Christopher Columbus does a fantastic job of bringing the books to life

Rating: 7/10 (5 December 2012)

The first Harry Potter movie is also one of the best in the series, partly because it sticks to it's source material. Columbus doesn't try to condense the movie to make it more appealing to non-fans but instead pleases the already enormous Harry Potter fanbase with a faithful rendition of the HP world.
Columbus should get much praise for the focus on the movie's setting. None of the sequels ever brought Diagon Alley or Hogwarts to life like this movie did. The movie is indeed aimed more towards the hardcore book fans, and perhaps, children, then adults and non-fans. Several parts that could have been skipped were still included to please fans, and the Sorcerer's Stone almost never strayed from it's source material. Scenes like the quidditch scene were not particularly relevant, but helped build the setting and definitely pleased the audience.
The casting is great, fans found Hagrid and Dumbledore to be exactly how they imagined them. While Alan Rickman was probably not the Snape described in the books, he does brilliantly. As for the child actors, I've seen better, but they did their job's solidly. The soundtrack is easily the best in the series.
Overall the Sorcerer's Stone is a great foundation for the series. It's too bad that later installments strayed so much from the tried and true formula that worked here.
8/10