Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone: 10 Goofs You Never Noticed

No movie is without mistakes. Even the most tightly-edited film of all time is bound to have a few inconsistencies and goofs, most predominantly continuity errors. Continuity errors are pretty much unavoidable owing to the filmmaking process. The best an editor and the team of filmmakers can do is make them less noticeable.

But that’s just one type of error. Movies are typically loaded with them, and all it takes is one eagle-eyed viewer to spot or think of them, and suddenly they’re all over the internet.

10 A Very Quiet Club

The troll attack is one of the movie’s signature scenes. While the troll itself looks a little goofy today (granted, it looked pretty goofy back in 2001 as well), the sound design remains spectacular throughout. That is, except for one glaring flaw.

When Ron Wingardium leviosas the troll’s club, it drops and smacks onto the troll’s head, making a very satisfying “TUNK!” However, the club fails to make a noise when it hits the ground. It simply bounces off the troll’s head and disappears into the ether.

9 Wingardriem Leviosa!

Speaking of wingardium leviosa, the Ron and Hermione fight doesn’t make a lick of sense. Whether it’s from sloppy screenwriting, acting, or line delivery, Hermione corrects Ron on the wrong thing. Ron clearly says “wingardriem leviosa,” but when Hermione correctly points out that he’s saying it wrong, she doesn’t say anything about his complete bungling of “wingardium.”

She corrects him on his pronunciation of “leviosa” – a pronunciation that Ron even made correctly! It was Draco that said “levioSA,” not Ron. He may have put a bit of an emphasis on the “sa,” but not nearly to the extent that Hermione is suggesting.

8 Ron Walks Off The Wrong Way

In the Great Hall sequence, it’s made very clear that the Gryffindor table is to the left (when facing the tables from the sorting hat chair). Hermione gets this right and runs off in the correct direction – to her left.

However, the filmmakers somehow managed to bungle Ron’s departure from the sorting hat chair. After it yells Gryffindor, Ron breathes a sigh of relief, stands up, and walks off to his right – towards the Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables. This could just be a goofy Ron-ism, but surely he’s not that stupid?

7 Magic Feet

Sometimes filmmakers have to get inventive when it comes to making magic. Other times they can resort to age-old tricks – like having a human close a door. After seeing Fluffy, Harry, Ron, and Hermione walk into the Gryffindor common room and the door magically closes behind them.

However, eagle-eyed viewers may notice that there’s no magic involved. A pair of feet can clearly be seen beneath the door after it closes – a visual that completely sucks the magic out of the scene. Sorry about that.

6 The Green Cloak Of Invisibility

Harry’s invisibility cloak was accomplished with a cloak made of lime green material – essentially, Daniel Radcliffe was wearing a green screen, allowing his body to become invisible on camera. It’s why weather reporters can’t wear green to work!

Unfortunately, this green material can be seen on the floor when Harry and Ron drop the cloak in the Mirror of Erised room. Someone either forgot to “magic” out the green, or the cinematographer goofed by placing the camera just a little too low.

5 That Is One Big Train

Someone goofed when it came to synching up time. Despite meeting in King’s Cross, Harry befriends Ron when Ron asks to sit with him on the train. Just before the sequence begins, various establishing shots clearly show the train traveling through greenery and mountains.

Within the sequence itself, the window on the train clearly reveals a lake and a mountain. The Hogwarts Express is several hours outside of London, yet Ron is only now asking Harry to sit in his compartment because “everywhere else is full.” Either that is one enormous train, or Ron took his sweet time in traversing it.

4 Harry’s Vanishing Scar

Another error found within the troll sequence is Harry’s vanishing scar.

The troll grabs Harry by the ankles and holds him upside down, causing his hair to fall away from his head and revealing his conspicuously clean and scar-less forehead. Clearly, the make-up department didn’t get to Daniel Radcliffe that day, despite this being a scene that very prominently features his forehead!

3 What Was Snape’s Contribution?

Adapting a novel can be tricky – especially when you take lines from the novel and forget that they don’t apply to the adaptation. Case in point – Snape protecting the stone. Hagrid clearly tells the children that Snape isn’t trying to steal the stone, as he has placed a protection spell to guard it.

However, Snape’s protection was omitted from the movie, and a replacement was neither seen nor referenced. Therefore, it stands to reason that there was no other obstacle, making Hagrid’s comment completely meaningless.

2 Dudley’s Clean Hands

In one of the movie’s funnier sequences, Hagrid gives Dudley a tail after catching him eating Harry’s birthday cake. Dudley is clearly shoveling the cake with his hands, so it stands to reason that his hands would be covered in cake and icing.

However, when he reaches around and feels for his tail, there is clearly no icing on either of his hands. Also, that was clearly using magic outside of Hogwarts (aimed against a Muggle – and a child Muggle, no less), so wouldn’t Hagrid have gotten into some serious trouble for doing that?

1 Musical Chairs

There’s another big goof in the opening Great Hall sequence. When Harry sits down at the Gryffindor table, he’s seated beside Ron and across from Hermione, who is sitting beside Percy.

He even reaches across the table to shake Percy’s hand. Just a few seconds later, the food materializes on the plates and Harry is suddenly sitting beside Percy on the other side of the table.

About The Author

Nathan Sharp
(852 Articles Published)

Nathan Sharp is a writer from outside Toronto, Ontario. He has a love of movies and television, having enjoyed them for more than twenty years. His preferences include drama, action, and horror, with the former being a particular point of interest and fascination.

He also has a love of video games, particularly those of Rockstar.

Whether it be about film, television, or video games, Nathan loves a good discussion and has written hundreds of articles for Screen Rant.

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