Someone is animating sections of the Harry Potter audiobooks and it’s amazing
By Dan Selcke
J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books have famously been adapted as a beloved movie series starring Daniel Radcliffe, but I don’t think I’m alone in saying that I wouldn’t mind another adaptation, maybe in a different medium. Maybe as a longform TV series on the BBC, with a new cast of actors playing the iconic cast of characters? Or how about an animated show, put together by talented animators like Paula Yvonne Peroff?
I mention Peroff because she’s kinda-sorta taken a couple of steps towards making that a reality…in my mind, anyway. The professional animator (check out her Instagram here) took a crack at a couple of scenes from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, using voices from the official Harry Potter audiobooks (the first of which is available for free right now at Audible, by the way). Take a look at this scene with Ron and Harry trying to puzzle their way through Professor Trelawney’s Divination class:
I love the background, I love the voices, but mostly I love the expressions. Harry trying to make sense of Unfogging the Future, Ron looking like he wants to be anywhere but here…there’s a ton of personality in these 21 seconds.
And then another clip, this one featuring Harry, Ron and Hermione in the Great Hall:
The expressions are even better here, especially Hermione’s patronizing smiles! And her huge frizzy hair is incredible.
There is no way I’m the only person who would pay to see a full book version of this. I know the rights to Harry Potter are guarded like a dragon guards its horde and I know we have the Fantastic Beasts movies to enjoy and I know I’m just setting myself up for disappoint, but this is too fun not to get my hopes up. At the least, I hope Peroff does a couple more clips. And then if J.K. Rowling happens to see them and decides it’s time to take things to the next level, so be it.
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