Ravenclaw is often known as the “smart” house at Hogwarts. While it is true that Ravenclaws highly value intelligence and wisdom, they are also individual and eccentric (we're looking at you, Luna), as well as being resourceful and inquisitive.
For the Ravenclaws amongst us, these are the most intelligent, eccentric, and captivating fantasy movies you are sure to love! (Plus 5 that you should avoid like the plague.)
Love: Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory (1971)
If you want somebody who perfectly embodies a Ravenclaw, it is Willy Wonka. As portrayed by Gene Wilder, he positively vibrates with imagination, creativity and eccentricity.
The Technicolor journey through the factory, as child after child gets eliminated in a wonderfully ironic fashion, is enthralling. Ravenclaws will pick up on the aptness of each character’s fate, as well as the barely concealed darkness that lurks within the mysterious Willy Wonka. It’s a mad fever-dream demonstrating the sheer power of imagination.
Hate: Charlie And The Chocolate Factory (2005)
It might seem strange to put two adaptations of the same source material on opposing sides of a list, but Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is vastly inferior to its predecessor. It’s also impossible not to be slightly disconcerted by Johnny Depp’s Willy Wonka. While Wilder’s performance was deeply sarcastic, charming and amusing, Depp is hugely awkward, incredibly absurd and creepy.
Additionally, though the film is closer to the book in some respects, the strange stylistic choices make it a massive tonal divergence. The original film captured the childlike wonderment far more successfully. Here, it’s just slightly bizarre.
Love: A Monster Calls (2016)
If you’re in the market for a highly intelligent fantasy, this most certainly is it. Revolving around a teenage boy whose mother is dying, the fantasy epic makes emotional topics far more approachable than they otherwise might be.
Ravenclaws will love this film for its skillful use of fantasy elements to parse and understand the real world. The huge amount of emotion ingrained within the story will garner much appreciation, as well as the heavier issues that it brings up: of fantasy and its role as escapism and in the way that Conor uses it. Not only this, but it will give Ravenclaws a wonderful new book to read.
Hate: Stardust (2007)
There is a special place in hell for bad book-to-screen adaptations, as far as Ravenclaws are concerned. Neal Gaiman’s book presents a well-developed and creative fantasy realm, filled with beautiful details that fully immerse the reader in its world. In Stardust, the book, readers met multi-faceted, realistic characters, despite the alien nature of the world.
The film, however, is tonally inconsistent. It's, at turns, deeply unsettling, and then needlessly humorous. A complete lobotomization of the source material, Ravenclaws will find this film endlessly frustrating due to its entirely squandered potential.
Love: Matilda (1996)
The brilliant Matilda is a Ravenclaw through and through. She’s read countless novels by the time she starts first grade and has to put up with an uncouth and dishonest family. Her mind is so advanced that she even develops the powers of telekinesis.
A wonderful mirror to how Ravenclaws were when they were younger (minus the magical powers, potentially), viewers are delighted when Matilda takes on her vindictive bully of a headteacher, Miss Trunchbull, using her magic and intellect. What’s more, Matilda manages to forge herself a better life with a family who understands and appreciates her.
Hate: Into The Woods (2014)
While initially delighted by the creative mashup of fairytale characters in a new world, Ravenclaws will be sadly disappointed by the meandering plot and slightly dodgy-looking CGI of Into The Woods. The original Broadway version, which tackles traditional fairytale stereotypes, devotes much more time to the “what happens after happily ever after?” question, in a way that the film does not.
It suggests that actual life cannot live up to the expectations placed upon it, such that the rose-tinted endpoint is entirely unattainable. This idea hardly marries well with Disney’s ethos, which begs the question why they optioned it for a movie in the first place.
Love: Beauty And The Beast (2017)
Independent, headstrong, and a devourer of knowledge, Belle is a fantastic Ravenclaw role model. Beauty and the Beast has a wonderful romance running through it, and a fantastic concept with the cursed household objects. The live-action version stands out in comparison to the animated classic, as there’s, overall, much more character development. Greater emotional weight is given to the staff of the Beast’s castle, as well as the revelation (missing in the original) that they will remain as immobile objects forever if the curse is not broken in time.
The Beast is also more powerfully realized here. Belle and the Beast have more opportunity for relationship-building conversation that makes their romance seem more natural.
Hate: Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them: The Crimes Of Grindelwald (2018)
While Beauty and the Beast manages to show an independent and thoughtful young woman taking ownership of her own life, there is horrendously poor characterization throughout the second Fantastic Beasts film.
The entire film suffers from too much “style” over substance. The Wizarding World becomes so overstuffed with unnecessary information that the logic of the plot completely falls apart. Entirely unforgivable is the fact that a movie franchise that has two main female characters (who are even sisters) fails the Bechdel test. If we could Obliviate this movie from existence, we would.
Love: Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets (2002)
It’s a fairly safe bet that any self-professing Ravenclaw will love Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. It is the second film of the franchise, allowing for the fantasy elements to be present at the beginning without the need for weighty exposition. Furthermore, the dark and compelling mystery that weaves throughout the film is just a joy to watch unfold every time.
This film hugs the source material closely. It balances the darker elements with the lighter, comical moments. The genteel and whimsical Richard Harris iteration of Dumbledore is present, as is the delightful character of Dobby. Viewers will also delight in the presence of the diary, considering its importance later on in the series.
Hate: Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince (2009)
As a book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince mainly exists to set up all the pieces necessary for The Deathly Hallows to really shine, and so by its very nature is very exposition-heavy. Unfortunately, the film failed in all but the final regard. While Malfoy’s conflicted emotions were handled incredibly well, the movie absolutely botched the slow-burn nature of Harry and Ginny’s relationship, which is unceremoniously thrust upon the audience from the first scene they share together.
This was a poor adaptation of a brilliant (if slow-moving) novel, which didn’t credit the audience with the patience for dealing with a deeper exploration of the core villain of the franchise.