Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone «««
PG, 152m. 2001
Cast & Credits: Richard Harris (Albus Dumbledore), Maggie Smith (Professor Minerva McGonagall), Robbie Coltrane (Rubeus Hagrid), Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Fiona Shaw (Aunt Petunia), Richard Griffiths (Uncle Vernon), John Hurt (Mr. Ollivander), Julie Walters (Mrs. Molly Weasley), Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy), John Cleese (Nearly Headless Nick), Alan Rickman (Professor Severus Snape), Zoë Wanamaker (Madame Hooch). Screenplay by Steven Kloves based on the novel by J.K Rowling. Directed by Chris Columbus.
I slept off and on through Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone the first time I saw it because I was suffering from what was most likely the flu.
I know it wouldn’t be fair of me to write a review without seeing the movie in its entirety so I spent another two and a half hours (add in the ten or 15 minutes of commercials and previews) of my time one day the week after Thanksgiving to see the film again.
Ironically, my feelings about Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone didn’t change after seeing it the second time around.
All the child actors (Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Tom Felton among them) play their roles surprisingly well enough to the point I didn’t have to wonder if they still needed lessons in acting school. Daniel Radcliffe, especially, who plays the film’s title hero whom everyone immediately knows just by name alone, other than maybe the scarred H on his forehead that’s covered by a flock of hair.
The film is visually stunning in terms of set designs and filled with wonderfully clever ideas. I have not read author J.K. Rowling’s mammoth fantasy novels yet but I wouldn’t be surprised if everything she writes about in her books, comes to life on the big screen the way she envisioned it as transcribed by director Chris Columbus (Home Alone - 1990) and screenwriter Steve Kloves.
It’s in the back of an old tavern where Harry (as well as the viewers) is brought into a completely new world through a secret door that only Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) knows how to get into.
Hagrid, a gentle bearded giant whose muscular build would mistake him for a pirate if he had an eye patch and a sword, is the student recruiter for Hogwarts Castle, who often talks too much, always revealing more to Harry and his pals than he is supposed to.
Who knows how the Puritans of the 17th century, who tried their best to stamp out witchcraft in their day, would have reacted had they stepped into Harry’s world. Instead of cars, kids dream of flying the latest in broomstick technology, the Nimbus 2000 that has its logo proudly engraved in gold lettering on the handle. In this world impeccably dressed goblins, who aren’t so much horrifically threatening, as they are snotty, run a local bank where Harry can open up his new account. A place like this wouldn’t be complete without a store that sells wands.
Hogwart’s Castle, where students like Radcliffe’s Potter attend, is like one of those Ivy League private universities where only the best and brightest are chosen. What’s different is the kids are here to learn witchcraft and sorcery.
The president of the university is Albus Dumbledore (Richard Harris), who looks exactly like an old wizard and whose white long beard is about as long as Rip Van Winkle’s.
We meet a number of faculty like Professor McGonagall (Maggie Smith), the stern head mistress who is present during class but not necessarily in human form and Madame Hooch (Zoe Wanamaker), the flying broomstick instructor.
Then there is the mysterious but perhaps the most disliked Professor Snape (Alan Rickman) who bursts through the doors on the first day of class saying how there will be no unauthorized making of potions without his consent.
We get all this within the movie’s first hour. There is still another 90 minutes more to go. The film runs 152 minutes and before it was over, I felt as though I had spent an entire school year at Hogwart’s Castle. That’s the bad news. Harry Potter is not like such past epics as The Right Stuff (1983), Schindler’s List (1993), or Titanic (1997) where the three hour running time doesn’t feel that long.
When dialogue is exchanged, the film slows down to a snail’s pace. The only things giving Harry Potter any life are when the kids run into such digital creations as a talking unicorn and a rabid slobbering three headed dog named “Fluffy.” Or play a dangerous real life game of Chess and Quiddich; a flying broomstick game that’s like soccer and is probably just as life threatening as the pod races in Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (1999).
I’m not quite certain what it is about Rowling’s series that compels kids today to read a 400 plus page book. The story, however, didn’t take a magical hold on me. The film is nothing more than visual eye candy; a mass market merchandising toy that succeeds winning me over with good looks boasting impressive set designs, ideas, casting, and a majestic soundtrack by John Williams that could be his best yet since The Empire Strikes Back (1980). (I am humming the film’s musical score now as I write this review).
Then again, this is only the first movie of what will obviously be a most profitable franchise for Warner Brothers (shooting has already begun on the sequel). Millions of kids familiar with Rowling’s books (I hear it’s in over 400 languages) know who Harry Potter is in the written world. Now millions more will come to know of the magical boy wizard from 4 Privet Drive through motion pictures.
As Professor McGonagall prophesied in the opening scene, there won’t be a person in the world who won’t know who Harry Potter is by the time this franchise is completed.
