Review of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) by Jacob — 29 Jul 2016

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone will delight fans of the book with its mostly faithful adaptation hitting all the main points and representing the characters well especially the adult actors and others will no doubt be swept up by the fantastic world Rowling has created and Columbus and crew have brought to life fully realized with special effects, score, and cinematography.

With all that said though it doesn’t make for a coherent film. The director is so caught up in establishing the world and hitting all the necessary plot points that he forgets to flesh out the characters.

Harry isn’t that interesting serving more as a vehicle to get exposition about the world and the transitions between scenes are jumpy with so much emphasis on hitting the main beats of the film that the story doesn’t flow.

At 2 ½ hours the film can drag a tad. While the film is nothing great that doesn’t mean it isn’t a pleasure to watch. Seeing the story of Harry Potter come to life was and still is a major treat and considering how popular the books are/were the fact that it was done this well is impressive they gave the fans what they wanted.

And when you consider all the failed attempts at starting a franchise seeing one succeed is magic.