Welcome to the world of Harry Potter

Rating: 7/10 (10 July 2015)

Rating-7/10
Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone is the starting movie in one huge and magical film franchise based on the books of the same name. This film for me was good, not great I must add but one movie that truly shows us something new and makes people just generally happy afterwards. It isn't awesome by any stretch of the imagination and I'll go into that later on but this does at least set a bench mark in film, one that started one of the biggest film franchises of all time.
The movie is a nice mix between a kind of light and lovely kind of thing, but then dark and oddly scary in certain ways. The movie is for the most part heart-warming and gives you a beautiful sense of "I'm there" kind of feeling and one which instantly connects you with the characters. The plot can have it's more terrifying moments and especially maybe for the young viewers, a certain scene including the Forbidden Forest comes to mind on that one.
Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson are not great as our main heroes but they're not bad either actually, they don't really know how to act just yet but they still regain that nice sweet feeling about them which is all that counts here. The whole cast is a plethora of greats, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Richard Harris and many others contribute to the great cast who just make this film really what it is and make it all importantly, fun.
It's possible as they say, that Christopher Columbus the director stuck too close to the books here and really should have deviated from the scenes which well, only work in the book. I applaud him for staying true but I have to say the film is over long and stuffed full of long periods where very little happens and that can at times make this seem slightly dull. I do like Columbus here though, I think he directs well and Steve Kloves adapts the screenplay pretty well too, yet again good all round.
Now one thing that may not be most remembered but for me should are the special effects which for the day are really great and make this so much more exciting at times. Certain scenes just wouldn't work without them being good and the team behind it seem to create a visually good looking film too. Staying on the way this looks the sets are magnificent and truly incredibly done, on such a large scale it is difficult but they pull it off and first time as well.
I felt this film is like an epic that is both for adults and kids and that is for me what sets this apart from other such movies in the fantasy genre. It shouldn't leave anyone feeling negative afterwards and really makes you kind happy in a way that leaves you positive about the whole movie and is another reason this is so memorable. It's hard to not fall in love with the Harry Potter world, the film not so much but the thing it is set in, very much so.
Overall a good movie and also one that kick-starts a huge franchise of films that are so remembered and will be for me, in years to come. It's the kind of movie that isn't great but is still a classic in senses, so many people around the world can quote it and words and phrases from this movie continue to be used in everyday speech, just magically wonderful.