- In the earlier books, Hermione is described as being rather plain, having large buck teeth, until she had them magically shrunk in Goblet of Fire; she is only portrayed as attractive from the Yule Ball (in that book) henceforth (see She Is All Grown Up and She Cleans Up Nicely). Most characters are awed when they finally notice how beautiful she is at the dance. In the films, this did not quite work out that way.
- Snape is never portrayed with the sallow skin and greasy hair that he has in the books. Some of the illustrations for the earlier books also give him a very ugly beard, and others give him unsightly stubble, neither of which he has in the movies.
- Neville. In the books he's a meek, chubby foil to Dudley, and then his actor lost his light hair and all his baby fat and gained about three feet in height; in the words of Emperor Kuzco, he has become a "hottie hot hottie!"
- Bellatrix, who in the books had lost her beauty after years in Azkaban prison, is played by Helena Bonham-Carter in the movies, and looks pretty damn good... except for her teeth.
- Dolores Umbridge, in the book, is described as being short, squat, and toad-like in features, which gives her an appearance as hideous as her personality. In the movie, she appears as an woman in her fifties with a relatively average (though still somewhat short) build and a faintly out-of-date hairstyle. She almost, but not quite, appears grandmotherly. This creates a much greater contrast when it becomes apparent to viewers that she is probably more evil than Satan himself.
- Luna transitions from somewhat plain and having slightly bugged-out eyes in the books to quite attractive in the films.
- Dudley, while quite tubby in the first few films (he's actually the largest he ever gets in the third one), seems to be merely stocky by the time the fifth movie rolls around (admittedly this happens in the book as well, as Dudley takes up boxing and becomes more muscular than fat). Harry Melling, the actor who portrays him, actually lost a great deal of weight in between the shooting of the fifth and seventh films (the Dursleys were left out of the sixth film entirely). According to interviews with the actor, the producers nearly died of shock when he showed up for filming a good seventy pounds lighter (likely more than they were envisioning for Dudley). Fortunately for him, instead of recasting, they stuffed him into a fat suit. Unfortunately, the effect wasn't quite what they wanted, and ultimately his scene with Harry at the beginning of Deathly Hallows – Part 1 was cut.
- Pansy Parkinson, in the books, is described as having "a face like a pug", but in the movies she looks not too bad. Then again, she's being described by Gryffindors, so maybe that's a jaundiced account.
- While Mad-Eye Moody is not attractive by any means, he is certainly not nearly as ugly as he is in the books. Somewhat more (meta) justified than many of the other examples, as his appearance in the books was the result of a lot of scars, which would have been, at the very least, expensive and time-consuming to portray on film.
- Bill Weasley, in Half-Blood Prince, is scarred to the point of being described as only slightly less mangled-looking than Mad-Eye Moody, but in the film he only has slight scratches on his face. (Mad-Eye Moody and Bill Weasley are played respectively by father and son Brendan Gleeson and Domhnall Gleeson, so the comparison comes as appropriate.)
- Even regarding animal characters: Mrs. Norris is described in the books and by Rowling herself as an ugly, skeletical and unpleasent cat, whilst in the movies the cat is a very much healthy and cute Maine Coon.
- Arthur Weasley is described as "balding" and wearing glassesin the books. In the films he's played by Mark Williams, who has a full head of hair and does not wear glasses.
Adaptational Attractiveness / Harry Potter
Many characters are given intentionally unattractive descriptions in the books, but are played by considerably more good-looking actors:
