Review of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) by Luke N — 27 Aug 2013

Despite that general insistence that the books were better than the movies, I think that in this case, the movie was much better. Taking the (despite what I just said) wonderful story from Rowling's massively-popular children's novel, this film somehow manages to stay entirely true to its source material in plot and in spirit, whilst creatively adding many of its own things that simply work wonders, essentially establishing the first of the HP franchise as one of its most fun - if not as dramatic - outings.

Everything is brighter and fantastically whimsical here, but the film doesn't shy away from being at least somewhat scary at parts. As a child, I probably wouldn't be exaggerating in saying that this film changed me as much as 'Star Wars' and 'Jurassic Park' did.

As the films went on to become intentionally darker, this one embraces all ages, and suffers nothing for it.