Good, but not spectacular

Rating: 8/10 (27 July 2002)

POSSIBLE SPOILERS
Harry Potter was just plain missing some "magic" (and, yes, pun intended.) Alan Rickman, Robbie Coltrane, and newcomer Rupert Grint all get kudos from me for their excellent jobs. Snape was perfectly wicked, Hagrid lovingly dim, and Ron had wonderful facial expressions and comedic timing.
Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) was pretty good. He was very close to how I pictured him from the books. But Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) just annoyed the heck out of me. I had always pictured her being more enthusiastic than snotty. If I hadn't have read the book, I would have wondered just what the heck Ron and Harry were thinking when they befriended Hermione. She was, as Ron said, a "nightmare". In the book when, on the train, Ron attempts to turn his rat yellow but fails miserably and Hermione says "Are you sure that's a real spell? Well, it's not very good, is it? I've only tried a few myself..." blah blah blah, but you get the gist, I'd pictured her being very out of breath and excited and enthusiastic and not at all intentionally snobby, but a bit just the same, and Watson came across as stuck-up as Draco Malfoy (who, by the way, was also excellently portrayed, if a bit of a small part.)
I'd give it a 8, just because Alan Rickman and Robbie Coltrane were AWESOME.