Harry Potter Years 1-6 (2009)

"[Half-Blood] ...splendid!  David Edelstein, New York Magazine
"[Chamber] ...an enchanting spectacular for Potter fans anxious to ride the Hogwarts Express toward a new year of magic and mischief.  Gregory Weinkauf, Dallas Observer
"[Chamber] A fun, fantastic adventure...  James Berardinelli's ReelViews
"[Order] Miraculous! A feast for the eyes...magical movie-making!  Larry King, CNN
"[Half-Blood] ...the most mature, subtle and emotional entry in the series thus far.  M. E. Russell, Portland Oregonian
"[Order] The most successful film series since James Bond continues with another rousing winner...a wild ride all the way.  Pete Hammond, Maxim
"[Prisoner] Powerfully entrancing! This true kid's classic is just as magical for adults.  Peter Rainer, New York Magazine
"[Prisoner] Irresistible fun.  Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
"[Sorcerer's] Pure, uninterrupted enchantment. Destined to leave audiences of all ages cheering.  Rex Reed, New York Observer
"[Sorcerer's] The Wizard of Oz of its time. A complete triumph.  Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper
"[Goblet] A mature, tense, frightening and altogether masterful film.  Shawn Levy, Portland Oregonian
"[Goblet] ...an intelligent, visually seductive and mostly very satisfying fantasy epic of the first order.  William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

ReelViews 9 of 10
[Order] With its fifth cinematic outing, the Harry Potter film series has ascended to another level. In addition to providing a self-contained, well-paced adventure, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix also begins to coalesce the epic ether that has been building over the past four films (especially the last two). With this movie, we sense that we're on the brink of something big, dark, and ominous...For a franchise that began under the lightweight guardianship of director Chris Columbus, these pictures have gotten progressively darker. The Order of the Phoenix is easily the gloomiest yet. The movie is not suitable for young children...With The Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter has truly come into his own, fulfilling the promise of The Prisoner of Azkaban and The Goblet of Fire. These are no longer cute stories of wizards and magic and things that go bump in the night. They are dark tales where the themes and creatures become increasingly distorted as the frames whiz by. The Order of the Phoenix is the best on offer to-date from the Harry Potter cinematic franchise, and one of the few reasons during the summer of 2007 to venture out to a multiplex. - James Berardinelli

Rolling Stone 9 of 10
[Half-Blood] Harry is better than ever, a triumph of visual wonder and emotional storytelling. Only Muggles, who wouldn't know Slytherin from Gryffindor, will dismiss it as kid stuff for the multitudes who drank the Kool-Aid of J.K. Rowling's seven books. The rap on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth of Rowling's books to be filmed (number seven will be two movies), is that it's an interim tease, all buildup and no release. Like that's bad. Like character and motivation have no place after Michael Bay banished them in Transformers 2: Rvenge of the Fallen...What makes Half-Blood Prince top-tier is the descent of darkness on the lives of these characters. The unseen Lord Voldemort cooks up fresh hell by planning to have Harry's archrival, the blonde, bullying Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton), kill wise old Professor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon). And then there's slithery Severus Snape (the great Alan Rickman) making a deal to protect Draco. I'll never tell why, except to say that it's a pleasure to watch the mesmerizing Felton take the role to the next level, discovering a vulnerable humanity in Draco. And Rickman is a dynamo, lacing the Severus sneer with glimmers of conscience and moral doubt...All the actors excel at pulling us into the film's mysteries. Radcliffe's growing maturity as Harry gives the role a touching gravity. His scenes with Gambon, superb as Dumbledore, exude ferocity and emotion, notably when they seek a Horcrux, where part of the Dark Lord's soul resides, on a lake teeming with undead corpses. It's scary, resonant magic, poetically shot by Bruno Delbonnel. The shadows, and the dangers lurking within, have always drawn me deepest into Potter World. Newcomers shouldn't worry about playing catch-up. Getting lost in the hypnotic Half-Blood Prince is what gives the movie its haunting power. - Peter Travers

Chicago Sun-Times 10 of 10
[Sorcerer's] 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is a red-blooded adventure movie, dripping with atmosphere, filled with the gruesome and the sublime, and surprisingly faithful to the novel. A lot of things could have gone wrong, and none of them have: Chris Columbus' movie is an enchanting classic that does full justice to a story that was a daunting challenge. The novel by J.K. Rowling was muscular and vivid, and the danger was that the movie would make things too cute and cuddly. It doesn't. Like an Indiana Jones for younger viewers, it tells a rip-roaring tale of supernatural adventure, where colorful and eccentric characters alternate with scary stuff like a three-headed dog, a pit of tendrils known as the Devil's Snare and a two-faced immortal who drinks unicorn blood. Scary, yes, but not too scary--just scary enough...During Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, I was pretty sure I was watching a classic, one that will be around for a long time, and make many generations of fans. It takes the time to be good. It doesn't hammer the audience with easy thrills, but cares to tell a story, and to create its characters carefully. Like The Wizard of Oz, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Star Wars and E.T., it isn't just a movie but a world with its own magical rules. - Roger Ebert

Reel.com 9 of 10
[Prisoner] Pardon the pun, but when it comes to Harry Potter films, the third time's a charm. Not that Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets weren't excellent movies. They were. But Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban eclipses both of them...First, important information for Potter purists: 1) Three key points have been changed to streamline the story, which results in a nice adaptation, but not a faithful one. Whether these changes will affect future books/films is a question many are pondering. Author JK Rowling, in an interview with USA Today, claimed that director Alfonso Cuaron (Y Tu Mama Tambien) unintentionally made choices that foreshadow events in Books Six and Seven; 2) Numerous subplots have been deleted entirely; 3) There is only one Quidditch scene (you know which one)...Whereas the first two films were clearly kids' movies--despite grownups showing up in costume for midnight premieres--the mood of Azkaban reflects the adolescence it portrays...If you are new to the world of Harry Potter, fear not. Although Azkaban provides only minimal backstory, a fellow reviewer said she was able to follow along with no problem--and she thoroughly enjoyed the film. - Sarah Chauncey