what scenes do you think the movie did better than the books?

[overgyou]

The scene that really jumps to mind is the freeing of Dobby from 
CoS.  If I recall correctly, in the book, Harry puts Tom's diary in 
his sock, and hands it to Lucius, who then hands it to Dobby.  Thus, 
Malfoy ends up looking like an idiot for forgetting the clothes 
rule.  Compare that to the movie, where Harry tricks Malfoy into 
giving Dobby clothes by putting his sock inside the diary.  The 
latter method was just a lot more palatable, and doesn't require us 
to believe someone as clever and ruthless as Draco's dad would act in 
such a dumb fashion.

The other touch I liked better from the movies was when Harry first 
meets Quirrel in the Sorcerer's Stone.  In the book, they actually 
shake hands, whereas in the movie, the professor does a nervous hand 
wringing thing, and thus doesn't have any physical contact with Harry 
until the final scene.