Hasn't aged like a fine wine, but still a real treat

Rating: 9/10 (22 May 2016)

I must say, the significant flaw with this film is it doesn't know whether to provide more more attention to setting up the entire fictional universe or the main plot of this installment. It does contain mostly exposition, which wouldn't be a bad thing if it wasn't so present that the main plot of the movie felt awkward with the rest of it, as it has so little presence and doesn't relate much to Harry learning about the Wizarding World.
The world-building is strong, it just doesn't fit snugly with the plot of the Philpsopher's Stone, which almost feels like a subplot due to how little of a presence it has. It feels like an abrupt interruption from what feels like the main plot in world-building when it IS brought up, as they talk about Harry getting on the Quiddich team, but then suddenly go off on this unrelated tangent about Gringotts being robbed from a newspaper headline. It's much more awkward when it happens in the Dark Forest, as they're there for detention and just run into SPOILER who wants the Stone by mere coincidence.
But other than that, the film is still entertaining. It's mainly thanks to the teachers that the film stands up as entertaining still, as Hagrid, McGonagall, Snape and Dumbledore are all interesting characters. It's just a bit weird that the actual main plot of the movie is reduced to a very minimal presence in the film in favor of the introduction to the universe as a whole. Overall, this is the Harry Potter film I think stands the test of time as the least re-watchable. After all, once you're introduced to the universe and already know how things work it does feel somewhat like a long wait to get to the bits about the Stone. Still a good film by all means, and it really shows how much Steve Kloves has grown as a writer considering he has written every other FANTASTIC film in the franchise except "Order Of The Phoenix"