The film stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint in an adventure about a seemingly ordinary boy, Harry Potter, who discovers that he actually has magical powers and must fight an evil fascist dictator to save the wizarding world.
But what if, after seeing all the movies, you still want to see the magic of the movies? I've compiled a list of movies that scratch that itch, like Harry Potter.
In the early 2000s, The Series of Unfortunate Events was one of Harry Potter's main competitors as a children's fantasy book about ill-fated orphans. The story revolves around three Baudelaire children (Violet, Klaus, and baby Sunny) who lose their parents in a mysterious fire. They are taken in by Count Olaf (Jim Carrey), a distant relative who has evil intentions for his new ward. What sets "A Series of Unfortunate Events" apart from other films in its genre is its sense of black humor, which winks at the audience even as it puts its young protagonists in endlessly bleak situations.
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Even before JK Rowling's eyes lit up with "Harry Potter," "The Chronicles of Narnia" had fascinated (and continues to fascinate) generations of children. But when the film version of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" was released in 2005, it was planned, at least in part, out of an attempt to capitalize on the success of the popular wizarding franchise, which has revealed that younger audiences have an affinity for the fantasy genre.
The Pevensie children, four siblings living in World War II-era England, are magically transported to Narnia by an ordinary wardrobe. There they become embroiled in geopolitical strife, battle wicked witches, meet Santa, and eventually become king and queen, all well done for a quartet of teenagers.
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Today is another quasi-Harry Potter film, this time directed by Christopher Columbus. Like Harry Potter, Percy Jackson is an all-time underdog who is surprised to learn that he has magical powers and a legacy to tell. Like Harry Potter, the Percy Jackson book franchise took the YA market by storm, attracting young readers around the world. However, whereas Harry Potter revolves around the life of a young wizard who transfers to a wizarding school, Percy Jackson's origins are firmly rooted in Greek mythology.
Percy discovers that he is actually the demigod son of Poseidon, and to protect himself, he is sent off to a summer camp where demigods, essentially children of the gods, gather. Percy, the son of Poseidon, one of the three great gods, makes a vow not to have any more demigod children for the good of all. As if he were the "Chosen One."
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The similarities between "Harry Potter and the Clockwork House" are countless. Both films feature an orphan who is placed in the care of an eccentric relative as the result of a car accident that killed his parents (at least, that's what we are told in Harry Potter, even if it turns out not to be true). In both films, the orphan inadvertently discovers a magical world at his fingertips and is forced to fight the dark forces to protect those around him.
Unlike Harry Potter, however, The House with a Clock In Its Walls was only a stand-alone film, despite the interest of many fans in a sequel that would further explore the adventures of the young wizard hero It was to be made as a stand-alone film.
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In terms of plot, Hugo has little in common with Harry Potter - except that it is based on a popular children's book and is about an orphan boy who discovers magic. Hugo (Asa Butterfield) lives alone in a bustling Paris train station, barely escaping the guards who try to catch him.
He befriends a grumpy toymaker (Ben Kingsley) and his granddaughter (Chloe Grace Moretz), only to discover that the bitter old man is actually Georges Méliès, the famed father of French silent film. Directed with playful imagination by Martin Scorsese, "Hugo" captures the young protagonist's journey as Méliès rediscovers the magic of cinema.
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Who needs magic set in a stuffy old English boarding school when you have Southern Gothic? Beautiful Creatures revolves around Lena Duchannes, a teenage girl whose life changes forever when she reaches her 16th birthday. Cursed with supernatural powers beyond her control, she will be pulled into either the light or the dark, just as her family was.
The film incorporates Harry Potter's magic and the battle between good and evil forces at its heart, inserting a sparkling family drama into the process. In addition, it is interspersed with star-studded romance, much like "Twilight" was all the rage at the time.
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What if "Harry Potter" took place not in a grand castle in rural Scotland, but in a small institution for children with special abilities? When Jake (Asa Butterfield) travels back in time to 1943, he finds a cozy English house inhabited by children with unusual qualities (for example, one can breathe underwater and another has the power to bring the dead back to life) and their caretaker, Miss Peregrine ( Eva Green) lived in the house.
The entire school exists in a time bubble, and its strange inhabitants are protected from the dangers of the outside world and the malevolent forces that hunt them down. In terms of world-building and magical atmosphere, "Miss Peregrine and the Curious Children" rivals "Harry Potter."
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"Young Sherlock Holmes" is not set in a magical world, but it still bears more than enough similarities to "Harry Potter. A pair of heroes: a lanky ginger, a short, brown-haired, bespectacled boy, and a bushy-haired female sidekick (not to mention a blonde antagonist who bears a striking resemblance to Draco Malfoy).
The film captures the classic British boarding school experience, and for reasons that should be familiar to Harry Potter fans: it was directed by Christopher Columbus a decade and a half before he directed the first two Harry Potter films. From the aesthetics of the castle-like boarding school to the long tables in the student cafeteria, his stylistic choices in "The Young Sherlock Holmes" echo those in "Harry Potter."
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In the early 2000s, The Series of Unfortunate Events was Harry Potter's main rival when it came to children's fantasy books about ill-fated orphans. It revolved around three Baudelaire children (Violet, Klaus, and baby Sunny) whose parents died in a mysterious fire. They are taken in by Count Olaf (Jim Carrey, who must have had a stomach ache from nibbling all the scenery), a distant relative who has evil intentions for his new ward. What sets "A Series of Unfortunate Events" apart from other films in its genre is its black sense of humor, which puts its young protagonists in endlessly bleak situations while still giving the audience a wink.
View at Max
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