good adaptation!

Rating: 9/10 (6 January 2002)

When I first heard that they were making this into a movie I groaned, how on earth could a movie be anywhere near as good as the book? I really didn't want to see it, but my dad (yes my dad!) wanted to go so I went with. I was pleasantly surprised, the movie was delightful.
For the most part the casting was good (2 grievances: I pictured Prof. McGonagall to be fortyish-so I thought Maggie Smith was a little old for the part-she did a fine job though; and Rickman wasn't quite how I'd pictured Snape). The cinematography and scenery were beautiful. Like a lot of fans of the books I was pointing out things that were different or had been left out, but the changes didn't hurt the movie. The movie didn't really drag at all, in fact when we were leaving the theatre I looked at my watch and couldn't believe that it had been over 2 hours. Nowadays movies run about 90 minutes, but I honestly couldn't tell it was a longer movie.
Seeing the movie made me want to re-read the books and I did so. Hopefully those who haven't already read them will want to once they've seen the film. And the books aren't just for kids (especially the last one which has several scenes that deal with torture and murder, among other things). I'm in my twenties and my dad is almost sixty and we both thoroughly enjoyed the books and he even enjoyed the movie more than I. Go see it (with or without your kids!).