11 things the Harry Potter movies actually did right

Severus Snape

I’ve tried to refrain from using characters to answer this question, mostly because my list would be entirely made up of names. But I couldn’t resist giving a shout out to Alan Rickman’s near-perfect rendition of Severus Snape. It was obvious that he was made for the role from his monologue in the very first Potions class.

As the films continued, it was the little things that cemented Rickman’s portrayal of Snape as one of the best in the series. He makes a show of lurking in the corridors and keeping a beady eye on the trio. He swoops around the Potions classroom, making rude comments and whacking students over the head for speaking.

But it isn’t just the awful, Harry-hating side of Snape that Rickman embodied so well. He also tuned into the double agent Snape, the one who bravely turns his back on Voldemort. Snape’s part in Dumbledore’s death is as twisted and confusing in the Half-Blood Prince film as it is in the novel.

And of course, Rickman’s final scenes in Deathly Hallows Part 2, while varying slightly from the book, sheds light on the reasoning behind his behavior. We discover that he grew up with and loved Lily Evans, that this love is what made him turn his back on the Death Eaters. While the films added some dramatic effect, the premise remains about the same.