Hmmmmm, could do better Potter, do 40 lines

Rating: 6/10 (20 November 2001)

I missed a lot of the fuss about the books because I was in China so I dutifully worked my way through them - and found myself getting rather involved - they're nothing special but they're a good read.
In this light I'm shocked, but not surprised at the fuss being made about the film, which was so slavishly close to the novel that I wondered why they didn't just film Richard Harris reading it to us.
There is a lot of potential here; great characters and locations and a lot of imagination to be tapped. Sadly Chris Colombus is not the right man to be making these films. Past experience tells us that his idea displaying emotion is to get Macauly Culkin or Robin Williams to gurn at the screen. I felt nothing for the characters other than what I remembered in the books. Still, the casting is wonderful and its great to see that many British actors in a big budget film. The direction and editing reduces the film to a series of stop start scenes that barely builds up the the muted climax.
Better than most films of its kind (I remember when the studios desperately hoped to break box office records, rather than arrogantly annoucing it). Its just a pity we're going to have to sit through the lukewarm books 2 and 3 before the best of the bunch arrives.