I don't think any of the first seven have approached great cinema, and of course as a fan of the books I've been completely hard to please from the start, but nonetheless: which one is the best film?

I said Prisoner of Azkaban. That starts the point from happy-go-lucky-small-kid-wizard wannabes to holy-fuck-we're-in- danger mode. Here is where the series takes a much darker tone, plus Gary Oldman is awesome. I really haven't been impressed with the last few (haven't seen Deathly Hallows) and I thought Half Blood Prince was just going through the motions with the big reveal coming off as awful/lame.

I have not read the books, but Azkaban is the best film IMHO
Deathly Hallows Pt.1 is vying for one of the worst
Talk about stalled narrative
Rob

I've yet to see part 1 of Deathly Hallows but so far I agree that Azkaban represents the pinnacle of the series. It's possible that the time-travel element has something to do with this (I'm a sucker for time travel) but ultimately I think it's because of Alfonso Cuaron.

This. Word for word.

I don't think it was the best book in the series (although it's one of the 2 or 3 best), but it's been, by far, the only film I'd call good of the six I've seen.

Whereas I think Azkaban is easily one of the worst. David Thewlis is terrible as Lupin, they decide to add as many time travel paradoxes as they can, the CGI Dementors look awful...ugh

I liked Phoenix the best but that may be cause I had no expectations for the worst book in the series...

Um I think you mean best book in the series

Best to worst:

Order Of The Phoenix
Deathly Hallows Part 1
Prisoner Of Azkaban
Goblet Of Fire
Half-Blood Prince
Chamber Of Secrets
Sorcerer's Stone

From my perspective, the first two are the only ones that have approached greatness, the middle three are solid entertainment, while the last two are hindered by obnoxious running lengths and bland direction.

No...in between Harry being a whiny brat and it's slow pace...I'm not wrong...you are. Then again, I should actually re-read the series sometime soon.

I hate the "whiny brat" charges. For the first 4 books Harry happily goes along with everything the world throws at him with little more than a shrug. Then he finally becomes a teenager, develops a personality, crumples a bit under the weight of the world, and everyone wants their bland hero back.

But that wasn't a good change, if it happened on a gradual course or not nearly as severe as it was. Fine, I could take it but not what we have there. It was so sudden and abrupt that I couldn't take it seriously in which the movie did that right since it was subdued

Egads! Have you tried going back and looking at the first two? I thought they were decent upon release but they haven't aged well at all.

So we know which adaptation is your least favourite (or among your least favourites). Which do you consider the best?

To be honest? Chamber of Secrets. The plot of the novel is very cinematic, and Columbus doesn't fuck it up. We get a nice murder mystery set in a magic school, before the cinematography descended into gray-mode and the writing descended into plug-the-gaps mode. Is Columbus as talented a director as Cuaron? No, not in a million years. But I think he made a better film than his Mexican counterpart did.

I haven't read the books, so perhaps this is why I feel different about the movies than you do. Your point actually reinforces my love for Cuaron's picture a little. Sounds like adapting the early novels was fairly straightforward so I see greater skill in whittling down a tome into an enjoyable and coherent motion picture. Which I felt that Azkaban was.

Oh thank god someone else thinks the fifth is the best book too!

For me it's between Cuaron's Prisoner of Azkaban and Yate's Half-Blood Prince... but because most of everyone else here probably voted for Azkaban (or Phoenix ) I voted for Prince.

One ballpark:
Prisoner of Azkaban
Half-Blood Prince

Another:
Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Order of the Phoenix
Chamber of Secrets
Goblet of Fire
Sorcerer's Stone

I'd put Chamber in front of Phoenix screenwriting-wise but the latter's climax trumpets the former's.

It's been really hard getting into the movies, because I read the books so long ago and the films seem to assume that everyone watching them are fan-boys/girls with devout knowledge of all things Potter. Because of that, I'm usually just lost by all the terminology and characters when I watch the films (i.e. "What the hell is a horcrux again, and why is everyone talking about it?!"), so I have to focus on what's happening scene to scene and the visual quality of the films--which I think have been seriously lacking in the last two entries.

That said, Goblet of Fire gets my vote because it is a fairly easy plot to follow that is, on its own, the most engaging. I didn't have to ask as many clarifying questions as I watched it. They got increasingly complicated after that one, to a fault.