Fine Effort, Mostly Pays Off

Rating: 10/10 (13 December 2008)

There are well over 1,100 comments preceding thus one. Everything from praise to condemnation has already been voiced. So why another comment? Why not? The film isn't faithful to the text of the book, though it's fairly faithful to the spirit behind the book. As the opening of the Harry Potter saga, a lot of the film, as with the book, is introducing newcomers to the world of the young wizard. Meeting the characters -- Harrym Hagridm Ron, Hermione, and the like -- is important, and in the film, they're fairly well established. The whole magical world of Wizardkind is introduced, but shortcuts had to be made.
Harry's flying sequences had to be trimmed, though his elation at being a natural flayers, and some of his Quidditch practice were excised, more's the pity. Likewise, Harry becoming Seeker was a secret in the book, but the talk of the school in the film.
The fundamentals remain. The film is not the book, but it's close enough so that someone who's not roast the books first could be charmed by the film into starting to read them.