A craze swiftly becomes a phenomenon.

Rating: 7/10 (8 January 2002)

As the Harry Potter film swoops into the top 5 highest grossing films of all time it seems clear that Chris Columbus has achieved what both Warner Bros and himself set out to do, to make a blockbuster that could appeal, like the books, to both kids and adults across the globe.
Within 5 minutes of the film beginning it is clear that Columbus is playing it safe, however in his attempt to stay true to the book he fails to produce a film that is either magical, such as Peter Jackson has achieved with The Lord of the Rings, or produce a work which captures the spirit and emotion of Rowling's creation.
The film manages to recreate some scenes from the book almost to the letter, whilst at the same time completely missing out ones which are far more important. The tone and focus also seems wrong, and unlike the books there is far more emphasis on the Indiana Jones style machinations of Harry and Voldemort that on Harry's desperate attempts to fit into a world which he never knew existed, with the threat of a return to his previous life hanging over him.
On the acting front Daniel Radcliffe is solid if occasionally wooden as Harry, but the show is stolen by the superb performances of the other two child stars. Rupert Grint pulls off Ron Weasley entirely convincingly, as does Emma Watson as Hermione. The performances of Maggie Smith, Richard Harris and Alan Rickman are all up to their usual high standard, and Robbie Coltrane is perfect as Hagrid, almost as if he had walked off the pages of the book itself.
In conclusion the film is good, but it could have been so much more, if Columbus had either been willing to take more of a risk and really produced some magic.