Subject: Review: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)

From: Robin Clifford <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2001 19:17:17 -0000

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"

With a record-breaking opening weekend take of over $90 million it is
assured that this long-awaited, enormously hyped event film will make
millions upon millions more and is the stuff that franchises are made of.
"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," if you haven't heard (and you must
have been living in a cave on a mountain in Tibet if you didn't), is the
first film outing for the first book of the wildly popular J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter series.

For those one or two who haven't been exposed to the Potter phenomenon the
stories begin with orphaned Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) forced to spend his
formative years living in a cramped, dark closet under the stairs in the
house on Privet Drive, the home of Uncle Vernon Dursley (Richard
Griffiths), Aunt Petunia (Fiona Shaw) and cousin Dudley (Harry Melling).
There is something very special about Harry, a fact that his cruel, selfish
aunt and uncle have denied since the boy's parents died in a car crash (or
so we are told) when he was just a baby. For years Uncle Vernon has sought
to keep important information from Harry about the boy's true self.

On his 11th birthday, Harry is visited by a giant named Hagrid (Robbie
Coltraine), receives an invitation to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft
and Wizardry, learns that his parents were masters of the magical arts and
that he is destined to greatness. He attends the school, makes best friends
with Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), learns
oodles of magic from Albus Dumbledore (Richard Harris) and Professor
McGonagall (Maggie Smith), becomes a Quiddich hero (read the book or see
the movie for an explanation) and has one daring adventure after another,
all the while being a good, honest kid.

What you will see in the movie "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"
(released in Great Britain as "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone")
is a movie spectacle that faithfully (within the constraints of runtime -
it is 142 minutes long - a truly faithful adaptation would run for hours)
delivers the book from start to finish. Sure, there are elements left out
or under told, but overall, helmer Chris Columbus and scripter Steve Kloves
have succeeded in creating the magical world of Rowling's main character
with all the magical details so imaginatively drawn in the book. The
screenplay uses the same episodic technique that Rowling utilized, much to
the same affect.

Production designer Stuart Craig has brought to life the odd and wonderful
places that are described in the book from the halls of Hogwarts School to
giant Hagrid's cozy cottage to the bowels of the school where Harry and his
friends confront the evil Voldemort (Ian Hart) in the film's finale. The
fans will have little to fault, either, in the special F/X department. The
fast-paced flying Quiddich match puts you in the air (to sometimes queasy
affect) and the creatures that make up the magical world of Hogwarts -
trolls, dragons, gnomes, owls and more - bring visual life to Rowling's
written word. Makeup and creature effects by Nick Dudman gives a real feel
to his various and sundry monsters and guardians of Harry's new world.
Cinematographer John Seale does a fabulous job photographing the film with
a rich texture that captures the necessary magic.

All the players do a decent job bringing the characters to life. The three
kids, all newcomers, establish themselves well and should grow nicely into
their roles as the franchise takes off. There will be seven (at least)
Potter books and that should translate nicely into a marketing dream. There
are a bevy of veteran character actors who show up in small and cameo
roles. The aforementioned Harris, Smith, Hart and Coltraine are joined by
the likes of Alan Rickman as the mysterious, serious Professor Snape; John
Cleese passes through as the ghostus with the mostus, Nearly Headless Nick;
Julie Walters has a brief moment as the loving mother of many, Ron's mother
Mrs. Weasley; John Hurt does his bit as Mr. Ollivander, purveyor of magic
wands.

So, if you have lived in that cave in Tibet and know only the little bit
that I told you about the story go see "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's
Stone." If anything, the film adaptation is too faithful to the book, which
may be a turnoff to the less-than-hard-core fans. I like it but I don't
love it, which is just the same way I felt about the novel. I give it a B.

For more Reeling reviews visit www.reelingreviews.com

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