Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: Sign Me Up For Hogwarts

Let's get this out of the way upfront: I love the Harry Potter books. When you fall in love with literature first, especially literature of the wonderful, witty and ultimately deep kind that J.K. Rowling has given the world in the Harry Potter series, movie adaptations feel like pale imitations at best. Our imaginations can take us so much further...

And yet...I have always enjoyed the Harry Potter movies for what they are: adaptations that have helped to bring some of the magic and fun of the stories to life on the screen. Impeccably cast (it's beginning to seem like every major English actor of the past two decades has shown up in them somewhere) the films have steamrolled to box office success no matter what director has helmed them. At this point, following the release of movie number five, the franchise has employed four different directors. And a lot of passionate ink has been spilled by fans regarding which movie makes the most magic.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone started it all. Directed by Chris Columbus, who also directed the second movie, Chamber of Secrets, Sorcerer's Stone holds the unique position of giving us our first visual glimpse of Harry's world. And what a wonderful glimpse it is.

When I mentioned a lot of ink has been spilled about the Potter films, I should have perhaps mentioned that Columbus' first two films are often derided as the least cinematic and the least artistic. That may well be true, though I think we should keep in mind several unique features that no other director had to deal with: being first; casting a trio of very important child actors; needing to put together a creative team to visually create the magical world of Hogwarts; and (last but not least) creating a film based on the simplest, shortest and most "fairy-tailish" of the entire series. I think Columbus not only passed these tests, but passed them with flying colors. The green and red flying colors of a Gryffindor/Slytherin quidditch match, of course.

Hindsight makes its own kind of magic

It had been a long time since I’d seen Sorcerer’s Stone (which came out in 2001) but when I recently watched it again on video, I was pleasantly surprised by how well it’s stood up as quality entertainment. Columbus’ movie is a faithful, well-acted adaptation of the first beloved book in the series about an orphan boy who discovers he’s a wizard…and then discovers he has a unique role to play in a unique world.

The acting is top notch. From large roles to small (Hagrid to Flitwick!) the casting was terrific. Everyone likes to say that the child actors have all become better actors over the years, especially Daniel Radcliffe who plays Harry. That’s probably true. But the trio of pre-teen actors was good from the start. Radcliffe’s wide-eyed wistfulness captures Harry’s innocence and wonder upon entering a new world where he can finally find some sense of belonging, not to mention some true enchantments. And I can’t help but feel that Rupert Grint (as Ron) and Emma Watson (as Hermione) were better directed here than in any of the other films. Their performances have a freshness and directness and a deeper faithfulness to their literary counterparts. Watson really makes the film as Hermione: her ten year old combination of bossiness and insecurity feels palpably real, and probably was.

The adult actors are phenomenal, especially Robbie Coltrane as the half-giant Hagrid, Harry’s first mentor in the wizarding world. Coltrane plays Hagrid as slow on the uptake, but radiates a heart of gold. Maggie Smith makes an acerbic and stern Professor Minerva McGonagall and Alan Rickman as Professor Severus Snape was a genius choice of casting. I can’t help but believe the groundswell of sympathy for and fascination with Snape’s character came about, in part, thanks to Rickman’s rich portrayal of the potions master with a mysterious grudge against our young hero Harry. Rickman never seems to get the screen time he deserves (though more here than in some of the later films) but he can do so much with a withering glance, an intensely narrowed eye, or a half-spit-out derisive speech. His speech to the first years potions class, complete with his totally unfair derision of Harry, is pitch-perfect.

The late Richard Harris as Dumbledore was also perfect. Harris seemed to be struggling with age and health already; you sometimes get the feeling that his frail voice is going to falter and fade away altogether. But for all that, the vigor of his personality shines through, and he just “gets” Dumbledore’s character, both its wisdom and its humor. (“Alas, ear wax!”)

Columbus rightfully spent a lot of time and effort on getting the feel and look of the setting just right. Harry’s first walk down the magical streets of Diagon Alley makes your own eyes widen with wonder and delight along with him. And the enchanted castle is straight out of a fairy-tale with its moving staircases and suits of armor and portraits with talking and moving subjects. Not to mention the vast and golden great hall where the students congregate for meals under magically hovering candles. All of this is set to the magisterial (and sometimes whimsical) music of the great John Williams.

A lot of wonder and humor is to be had in this tale, and Columbus finds almost every inch of it. He zestfully presents the story as magical fairy-tale and comic book adventure. Fans of the books will enjoy all the faithful details, from chocolate frog cards to the ambivalent sorting hat to stuttering and stammering Professor Quirrell. The climax, when our trio faces their first real test of loyalties and Harry faces his first major battle with evil (well, the first he can remember) is edited for the screen, but the edits do it no harm. The scenes that bring Harry to his first aware confrontation with Voldemort do a good job of capturing Harry’s fears and emerging strengths, and play up the deepening bonds between Harry, Hermione and Ron, something the later movies build on well.

It’s true I’m feeling nostalgic for Harry’s younger years…and for the years gone by when I first encountered the fun and magic of his story. But even without the nostalgia factor, I think most people who enjoy the Harry Potter books will find Sorcerer’s Stone entertaining and enchanting. It’s a movie that remembers how to tell…and show…a good story. And a good story is a pretty magical thing.

~befus, 2007

Another entry in CaptainD's Good Movies Writeoff!