They just tried way too hard.

Rating: 8/10 (17 November 2001)

Beautiful movie. Great casting. Wonderful costumes. Over the top score. Curious editing. They just tried too hard. I didn't feel at all like i was watching a movie. More like a visual Cliff Notes. I enjoyed the magic of the book so much. Little Harry Potter became my hero, but in the movie, i barely knew who he was.
They tried so hard to touch upon all that happened in the book, that is was a race to get to the end. Scene one, a small child has bad adoptive parents. Scene two, The child is a wizard Scene three, The child is sent off to a wizarding school. Scene four, It's halloween Scene Five, It's christmas Scene Six, school's over, even though there was only one class. That's what i didn't like. I got a lump in my throat, excited to watch the "game". Harrry can fly, harry can catch things, Harry wins the game. 1 2 3 quick, done.
It lost all the real "magic" to reel magic. Great try though. Pic a couple of the hundred magic moments in the book, and convey those on the screen. We can always read the books again for what we've missed.