Ultimately, the cons slightly outweigh the pros in a film full of wasted potential

Rating: Null/10 (12 May 2007)

Well, for starters, the older cast, almost all of whom are instantly recognizable if you've seen much of British television or film, are simply delightful in their roles, with special honors going to Alan Rickman as Professor Snape, Richard Harris as Albus Dumbledore, and Robbie Coltrane as Rubeus Hagrid. Some other positive aspects to the film is that it is a faithful adaptation for the most part, and the child actors certainly aren't the worst I've ever seen. Moreover, John Williams' brilliant score was at the time one of the best in years.
With all this talent at his disposal, Chris Columbus seems almost determined to make the movie as childish and as non-magical as possible. One of the main reasons the Harry Potter books were so successful in the first place was because they really weren't just books for kids, they were books for kids that adults could enjoy. J.K. Rowling created a beautiful, magical world and a bunch of very interesting characters that could keep you interested in reading a book for days, if not weeks. Chris Columbus, however, dumbs it all down to the level that it's not even interesting for two and a half hours. On a superficial level, Columbus might have seemed a good choice to direct; he had been commercially successful in the past, had made some funny comedies ("Home Alone", "Mrs. Doubtfire") and even handle a drama reasonably well ("Bicentennial Man"). However, Columbus has also failed at both those styles before; "Stepmom" was manipulative, overly sentimental dreck and "Nine Months" simply wasn't funny.
Columbus decides to direct this as a kids' movie, and effectively ruins the film in the process. Steve Kloves' script doesn't help either, as it simply plays into Columbus' childish perception with some unbearable slapstick 'humor', which completely destroys most of the novel's charm.
There are a couple of solid sequences in this mess of a film, particularly the final scenes, but considering the solid source material and the talent involved, the film is ultimately a failure. It is technically competent and the visual effects are definitely good but unfortunately, in concentrating on the technical aspects, Columbus has wasted a lot of talent and forsaken most of what makes a movie good (acting and writing) for the sake of making the movie merely look good. This may work the first time but the film is a bore on repeated viewings and just doesn't hold up well at all.
4/10