Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

It's better than you remember

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone movie poster

It's hard to believe it's been almost 20 years(!) since Warner Bros. announced plans to make a movie series based on J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" novels.

Although not originally written for any specific age group, Bloomsbury the publisher of the novels, targeted them at the burgeoning young adult market - a huge demographic of Millennials. The result was a runaway success that, along with the long-awaited Lord of the Rings film adaptations revitalized the fantasy genre.

Few film goers haven't seen Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, but a lot may not have watched it in many years.

Fortunately, the film holds up well all these years later. As the first in the series, HPatSS strength is in the introduction of the viewer to a whole new world. The plot itself - about Harry Potter trying to stop an evil wizard from getting hold of a powerful artifact, (the titular "Sorcerer's Stone"), really takes a backseat to the wonder and majesty of the setting, spending more than half of its two hour and forty minute running time awing viewers with scenes in and around Hogwarts, Harry's school for wizards, and the various characters and beasts that inhabit it.

Ultimately, that makes the film a bit anti-climactic, with the final half hour of the film devoted to wrapping things up with a couple clunky scenes to allow each of Harry's sidekicks, goody two-shoes witch Hermione, and comic relief buddy Ron, to take the spotlight before Harry's final showdown with the evil wizard (no spoilers, but you probably already know who He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named is).

Anti-climactic or not, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is still magical.


The Good: 

• The acting, by a whole host of classically trained British actors.
• Another highlight is the set design; Hogwart's Castle looks and feels like an amazing place throughout the film.

The Bad:

• The title. The original title used "Philosopher's Stone" which is a real mythological artifact like the Holy Grail or Excalibur. They changed it to "Sorcerer's Stone" for cheap marketing reasons.
• The CGI Harry Potter. Whether fighting a troll, or anytime he's on his broom, was a clumsy and obvious insertion, even at the time.
• The school's pastime Quidditch has to be the dumbest sport ever. There are a bunch of different balls and a whole team of players, but none of that matters because there is only one ball (the "Golden Snitch") and two players ("The Seekers") that matter whichever catches it, their team wins no matter how many points the other team has scored.
• Hermione is already so powerful that one wonders why she's in school at all? She seems more powerful than not only the other kids, but also the professors, and even the main villain of the piece

Stuff to look for:

• John Cleese's Cameo as Nearly Headless Nick
• Warwick Davis, who's made a career of playing dwarves, goblins, and leprechauns

Pairing: Pumpkin Spice Latte. The film came out between Halloween and Christmas, and has that seasonal feel to it.


The Verdict:
***1/2 out of *****