©12/5/01
PG, 152m. 2001
Cast & Credits: Richard Harris (Albus Dumbledore), Maggie Smith (Professor Minerva McGonagall), Robbie Coltrane (Rubeus Hagrid), Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Fiona Shaw (Aunt Petunia), Richard Griffiths (Uncle Vernon), John Hurt (Mr. Ollivander), Julie Walters (Mrs. Molly Weasley), Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy), John Cleese (Nearly Headless Nick), Alan Rickman (Professor Severus Snape), Zoë Wanamaker (Madame Hooch). Screenplay by Steven Kloves based on the novel by J.K Rowling. Directed by Chris Columbus.
I know it wouldn’t be fair of me to write a review without seeing the movie in its entirety so I spent another two and a half hours (add in the ten or 15 minutes of commercials and previews) of my time one day the week after Thanksgiving to see the film again.
Ironically, my feelings about Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone didn’t change after seeing it the second time around.
All the child actors (Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Tom Felton among them) play their roles surprisingly well enough to the point I didn’t have to wonder if they still needed lessons in acting school. Daniel Radcliffe, especially, who plays the film’s title hero whom everyone immediately knows just by name alone, other than maybe the scarred H on his forehead that’s covered by a flock of hair.
The film is visually stunning in terms of set designs and filled with wonderfully clever ideas. I have not read author J.K. Rowling’s mammoth fantasy novels yet but I wouldn’t be surprised if everything she writes about in her books, comes to life on the big screen the way she envisioned it as transcribed by director Chris Columbus (Home Alone - 1990) and screenwriter Steve Kloves.
It’s in the back of an old tavern where Harry (as well as the viewers) is brought into a completely new world through a secret door that only Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) knows how to get into.
Hagrid, a gentle bearded giant whose muscular build would mistake him for a pirate if he had an eye patch and a sword, is the student recruiter for Hogwarts Castle, who often talks too much, always revealing more to Harry and his pals than he is supposed to.
Who knows how the Puritans of the 17th century, who tried their best to stamp out witchcraft in their day, would have reacted had they stepped into Harry’s world. Instead of cars, kids dream of flying the latest in broomstick technology, the Nimbus 2000 that has its logo proudly engraved in gold lettering on the handle. In this world impeccably dressed goblins, who aren’t so much horrifically threatening, as they are snotty, run a local bank where Harry can open up his new account. A place like this wouldn’t be complete without a store that sells wands.
Hogwart’s Castle, where students like Radcliffe’s Potter attend, is like one of those Ivy League private universities where only the best and brightest are chosen. What’s different is the kids are here to learn witchcraft and sorcery.
The president of the university is Albus Dumbledore (Richard Harris), who looks exactly like an old wizard and whose white long beard is about as long as Rip Van Winkle’s.
We meet a number of faculty like Professor McGonagall (Maggie Smith), the stern head mistress who is present during class but not necessarily in human form and Madame Hooch (Zoe Wanamaker), the flying broomstick instructor.
Then there is the mysterious but perhaps the most disliked Professor Snape (Alan Rickman) who bursts through the doors on the first day of class saying how there will be no unauthorized making of potions without his consent.
We get all this within the movie’s first hour. There is still another 90 minutes more to go. The film runs 152 minutes and before it was over, I felt as though I had spent an entire school year at Hogwart’s Castle. That’s the bad news. Harry Potter is not like such past epics as The Right Stuff (1983), Schindler’s List (1993), or Titanic (1997) where the three hour running time doesn’t feel that long.
When dialogue is exchanged, the film slows down to a snail’s pace. The only things giving Harry Potter any life are when the kids run into such digital creations as a talking unicorn and a rabid slobbering three headed dog named “Fluffy.” Or play a dangerous real life game of Chess and Quiddich; a flying broomstick game that’s like soccer and is probably just as life threatening as the pod races in Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (1999).
I’m not quite certain what it is about Rowling’s series that compels kids today to read a 400 plus page book. The story, however, didn’t take a magical hold on me. The film is nothing more than visual eye candy; a mass market merchandising toy that succeeds winning me over with good looks boasting impressive set designs, ideas, casting, and a majestic soundtrack by John Williams that could be his best yet since The Empire Strikes Back (1980). (I am humming the film’s musical score now as I write this review).
Then again, this is only the first movie of what will obviously be a most profitable franchise for Warner Brothers (shooting has already begun on the sequel). Millions of kids familiar with Rowling’s books (I hear it’s in over 400 languages) know who Harry Potter is in the written world. Now millions more will come to know of the magical boy wizard from 4 Privet Drive through motion pictures.
As Professor McGonagall prophesied in the opening scene, there won’t be a person in the world who won’t know who Harry Potter is by the time this franchise is completed.
©12/5/01
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