Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) - 214 mistakes

Visible crew/equipment: In the very beginning of the movie, Dumbledore is walking along Privet Drive. There is a shot of him walking past some trees. When he does this, you can see his shadow. The trees are obviously a painted set prop.

Continuity: At the beginning, Dumbledore is taking out all of the street lights, from one shot, the street light closest to Dumbledore on HIS right is still lit, but in the next shot, which is a close up of him taking the light, and shots later, the street light is out and he never "took" the light from that one.

Continuity: The very first scene where you see Hagrid on his motorcycle, he comes down and, from his position, you can tell he's gonna land way past the first house on the set. The next shot you see him touch down in front of that house.

Deliberate "mistake": When Hagrid steps off the motorbike while holding young Harry, the Dursley's house (with a small bush to the right of the front door) is visible directly behind McGonagall. The house is fully attached on both sides to homes with a one car garage. Yet after Vernon asks, "Who'd be writing to you?" in the shot of the owl dropping the letter which flies through the front door mail slot, the house to the left of the Dursleys (when facing the FRONT) has a two car garage, is not attached to the Dursley's house and is quite a bit away from the Dursley's house as well. Then in Chamber of Secrets, the house to the right (when facing the BACK) is attached once again in the same manner as at the start of this film with young Harry. (Visible on DVD widescreen.)

Revealing: Dumbledore, McGonagall and Hagrid leave baby Harry on the Dursley's doorstep. When the shot opens in the first close-up of the baby, as Dumbledore places the envelope on the blanket, though a good portion of his forehead is visible, the scar is not there. In his next close-up, it is very apparent, due to the position of the scar, that part of it should have been visible on his forehead in the previous close-up.

Revealing: The shape of Harry's scar changes dramatically in quite a few shots throughout the film. Two examples being, the morning of Dudley's birthday, when Harry opens his eyes in the close-up, while lying in the cupboard and later, when his hair is blown back in the close-up as Voldemort's 'spirit' starts to rush through him while he holds the Stone.

Continuity: On Dudley's birthday, when Mrs Dursley wakes Harry and he sits up in bed, a cloth and hand brush are hanging next to him on the inside of the cupboard door. When Dudley shoves Harry back into the cupboard, there is now a cloth and a dustpan, but no brush. When the family arrive back from the zoo, and Mr Dursley locks Harry in the cupboard, there is no cloth, brush or dustpan.

Continuity: The morning of Dudley's birthday, Petunia wakes Harry and the next shot shows Harry in the cupboard with the shelves behind him. When Dudley runs downstairs and pushes Harry back into the cupboard, things inside are positioned differently. This also occurs in the two shots when Harry plays with the small plastic figures inside the cupboard and then when he peeks out as Vernon attaches the wood to the mail slot.

Continuity: After Dudley shouts, "Wake up, Potter! We're going to the zoo," he pushes Harry back into the cupboard and runs into the kitchen. When he opens the door, the kitchen floor is visible and there are no floor mats. Yet, once Harry walks into the kitchen there is a taped black mat on the floor at the door and another black mat at the counter, under the stools that were visible in the previous shot, when Petunia bangs on the cupboard door. (This does not refer to the reddish mat Dudley stands on.)

Visible crew/equipment: The morning of Dudley's birthday, in the wide shot facing the kitchen when Harry walks in, to the right of the screen is a large framed photo of Dudley. The camera does not move as Harry walks toward the stove and reflected in that photo is a piece of studio equipment moving.

Continuity: When Harry walks into the kitchen, Petunia tells him to take care of the breakfast and two of Dudley's presents, the blue design and the yellow, are visible on the couch. When Petunia asks, "Aren't they wonderful darling?" the camera pans the presents, including the ones from the earlier shot. When Vernon says, "Well some of them are quite a bit bigger than last year's," the two presents are again visible. The position of these gifts differs in all shots.

Visible crew/equipment: When Oliver Wood is explaining Quidditch to Harry, he struggles to put the Bludger back in the trunk. You can see a rod under the trunk lift and shake it, so the Bludgers appear to be moving on their own.

Continuity: When Petunia covers Dudley's eyes with her hands and leads him to the table on his birthday, Dudley has a red mark on his left cheek that looks like Petunia's lipstick. The mark is gone as Petunia removes her hands.

Visible crew/equipment: Petunia has her hands on Dudley's eyes as they walk towards all of his birthday gifts. When she removes her hands from Dudley's eyes, in this shot and in the next, the long black microphone wire as well as its tape, which obviously peeled free, are blatantly visible and are sticking out at the neckline of her v-neck top under the pearl necklace. It's gone in the following shots. (Do not confuse the blue apron strings for the mic wire.)

Audio problem: When Dudley is complaining about the number of birthday presents he got, his mouth doesn't match with what Dudley is yelling. His line is badly dubbed.

Continuity: When Dudley is told how many presents he has, and he asks, "How many are there?" a cut to him shows that his fringe is a bit untidy. Scene cuts to his Dad. When it cuts back to Dudley, his fringe is much neater.

Continuity: When Vernon says "I'm warning you now boy" between shots his coat changes position.

Visible crew/equipment: Petunia and Dudley enter the house when they return from the zoo, followed by Vernon and Harry. The crew's equipment is plainly visible on the ground beyond the doorway. Also, the pavement at the threshold extends far beyond the doorway and just before Vernon walks into the house, Vernon is visibly coming from the side of the doorway. In the earlier exterior shot when they stand by the car before they leave, as Vernon says, "I'm warning you now boy...," not only is the ground at the doorway completely different, there is a garden surrounded by white bricks beside the door, making it impossible for Vernon to have been standing there. (Visible on DVD fullscreen.)

Continuity: In the scene where Harry and the Dursleys visit the zoo, the first shot you see of the snake, he is lying on a bare rock with only moss on it. He is also lying with his head facing the window, and his body is curving to the right. However, after Dudley walks away and the shot returns to the snake, his body is curving to the left and now there are plants directly behind him where there was only moss before.

Continuity: When Harry is talking to the snake in the zoo we first see the snake. Then in the next shot we see Harry with Dudley behind him at the other exhibit window and Dudley turns around and then back again. Then there's another shot of the snake, then Harry again and behind him Dudley turns around again and notices Harry, but why then and why not the first time he turned?