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Reviews - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone |
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After careful deliberation I can sum this
movie up with a couple of words: enchanting and charming. Its a
wonderful tale of magic, friends, right and wrong, fantasy and fable. It
was like 'Willow', 'The Goonies' and 'The Three Musketeers' all rolled
into one.
The hook in the movie is the fantastic world of wizards and witches, the
world of magic, fairy tales and a charming lad named Harry Potter. I
have never read one of the Harry Potter books, my daughter isn't old
enough to follow them yet, but after watching this movie I'm seriously
thinking in investing in them. This could be 'The Lord of the Rings' for
her generation. I remember buying my first copy of 'The Hobbit' and
loving it so much I had to read the rest. I can see the first Harry
Potter book being like that for her.
Having never really even heard much about Harry Potter before this
movie, I have to say the movie succeeds because of the talented four
young actors that make up the main characters in the story. Each one is
perfectly cast as their character, and each one is the reason for the
movie's undeniable success. Daniel Radcliffe was an excellent Harry
Potter, and I could see a very good nemesis coming about in Tom Felton's
Draco Malfoy. Rounding out the four were Harry's friends Ron Weasley and
Hermione Granger. These were great child actors, and their performances
were only strengthened by the extraordinary supporting cast of Richard
Harris, John Hurt, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith and many others.
Of course Christopher Columbus deserves a lot of the credit. He made a
great movie with these child actors (Lucas should have considered some
of them in his casting for 'The Phantom Menace'). Columbus, kept the
story moving, the pace exciting and avoided making a 'Home Alone' movie.
It wasn't as dark as his Gremlins movie. It had the same ominous and
foreboding tone, only more magical. This was a special effects movie,
where the characters were more important than special effects. Columbus
guides us through the story which comes together in a wonderful way,
using special effects to enhance the plot not replace it (note to Mr.
Lucas). He ties up all his loose ends very nicely and leaves the
audience very satisfied.
My favorite scene in the movie was the live game of Wizard Chess (think
battle chess video game, but only for real). Robbie Coltrane makes one
of the best movie entrances that I've seen in a long time. He was the
perfect comic relief in a charming and not an annoying way.
This was the first in what looks like a long line of soon to be Harry
Potter movies. This movie was a great starting point by which all the
rest will be judged. The one draw back I found in this movie was its
length. Perhaps a little too long for its target audience, but I cant
think of a single scene that I would want deleted.
 
- 9.5/10
Blair Barbesin -
Contributor
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