Mystic Muggles?

Rating: Null/10 (26 November 2003)

HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE / Directed by Chris Columbus / Written by Steve Kloves / Running Time: 152 minutes / Rated PG / Capsule Review / Score: ***

'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone' is a story that probably would've suited better as a four to eight hour miniseries. Not to say the movie is a bad one. Far from it. It is mostly enchanting, a faithful adaptation of a masterful book. Director Chris Columbus makes a solid but not daring effort to bringing the story to a visual medium. The computer-generated images are impressive and the production design has an Arthurian appeal to them. While the story is being told wonderfully with these visuals, however, the plot is buried under special effects. Radcliffe, Grint and the charming Watson are fitting for their roles, and many of the adult actors outshine the set pieces. The titular 'Sorcerer's Stone', however, is not mentioned (and does not come into play) until the movie's third act. The movie should have been titled 'Harry Potter and the Introduction to Wizardry'. There are too few good current children's films out there, and while Harry Potter emerges unscathed, a better 'magic' appears in the wonderful Pixar films, all of them, curiously, 90 minutes or under (compared to Potter's bloated 152 minutes).