15 Stupid Harry Potter Movie Mistakes You Probably Missed

It might come as a shock to some but, spoiler alert, the magic depicted in the Harry Potter movies isn't real. None of the cast are capable of conjuring, enchanting or transfiguring anything which meant the filmmakers had to get creative in order to create the illusion that magic is real.

The CGI spells, characters and even the Quidditch scenes still look as good as ever and considering The Philosopher's Stone is 19 years old (at time of writing), that's damned impressive. However, the practical effects don't stack up quite as well and cracks are quite visible in a lot of scenes - take the escaped troll as a prime example; the model looks rubbish and Ron retrieving his wand from its nostril is incredibly cringey.

However, it isn't the puppetry or the dodgy substances that we're looking at here - it's the 'floating' candles in The Great Hall.

Once again, during the Sorting Hat ceremony, almost every attendee on the top table is given a close up shot when their name is mentioned including Dame Maggie Smith's professor McGonagall and sadly for the beloved actress it's her close up that gives the game away.

Hollywood movies have used 'invisible' fishing wire to suspend objects for decades but it genuinely looks like the candles are being suspended using something a lot thicker than fishing wire - it's more like fencing twine!

Things got better as the series progressed but there's a lot to nitpick about in this first movie.