Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) - 289 mistakes

Continuity: The sun as shown in the introduction is visible and rather bright slightly above the horizon. As the shot moves through the clouds (takes only a second or two) and focuses on the houses, the sun is now shielded by clouds and is moved down quite a bit.

Continuity: The Dursley house is shown in the opening shot, as Harry sits by his window. When Uncle Vernon places bars on Harry's bedroom window, the shrubbery directly below the ground window is completely different.

Continuity: When Harry enters the kitchen, the cake/pudding Petunia is fussing over is lopsided and shorter than the one shown in the close-up, when Dudley tries to pick at it. There are subtle differences in the look of the cake/pudding in subsequent shots of it too.

Continuity: The pillow and blankets on Harry's bed not only change position in consecutive shots, the actual pillow changes drastically from the time Dobby jumps up and down on the bed, until Harry confronts him about the letters.

Continuity: The cork board, hanging over Harry's bed in the Dursley house, significantly changes its position on the wall, as seen when Harry sits on his bed to speak with Dobby. The location of the thumbtack pushed into the top point of the Gryffindor pennant, as well as the angle of the other point, also change throughout the scenes in Harry's bedroom.

Continuity: When Harry first encounters Dobby, as he walks toward the corner of the bed to bow to Harry, a single sock and other clothes are lying on the bed. In the next shot facing Harry, the sock and clothes on the bed have noticeably changed positions and the two long ends of the Gryffindor scarf that hang over the trunk is visible. When Dobby sobs, as he walks off the bed, only one short end of the Gryffindor scarf hangs over the trunk, and it also changes position in following shots.

Other: When Harry is talking to Dobby in his bedroom on Privet Drive, Dobby begins banging his head against the dresser to punish himself. If you look closely, you can see that there is a slight delay between the time that Dobby's computer-animated head appears to hit the dresser, the time you hear the thump, and the time when the drawer moves and the dresser shudders.

Other: In the beginning of the movie, when Dobby is hitting himself with the lamp, you can clearly see that the first swing stays a few inches from his head, but he still grunts and shakes his head in pain.

Continuity: When Dobby stands on Harry's desk, in the close-up he slams the lamp base into his head with the electrical cord coming out of the base to his right. Yet in the next close-up the cord comes out of the base directly in front of Dobby and is now wrapped around Dobby's neck.

Revealing: In Harry's bedroom, when Harry and Dobby grapple with the lamp, just as Harry says, "Give me the lamp!" Dobby's left hand is between both of Harry's hands gripping the lamp stem, but in the reflection we do not see Dobby's hand, or arm, as he moves about on the desk, nor do we see the fingers of his right hand which grips the base. In this shot what we do see in the reflection are Harry, his hands, the lamp base, stem, shade and cord. No Dobby.

Continuity: When Dobby comes out of Harry's closet, he has a CG sock on his ear which he throws towards the dresser. The CG sock is not on the floor in the following two shots, although it should be, when the dresser and floor area around it is shown as Dobby says, "Harry Potter musn't be angry with Dobby," as well as when Dobby yells, "No!" and runs out.

Continuity: In the shot where Dobby takes Harry's letters from his robe and tells him about why he hid them he is standing in front of the dresser, you can see that the drawers in the dresser are neatly closed (with the exception of the bottom one, which is only slightly open). However, in the next shot when Dobby runs out the door with Harry chasing after him you see the dresser again, and this time all the drawers are slightly open and uneven.

Other: While downstairs Vernon hears Hedwig's squawks, as well as Dobby and Harry's exchange in the bedroom upstairs, distracting enough for them all, including the Masons, to take note. The noise upstairs illicits a reaction from everyone, which Vernon explains is a noisy cat. Yet when Harry very noisily chases Dobby down the steps, Dobby slams into the wall and Harry lands with a loud thud (not remotely 'catlike'), Vernon, who stands on the other side of the shared wall, pleasantly continues his story to his rapt guests, who are also not distracted by the noise. To suggest that such loud noises coming from the hallway right beside them would not draw any reaction from anyone, Vernon and the Masons included, is preposterous.

Continuity: When Harry chases Dobby down the stairs at the Dursleys, they stop in the hallway and there is a telephone on the table beside Harry. In the next close-up, the phone and cord's position differ and when Harry rushes past Dobby, the position differs again.

Continuity: As Harry chases Dobby into the hallway, he lands behind Dobby with knees bent, his left hand and foot in front and his right hand and foot in back. The next shot he has not moved, but his stance is the opposite, left hand and foot in back and his right hand and foot in front.

Continuity: While standing in the Dursley's kitchen doorway, Dobby says, "Then Dobby must do it sir, for Harry Potter's own good." In the next shot as the cake/pudding floats away, the wine bottle on the counter is pointing towards the hallway. Yet when Harry stands by the kitchen watching the cake/pudding float towards Mrs. Mason, the wine caddy is turned and the bottle now points towards the kitchen wall.

Continuity: After Dobby drops the cake on the woman's head, Harry's Uncle Vernon says something like "I'm sorry you'll have to forgive my nephew, he's very disturbed," and if you look at his face he's furious. In the next shot, if you look behind Harry you'll see Uncle Vernon acting very casually, and it looks like it's the same scene as when he was telling the joke to his guests.

Deliberate "mistake": When bars are placed on Harry's windows, so he does not escape, it is apparent that his windows have complete leaded panes of glass. Yet when Harry is being rescued, Ron and Harry speak with each other, even in low voices, through his visibly closed windows.

Continuity: At the Dursley residence, when Harry wakes up and gets out of bed to look out the window, a bowl and plate with leftovers sit on the desk. In the following shots, until Vernon goes after Harry out the window, the food on the plate changes and the plate changes position back and forth on the table. When Vernon yells, "Petunia, he's escaping," in the interior shot the lamp is at the corner of the bed, yet in the next exterior shot it's lying on the pillow. The position of Harry's comforter changes during his escape as well.

Revealing: When Harry stands at his bedroom window looking at the nearing headlights, the houses opposite him on the left are really the neighboring houses that are seen to the left of the Dursleys when facing the Dursley house and the one on the right is actually the Dursley's home. In the close-up of the car as its headlights face Harry, the Dursley's house is seen behind it, but the check curtains and patio table were added to change the look of the house. The distinctive pattern of each of the home's bricks are a giveaway.