Above art by DeviantArt user twiggymcbones.

Let’s face it. It’s inevitable that, in the very near future, Harry Potter will be remade.

The upcoming Fantastic Beasts franchise will soon partially satiate the insatiable appetite that is the fandom of Harry Potter. Just as Tolkien fans have devoured any morsel penned by the master of Middle Earth so too shall Harry Potter fans jump at any chance to re-immerse themselves into the wizarding world.

With this pending inevitability, I propose that the series be done in traditional animation that so many of us grew up with. Before you scroll straight to the comment section and berate this opinion piece, please consider the following.

JK’s Masterful Hand

Who do we in the HP fandom trust above all? Who do we look to confirm or deny suspicions? Who gives us the backstories that rock the headlines even within the character limit on Twitter? Of course it’s the masterful mind and hand of Jo Rowling. You would be hard pressed to find a devoted HP fan that questions her characterizations, plot lines, or relevant themes. As far as everyone is concerned, she is the ultimate authority on what should or shouldn’t be part of the story.

That being said, if she had an unprecedented amount of creative control when the series first started in 2001, it’s nothing compared to the amount she could and should demand today. Imagine the world of Harry Potter orchestrated closely by Jo’s hand. Don’t forget, she’s a skilled illustrator that can give us a clear idea of exactly how she intended her characters to look. Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson gave face to long read about characters and Matthew Lewis gave us the treasured term “Longbottoming” that won’t soon leave pop culture. But as much as we’ve come to assimilate them with the franchise, there’s still the question in the back of all our heads of how Jo would have pictured them and how those looks may have influenced how we felt about certain characters and storylines.

Could it get out of hand making animators consult her about every decision? Absolutely. But even her presence in such a project is an appealing thought. Instead of Jo being in on casting calls looking for characters that closely resemble or approving sets that may or may not be close to what she had in mind, instead we could see the closest thing to what was in her head as she wrote the series.

Unconstricted By Budget Or Logistical Filming

Complicated title for a simple thought. Essentially there would be less concern for saving budget for only a couple of really well done and thought out sequences. CGI is time consuming and expensive to be done right (more about this later) so it has to be saved for only a select few scenes. While budgeting issues exist on any type of movie (animated or not) scenes like Quidditch, complicated rooms from the Ministry of Magic, etc. are more reasonable to approach in animated form and could include more of them.

Logistical filming refers to getting the “shot” that the director and cinematographers intend while trying to stay true to the books. You can only shut down downtown streets of London so often before the film runs out of money or the public has an uprising. So often we hear directors talking about wishing they could have “gotten that shot” but timing, weather, etc. prevented them from getting it. Animation allows filmmakers to get whatever “shot” they need without having to worry about the logistics of setting up the scene.

The Limits of Our Minds

Whaaaa?? No, not trying to write a philosophy paper here. What I mean is that our minds have a hard time accepting “magic” in live action films MUCH less than we do when we watch an animation. Take, for instance, Ducktales. For you younger readers who have no idea what that is….that may require another post on the importance of shows like that. If you were to watch a live-action version of Ducktales where they either used real ducks (speaking of logistical nightmares) or CGI there would be a huge barrier preventing us from really getting into the show because our minds simply reject the idea as impossible or just plain creepy.

Does that mean that my mind believes every single thing Disney movies presented to me? To a degree? Yes, actually it does because it accepts it as true within that world. For some reason the following quote from Half-Blood Prince always stood out to me as only being able to be shown via animation:

“The potion within was splashing about merrily; it was the colour of molten gold, and large drops were leaping like goldfish above the surface…”

It’s hard to imagine live-action filmmakers capturing such a scene. How do you make liquid look merry and jump like goldfish? Maybe CGI but even then…something would still appear off. Filmmakers have even said they refrained from making Voldemort’s eyes red like they are in the books because it simply didn’t look right. The problem is that, with live-action, you bring the story to our own “turf” so to speak. Your brain, understandably, has a hard time accepting it as true when everything it has experienced has been contrary to what is being presented. Maybe that’s why kids are the best “believers” of movie magic — because their brains haven’t had enough experience to reject the “reality” they are watching.

How many references does Jo make to this very phenomenon in her books? Muggles refuse to believe in magic because they’d prefer to explain things away. I’m reminded of Mr. Weasley explaining shrinking keys used in Muggle baiting. J This may be blasphemous, but even if we all received a Hogwarts letter how many of us would take it seriously? And those that did, wouldn’t we all consider stray jackets if it were someone close to us?

Animation allows us to enter a world that is not our own, just as the HP books allowed our minds to enter a world that was not our own. An animated HP world would be incredibly well received because of its near instant “believability.” Still doubt me? Think of reverse examples. Live action Monsters Inc.? Gross, scary monsters that will end up looking like a Labyrinth sequel. Live action Finding Nemo? No thanks; I’d rather not stare into the dead eyes of fish for an hour and a half. And don’t get me started on live action Toy Story….shudder.

And yes I do realize I’m defending traditional animation here, not Pixar, but the point still remains clear.

Merchandising, Merchandising, Merchandising

No, I can’t say I’m a huge advocate for materializing a beloved classic but from a moneymaking point of view, animations are MUCH easier to market than live action. Obviously anything currently printed with HP characters are fine representations of the movies. It’s when they start making things like stuffed animals, bobble heads, or a myriad of other items that they end up looking…stupid. Because they are essentially “cartooning” those images onto specific products and I’ve already discussed how our brain feels about crossing those two things.   :)

It’s Something New…Kind of…

How nuts did many of us and critics go over Disney’s animated short “Paperman” about the man hunting for the woman he met via folding paper airplanes? We saw it in the theaters and were overwhelmed by the nostalgia of seeing an actual hand drawn animation on screen! How many of us asked, “Why don’t they make traditional animations like that anymore?” How many times did we sit in awe of how beautiful the images were? If you disagree with this article so far, probably not much. But for the rest of us, it was a breath of fresh air in an overly CGI box office.

The Proof Is In the Pudding

What was one of the most agreed on and most talked about scenes from the Harry Potter films? Remember the Tales of the Three Brothers? Admittedly, when it first started it was a little jarring because we jumped from one world to the next (FYI our brain has a hard time with that…see above). But once the narrative took over, how enraptured were we with the amazing visuals?? We got sucked in and devoured every moment of it! We became so immersed within that beautiful piece of animation that when it cut back to real life we all kind of had to shake our brains back into a different mode because I think a strong part of us wanted to stay there.

A Little Taste

To close, I share a video that some of you may have already seen. While it’s comedic and fairly graphic/ridiculous, it still sucks you into that world right from the get go. I’d love to petition the creator to recreate a favorite scene just to give an effect of what that type of storytelling would have. I think we’d all be pleasantly surprised at how much we’d love it.

Realistically Why This Won’t Happen

Sadly, I think WB has sunk too many hundreds of millions of dollars in theme parks and merchandising in the “classic Potter” to be too happy about a new one clamoring for top spot. The only way I could see them welcoming the new franchise would be if they animations kept key elements like the castle and Hogsmeade visually the same to keep consistency. But, hey, we can dream right? If it’s one thing Jo taught us, it’s that.

Editor’s note: But at least we have the Illustrated Editions to look forward to.