not all the special effects still hold up. This magical world needed a lot of CGI, too – for everything from magically disappearing bricks at the entrance to Diagon Alley, to Floo Powder, Thestrals, magical creatures, and the spells themselves.

By the final films in the series (released ten years ago), the CGI had definitely improved, so much of the worst is from the early movies, but that’s not to say that The Deathly Hallows was perfect. And of course, in time, more effects that were stunning at the time of release will become badly aged and obvious in comparison to newer, better technology.

10 Neville Falling Off His Broom

In The Sorcerer’s Stone, Neville falls off his broomstick in Flying Lessons, and is taken to the hospital wing – allowing for Harry and Draco to face off, and Harry to be discovered for the Quidditch team. Neville’s fall is a relatively small part of the scene, especially compared to Harry and Draco flying, but it’s clear that it wasn’t paid the same attention as the rest of the shot either. The Neville that falls is entirely CGI, and it looks it. From the shape of the body to the definition and shading, it’s clearly not a real person falling.

9 The Troll

The moment that Harry, Ron, and Hermione first become real friends – and take on a Mountain Troll in the girl’s bathroom – is well known for including some terrible CGI. Unsurprisingly, it’s the Troll itself that is the problem – because it looks evidently fake, cartoonish, and obviously computer-generated. When Harry rides the Troll to try and save Hermione, he also looks more like a video game character than a human – and the difference in the wand seen going up the Troll’s nose, and the one coming out, is clear.

8 Early Quidditch Scenes

Quidditch appears in four of the films, and thankfully, the quality of the matches improves as time goes on. The Quidditch World Cup is a particularly magical scene, and the final Quidditch match of the franchise still holds up.

However, the early Quidditch scenes were very sloppy – especially the wider shots of the pitch. These looked more like video game locations than a real-life sports field, without the necessary detail and shading. In closer shots, the players looked obviously placed over top of a background, rather than appearing to really be existing in it.

7 The Centaurs

The Centaurs that live in the Forbidden Forest have two main appearances in the films – first, when Harry meets Firenze in the forest while searching for the injured unicorn, and later, when they carry off Professor Umbridge. The second group of Centaurs is significantly improved on the first, but all of them appear overly smooth and obviously fake. Eagle eyed fans will spot that in the scene with Firenze, the centaur doesn’t appear to breathe, either, even immediately after having chased off Voldemort.

6 Voldemort On Quirrell’s Head

The last of the worst CGI from the first film, the big reveal that Quirrell is possessed by Voldemort, who appears on the back of his head, is largely ruined by the terrible effects. Harry finally meets Quirrell after working through various ‘tests’ with his friends – and in these, the effects are fairly good, with the game of Wizard’s Chess a standout. However, when he meets Quirrell and sees what is under that turban, it’s a distorted, plastic-looking version of Voldemort’s face. The way that it moves on the head is also strange and unbelievable.

5 Cornish Pixies

The Harry Potter franchise includes multiple magical creatures, and while some of them (like Buckbeak and the Dragons) are beautifully rendered with incredible detail and realism, the Cornish Pixies that Lockhart lets loose in class most definitely are not. They move awkwardly, have the same cartoonish look as many of the worst CGI creatures, and cast no shadows. The moment where they lift Neville off the ground stands out as particularly egregious.

4 Werewolf Lupin

In The Prisoner of Azkaban, Professor Lupin takes over Defence Against The Dark Arts, and one of the big reveals at the end of the film is that he is actually a werewolf – and the transformation takes place on screen, as Harry and his friends watch in horror. Unfortunately, the transformation didn’t hold up.

While the scene is actually a combination of CGI and David Thewlis in makeup, certain moments in the transformation look awkward and plastic, clearly animated. Given that the wolf-Remus looks fantastically threatening in the shadows, or from a distance, it may have been a better choice to show this transformation off-screen, or simply in less detail.

3 Peter Pettigrew

The second big reveal and transformation moment in The Prisoner of Azkaban is in the same scene. As Lupin is transforming into a werewolf, Peter Pettigrew is transforming into his animagus: a rat. Once again, it may have been better to simply show the human Pettigrew, cut away, and then show the rat, for the sake of believability. Instead, the transformation is done on-screen, using CGI, and it looks clunky – with an obvious moment where the rat appears, rather than a smooth and believable transition.

2 Grawp

By the time of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, most of the CGI has improved hugely from the first film – but there are exceptions. As mentioned, the centaurs are not particularly believable or well done, but the worst offender of the film is Grawp, Hagrid’s giant half-brother. Much like the Ogre in the first movie, Grawp is obviously created with CGI, and as he is often in scenes with real actors (such as when he holds Hermione), the contrast is stark.

1 CGI Hogwarts

Rather than being one particular scene, there are multiple scenes where longer shots – especially of Hogwarts – are created entirely with CGI, and look it. Obviously, this is because there isn’t a real Hogwarts! Alnwick Castle was used for some of the exterior shots of castle walls and grounds, but this wouldn’t work for the multiple turrets and dramatic backdrop of Hogwarts, so these were usually computer generated. Especially in the earlier films, the contrast between these and closer shots of the castle walls was obvious.

About The Author

Rose Graceling-Moore
(1516 Articles Published)

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Rose Graceling-Moore has been writing about film, TV and comics since 2013, when she began writing for a local print magazine in Vancouver, BC. Since then, Rose has written for Horror Honeys, Moviepilot and Quirkbooks as well as Screenrant, increasingly focusing on comic books and live-action comic adaptations, as well as diversity and representation on screen. Rose also co-hosted the DC Movies Podcast, and has guested on other nerd and entertainment podcasts over the past five years.

Rose’s love of comics began all the way back in the early ‘90s, when she discovered the X-Men while living in Africa (where there wasn’t a whole lot to do but read!), and since then has had an on-again, off-again love affair with not just Marvel, but DC and indie comics as well. You can follow her on Twitter: RoseMooreWrites for tweets about comics, movies, and more.

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