The Special Effects of the Hobbit

[Eönwë]

It is different. Gandalf uses more sort of "power", or uses the "music" a bit, and he is a Maia! Not some human! In Harry Potter pretty much any stupid person (I'm not actually saying that anyone actually mentioned in Harry Potter is stupid, just that magic in Harry Potter is not limited to the wise... or is that Wise?) can use magic. In LOTR it is only used by very few, and only when they really need it, and even then Gandalf regretted it a bit.

But more importantly, it doesn't play as much of a part in the story. True, it got them out of hard spots but that was just so that they could escape to carry on, whereas in Harry Potter a lot is focused on the spells themselves, which makes it a different type of story. I'm not saying that any is better or worse, that depends on your opinion (though I preferr LOTR), but you can'tmix the magic of great saga-and-myths with spells that anyone can use, if they just know how.