15 Stupid Harry Potter Movie Mistakes You Probably Missed

Will mistakes happen in these movies? Always.

Harry Potter Wounds
Warner Bros.

These days, movies are scrutinised like never before and phenomenon that is Harry Potter is no exception. Eight core films and two spin-offs (to date) have probably been viewed more than any other movies since the Boy Who Lived made his screen debut in 2001 and eagle eyed viewers have spotted more than a few mistakes within the franchise.

Hardcore Potter fans have long criticised the movies for leaving out entire story arcs such as Hermione's house elf protection initiative: S.P.E.W. and for leaving characters out completely such as the late Rik Mayall's role as Peeves but these aren't the mistakes we're looking for.

Instead, the mistakes/gaffs/bloopers/errors in this case centre on continuity, ignorant deviation from the source material and accidents that probably could have been avoided.

Some mistakes have to be forgiven purely because of the convenience factor all movies take advantage of. It couldn't be helped that Daniel Radcliffe sported blue eyes and brown hair where the Harry Potter detailed in the novels had bottle green eyes and jet black hair nor can you really criticise them for casting Emma Watson as Hermione even though the young actress had near perfect teeth and Hermione in the books most certainly did not.

However, that isn't to say that all the convenience mistakes will be ignored because some of them are just so ridiculous that it would be unfair to leave them out.

15. The Colour Changing Towel

Harry Potter Wounds
Warner Bros.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was the novel that lended itself best to being adapted for the screen as it moved the plot of the overall story forward immensely and had some of the best set pieces in the series courtesy of the Triwizard Tournament.

Though, the movie itself was actually a minefield of potential mistakes for the filmmakers as the film sees a whole new roster of characters share Harry's limelight and continuity errors were inevitable. So are we looking at Fleur Delacour's meandering accent? Maybe Albus Dumbledore scaring the bejesus out of Harry after his name pops out of the titular Goblet despite the novel clearly stating he asked 'quietly'?

Nope. It's a towel. Just a towel, how hard could that have been to maintain during filming?

Evidently very hard as the second Triwizard challenge sees the four champions taking a swim in the Great Lake surrounding Hogwarts and Hermione very kindly wraps a white towel around Harry once he returns to the surface and is sporting a grey one herself.

One cut later and it's Hermione with the white towel and Harry's has become a very pleasant turquoise with absolutely no explanation whatsoever.

Maybe they were Hypercolour towels but I doubt it.

Contributor
Contributor

Probably the only person ever to see all the endings of the awful Shadow the Hedgehog video game. Professional proofreader, football fanatic, lion tamer and occasional liar.