Okay, Okay, the Book WAS Better...But I Still Loved This Movie...

This will be a very biased review of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Perhaps you've heard of it. It's all about an eleven-year old orphaned boy growing up in Roald Dahlesque misery, who finds an escape when he's told he, like his dead parents, is a Wizard. This is a matter of genetics, not religion, and like Frodo, Dorothy, and Luke Skywalker before him, discovers that he has a greater destiny than he ever dreamed.

Of course, you've all already heard all about the book, the toys, the movie, the phenomenon that is Harry Potter...so why am I writing Yet Another Review about it?

Quite honestly, because I love Harry Potter. Even though it's written for a younger audience than a guy in his late twenties, the series of books is something that will someday be regarded on a par with Wizard of Oz, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings as something that energized a generation, and gave them something greater to dream about. The books are marvelous, and I'm rereading them now.

So how was the movie? Well, my wife Melissa and I (and dozens of friends and family members) are among those who helped the movie break all sorts of Box Office Records this last weekend, and we has a wonderful two-and-one-half hours doing it. The theatre was packed, and I remember wondering how many of these adults had read the books--I'd imagine almost all of them.

If you have read the books, then the movie is quite a treat--it doesn't offer many surprises, to be sure, but it is very faithful to the vision that author J. K. Rowling has laid out for us. If you don't like the books, you won't like the movie.

WB and Director Chris Columbus (I was soooo skeptical that he could pull this off) gave Rowling unprecedented control over the product, and I'm glad he did. This isn't filled with fart jokes or potty humor--I don't think anyone gets hit in the crotch in the whole movie. What we do get is something that has jumped from the pages of the novel onto the silver screen, and there were honestly times my eyes were shining with tears (I didn't actually CRY, but they were there in my eyes) because the movie was EXACTLY how I had imagined the book.

The casting was brilliant, and I'm very glad they chose to go with an all-British cast, with unknowns for the children. They aren't unknown anymore. Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson quite simply couldn't be better in their roles as Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and now their visages will be THE image I have when I read the novels. All three are "bloody brilliant" with Rupert Grint's Ron probably being a breakout character. Their acting isn't as cheesy or over-the-top as other child actors, and they made me wish I was 11 years old again so I could have some compadres to hang out with.

The supporting cast is equally brilliant, with my favorites being Robbie Coltrane's Hagrid and Richard Harris' Dumbledore. One who I wish had been given more to do was Alan Rickman as Professor Snape...he's a delightfully complicated bad guy, and although he ends up being something of a red herring, he's still horribly nasty. I wish he had been in more scenes.

The visuals for the movie were delightful, the standout here being the Quidditch Match--a set piece that has 14 players on flying brooms, basically playing a combination of soccer, basketball, and hockey fifty feet above the ground. This was much more dynamic and exciting than I had imagined in my feeble mind, and was quite the adrenaline rush (even knowing the outcome of the game from reading the book). There were a few uneven visuals...there are at least three times in the course of the movie that my annoyingly rational mind thought, "FAKE Computer Generated Effects--that's SOOOO Cartoony!" Curse my brain. Like it needs it.

If you haven't read the books, I honestly don't know how coherent the movie would be--it covers a year of Harry's life at Wizard School, and you get little vignettes of his life, with only a few running plotlines to carry it along. There are a few scenes that have been cut from the book-- nothing to cry over, but for the hardcore fans, there will be much debate afterward, like "why did they cut the subplot with Norbert?" Or "why didn't Draco Malfoy meet Harry at Flourish & Blott's?" But that's for the freaks like me to go over.

All in all, I loved this movie. I recognize that it has a few flaws in it, and for someone who isn't head over heels in love with our bespectacled hero, it may be a long 2-1/2 hours. Even then, my brother in law "Crack" really liked it, and he hasn't read the books. He said it was an enjoyable adventure. Maybe he'll be joining the legion of Harry Potter addicts in the near future.

If you've read the books, it's a must-see. If you haven't read the books, I think you'd still enjoy it. It's a fun movie for adults or children, and afterward, you can pick up all the LEGO sets and mail them to me.