Enjoyable adaption of excellent book

Rating: Null/10 (2 February 2003)

I've read the book, and I saw the film, and I thought it was good. It wasn't perhaps as brilliant as the book had been, but for nearly three hours of something aimed at ten to fifteen year olds I thought it was spectacular. To keep kids entertained for that length of time, where the average movie is *half* that time, is no mean feat. And to give me a permanent and unshakeable grin through the Quiddich match was a credit to the special effects, which while not absolutely realistic were convincing nonetheless.
To say that this film lacks the high definition and quality of, say, Lord of the Rings, is to compare a children's book to mature literature. I do feel the main failing of the movie is that it simply has to cut a large amount of the nuances and feeling contained in the words and phrases of the book. This, however, is a failing of any adaption to cinema, and Lord of the Rings too suffers this criticism even from my own non-fanatical mouth. To assume that a movie will be absolutely faithful to a book is to miss the whole point of imagination and most of the last thousand years of development in literature; so I can more than forgive Chris Columbus and Steven Kloves for this work.
So realistically this is an excellent story well worth watching in film. The special effects are not overdone, the characters are realistically child-like and the cast, with not a single USA accent to betray its backers and give the lie to its literary heritage, is superb. Each actor, particularly Maggie Smith and Alan Rickman, give their characters as much personality as the book imbues them with.
Overall, very well done.