10 Great Movies (That Were Led By Terrible Performances)

4. Harry Potter (2001-2011)

J.K Rowling's seven-part series of books has sold more copies than the King James Bibles. It was inevitable they were going to be adapted into a film series. Continuing from its success, we got a theme park, three other books based on the Harry Potter canon, and another film is currently in the works. The breadth of British acting talent that appears throughout the movie adaptations is bafflingly good: Gary Oldman, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman and Ralph Fiennes in the same films? Not to mention Kenneth Branagh, Maggie Smith and Richard Harris... we'll have as much as that as possible, Warner Bros.. The child actors, on the other hand - in particular Daniel Radcliffe - are excruciating to watch at times. It is forgivable due to their age during the original flick, perhaps, but scenes like "he was their friend!" in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban are... well, almost laughable. Luckily, all three of the main stars have gone on to improve their acting talents and delivered better and more mature performances as the series progressed.