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

From: Ram Samudrala <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2001 19:53:48 -0000

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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
http://www.ram.org/ramblings/movies/harry_potter.html

It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to translate a book into
a movie. The problem has to do with one's imagination: words in a book
conjure up images that are highly personal and subjective, and any
attempt by a third party to lend form to them ends up
disappointing. /Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone/ is no exception
in this regard, but fortunately, the imagery presented is awesome and
wondrous in its own right.

The film is made strictly by the book: Harry Potter (Daniel
Radcliffe), a young boy mistreated by his foster family, learns that
he is special and comes of age... in the Hogwart's School of Magic (!)
where he learns wizardry, plays Quidditch and fights an evil despotic
wizard (who does not turn out to be his father).

While the movie stays fastidiously true to Joanne Rowling's book,
perhaps one of the best adaptations ever, the adage that a picture is
worth a thousand words doesn't hold true here. For the most part, from
the initial victory of the baby Harry Potter upto the Quidditch match,
a lot of the details are skipped. What we're presented with is a jump
from one scene to another (sometimes too quickly) that illustrates
with painstaking effort the magical realm that Rowling has constructed
in her series.  For example, while the opening sequence shows
Professor Albus Dumbledore (Richard Harris) turning out the lights in
a street, Professor McGonagall (Maggie Smith) changing to her true
form from being a cat, and Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) bringing Harry on
his flying motorcycle, we're not really shown the celebration of Lord
Voldemort's fall.  This isn't criticism but just an observation; in
fact, I think doing this is especially okay if one is familiar with
the Harry Potter books, but it does impart a sense of urgency in the
beginning portions of the film.

I marvelled at how technology enabled the film makers to make possible
the wonders of Harry's world, including Diagon Alley and Gringotts
Bank, the moving pictures, Hogwarts Castle, the Sorting Hat (Leslie
Phillips), the ghosts in the Castle (including a cameo by John
Cleese), Fluffy the three-headed dog, the ugly troll, and so on.  I
believe that it is technology that makes the Harry Potter film
authentic, in the same way as in the /X-Men/ or the /How the Grinch
Stole Christmas/ movies, by letting at least the imagination of a few
people come to life as vibrantly as possible. Most of what I imagined
and what was projected on the screen weren't really colinear, but it
was still cool, incredibly so at times, to watch.

The movie, however, picked up with the first Quidditch match where
Harry, on a broomstick, plays the position of a Seeker after the
Golden Snitch, a particularly hard-to-catch ball, which is key to
winning a game. The inspired depiction of the game meshed with my
imagination extremely well, and from there on, the story of Harry's
second encounter with the dark Lord Voldemort (Richard Bremmer)
enfolded in a less fragmented and more cohesive manner. The final
confrontation, and what Harry and his friends have to do get there, is
a delight to watch.

For those paying attention, the main change from the book has to do
with how Hagrid's dragon is disposed of and the resulting
consequences. The ghosts also play a smaller role here though given
the movie's running time, I'm not surprised parts like those were
omitted.

The actors playing the young leads give decent performances, with Emma
Watson as the know-it-all Hermione Granger standing out. The adult
actors aren't given much time but they all present solid performances.
The score by John Williams is simple but effective. The set design,
cinematography, and visuals are impressive. Director Chris Columbus
does a great job of bringing to the big screen the Enid Blyton-like
atmosphere that Rowling's books exude.

/Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone/ is a great movie to watch. I
viewed it from the perspective of someone who is intimately familiar
with the books, and I believe there is strong merit to watching it
being completely unfamiliar with the story, a choice I do not have
given that I've read the four books a few times. Definitely check it
out on the big screen and make sure you goto the bathroom before.

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