Excellent, but not perfect

Rating: 8/10 (12 November 2001)

This is a really excellent film. I was expecting a long movie, but the time just flew by. If anything, it was too short. The cast were absolutely superb - Harry, Ron and Hermione were perfect. Alan Rickman's Snape stole every scene that he appeared in, and Robbie Coltrane really had Hagrid nailed. The sets were breathtaking - especially Hogwarts and the special effects were everything you'd expect from a big budget film.
Bad points? The script. There are quite a number of funny lines from the book that are missing. I've no idea why. Also, there are a number of characters from the book who appear, but are never named in the film. Lee (dreadlocked quiddich commentator) being one of them. The most surprising thing was that Harry's owl Hedwig is unnamed in the film. I really can't understand this omission, especially since Ron's rat Scabbers is named. Peeves was also cut (again, no idea why).
Two points docked for not developing (or even naming) a number of the minor characters and omitting some funny lines. 1 point awarded for the superb portrayals of Snape and Hermione. Total - 9 out of 10.