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Movie Review

Harry Potter review

By: Lauren Wells

Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 stars

Before I begin to tell you what I thought about this movie, I suppose I should tell you that I am a huge Harry Potter fan. I’m about as bad as your little brother or sister: showing up at Barnes and Noble at midnight to get the latest book, reading each book about a thousand times each... I’ve even got Harry Potter toothpaste. Yes, toothpaste. So, naturally you’d think this review would be biased, right? Well, it’s not! If anyone would be disappointed by a mediocre Harry Potter movie, it would be a Harry Potter fan, not a Harry Potter hater. And disappointed, I was.

It’s always hard to make a three hundred page book into a movie; you’ve got to decide which parts to leave in and which to take out. Something always has to be lost in transition to the big screen. In this case, in trying to fit in Harry’s awful Muggle family, a fight with a troll, a Quidditch match, the mirror that shows the deepest desires of one’s heart, plus the main plot of the Sorcerer’s Stone, much of the book’s charm is lost. Most of the minor characters that appear in the book also appear in the movie, but they are given miniscule roles, and the quirky, funny, and unique personality traits they all possess are not even shown; they’re like the frosting on the birthday cake that looks really nice but when you eat it, you find out it’s only food coloring, sugar, and Crisco. Many cute and funny subplots were taken out, and the plot that the screenwriters did decide to illustrate in the movie is hurried and contrived, mostly to make room for special effects.

Which brings me into what was good about this movie. The special effects were great. The Quidditch match was appropriately fast-paced and exciting (and I thought a game played on broomsticks in the air with four balls just couldn’t be done on screen; silly me), one of its best features; the colors are rich and the settings are beautiful. And last but not least, the casting was perfect. I’d say the great casting constitutes 80% of my score for this movie. The cast was entirely British, and everyone fit the character they played down to a T. Daniel Radcliffe, who played Harry Potter, is quite possibly the most adorable boy in the history of the universe (oh, and he’s also a perfect Harry). Although he had little acting experience before this project, for a twelve-year-old boy I think his acting was skilled. The same goes for Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, who were both charming in their portrayal of Harry’s best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. As for the adults, Robbie Coltrane was a fantastic Hagrid (how exactly did they make him look that big..?), and Alan Rickman was a positively creepy Professor Snape. Seeing the characters of the book come to life in these fine actors was the most magical part about the movie for me.

I’ve seen this movie three times (and only because my friends asked me to go- I don’t want to steal seats from kids that badly), and each time I’ve come to the same conclusion. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is a good movie, but an even better book. Some things you just can’t fit into a two and a half-hour time frame (I personally would be happy with a fifty hour Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone movie, provided I could have a break to take a shower somewhere in the middle). If you’re a Harry Potter fan, you’ve probably already seen the movie. Twice. If you loathe Harry Potter beyond all comprehension and seeing this movie would only make you spontaneously combust, why are you even reading this review? But if you think to yourself, "Hmm.. What’s this Harry Potter craze all about?" (and you don’t want to take the time to read a book), please see this movie. If anything, it might make you want to dust off your library card and read the book.