A tremendous, though flawed, romp for children

Rating: 7/10 (29 January 2005)

I saw Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone last night with a friend of mine. It is the first time that I have seen a Harry Potter film. The movie is highly entertaining and enthralling. Richard Harris, as the old wizard, is the movie's Yoda and, in fact, there are many similarities between this movie and the original Star Wars trilogy. Spiritually superior kid Harry (Luke Skywalker) is sent to live with foster parents until he receives his calling to study wizardry (the force) and make his way as a powerhouse in the world (or galaxy.) The movie's weak spot is it's acting among the three main children. Harry is a super mature young person, scary for someone who's really just a kid and should be acting like one. His buddy, Weasely, is in the film as comic relief and no doubt received one acting command "Look scared." This he does often and well. The little girl (sorry don't remember her name and can't back arrow) is as cute as she can be but isn't a tremendously talented actress at this point in her young life. The backbone of the movie is it's delightful old guard. Maggie Smith, as delightful as ever, plays a witch/professor. Her presence and her voice are still absolute magic (important for a film about magic!) Robbie Coltrane is a great big teddy bear and he creeps into our hearts. John Cleese is a perfect casting move as Nearly Headless Nick, the almost headless ghost that hangs around the Hogwarts school. Alan Rickman is absolutely stone cold cool as the dark Professor Snape. He is so darn rigid that he talks almost without talking. There are tremendous little details in the movie, such as images in old paintings coming to life, that make the movie rich and absolute fun to look at. The plot is decent, although it's not very tight and there are reaches and lots of guesses (most of them correct) along the way when we think, "How could they know that?", etc. The movie is also delightfully (the last time I'll use the word delightful) English, told in a lighthearted and intellectual fashion. Fun entertainment, not for adults to watch more than once but new young viewers will (and have) eat it up.