As enjoyable as you could expect

Rating: 8/10 (11 November 2001)

I would suggest to anyone that they should read J.K. Rowling's masterpieces before seeing this film, and the following films too. As is the case for nigh on all films based on novels, the film fights hard to match the book, and rarely succeeds (The Beach, Captain Corelli's Mandolin...) Although, in this case, one could say both the book and the film are the better of the two. Yes, J.K. Rowling wrote the books to be read, and they are incredible in that respect (Harry Potter isn't a world-wide phenomenon for nothing, after all), yet being all about magic and fantastic events, it would be difficult to match her words and our imaginations with on-screen action. Jurassic Park managed its realistic dinosaurs, and myriad other films have used computer graphics to allow the impossible to appear on film, except here they're not quite up to scratch. Blue-screen use is obvious, and even a five year old could tell you what's real and what's fake, and sadly it makes the world of Harry Potter less believable, and that's the root of the magic - the non-muggle world seems so real and is so well depicted in text that we all believe it exists, and can picture it all, yet on film it seems too fake in places. The Quidditch match was indeed very good, as was the half-giant Hagrid, with dear little Norbert....as for the (real) actors, Daniel Radcliffe performed as well as he could, although he is no Haley Joel Osment. Ron and Hermione were better, as was Oliver Wood. Best performances came from Maggie Smith as Prof. McGonagall, and the shifty-looking Snape, who oozed evil just with his darting eyes.
Lastly, I shall mention that fans won't be disappointed too much, as J.K.Rowling had a very firm hand in the making of this film, so much so that she reputedly wept upon seeing the final cut, so happy that her vision had finally become real...
DO go and see it, young muggles and old wizards alike.