Released: 2001
Version: Video
Length: Approx. 152 minutes
Rated: PG
Main Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson (II), John Cleese, Robbie Coltrane, Alan Rickman, Fiona Shaw.
What's this? A pagan witchcraft movie on this site!?? Yow! Have I gone crazy??? Nope! I checked out the hype, and it wasn't any worse then any other movie with witches as good guys and bad guys. Just look at The Wizard of Oz or a similar movie. True, this movie is rated PG...
Anyway, it's a pretty good representation of the book. It follows it at least as faithfully as the Lord of the Rings movie follows its book. There're all the characters from the book and the actors do a good job of representing them. Some of them weren't how I thought of them in my head...and some didn't sound the way I imagined either, but it doesn't matter.
We see Potter (Daniel Radcliff) living in his little "room" under the stairs in the Dursley's house. We see the snake scene with a slight twist where Dudley (Harry Melling) gets stuck in the snakes giant terrarium. Eventually, Harry starts getting a lot of letters and the Dursleys try to escape them by moving to an island. Of course, Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) finds them and takes Harry off to buy his school supplies.
If you've read the story, then you know what happens. Harry meets some cool professors, like McGonagall (Maggie Smith), Headmaster Albus Dumbledore (Richard Harris)and Snape (Alan Rickman). I think the actor for Prof. Quirrell (Ian Hart) needed to work on his stuttering, but other then that, he was okay.
Harry learns to play Quidditch, and his toad-losing friend, Nevelle, ends up doing a little more flying then in the book...but he does try to stop Harry, Hermione (Emma Watson (II)), and Ron (Rupert Grint) from running off to stop Snape from stealing the Sorceror's Stone.
There are plenty of instances where the movie veers from the book, but it sticks to it enough. Anyway, let's hit on my highlights:
The Good Stuff:
 | Good special effects for the troll...among other things. |
| Hermione is excellent! |
| Faithfully reproduced story... |
| It keeps your attention. |
The Bad Stuff:
| There's a lot more swearing in the movie; whereas there was NONE in the first book. |
| Hagrid was dumber than in the book! And most of his lines were the same! "I shouldn't have said that!" |
| The Quidditch special effects needed some work...a lot of work, in fact! |
| Yes, it's a dark movie for kids. Be sure that the child is well grounded in Scripture BEFORE viewing...that would be wise before any movie with witchcraft or magic...including those goofy Narnia books/movies. |
Do I recommend this movie? Sure! It was interesting...it was fun, and it was pretty clean. But I don't recommend it for everyone.
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