Review of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) by Francis C — 14 May 2017

The first film in the Harry Potter franchise to this day remains one of the most enjoyable and magical films in the series and one of the best grand scale blockbusters of the last 20 years. The direction is perfectly mysterious and sinister whilst being wondrous and innocent at the same time.

While the performances from the younger cast members are mostly solid, a few lines here and there definitely could be delivered better but luckily the script brilliantly fleshes out the characters and the chemistry is on point and the same goes for the entire cast - the casting is absolutely perfect.

As a film it delivers as a set up and as its own self contained adventure, besides some meandering in the second act and the speedy timeline, the Philosopher's Stone is almost a beat by beat adaption of the book, leaving out and tweaking one or two sequences for the sake of run time.

It has aged a little but overall there is no doubt that this is solid film for all ages that is an essential watch for people who have not seen it. Also can't forget that John Williams' score is one the greatest ever.