Overglorified Harry, Overglorified movie

Rating: 2/10 (18 November 2002)

I am a Harry Potter fan...
I can't cement that idea in your head before I start getting on this movie but I want to underline it anyway,

I am a Harry Potter Fan

...
Now can somebody pass me the Pebto Bismol? I'm going to be sick....
I read "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" a few months before the movie was released on DVD and I was delighted by the story -- meek and meager Harry Potter just happens to be from a line of Wizards and and the whirlwind tale that takes place during his first year at Hogwarts...
I thought to myself that with all the cheer and hoopla over the movie, it would be just as enjoyable as the book. I was proven totally wrong in Chris Columbus' vision of Harry and his world.
There were some things I enjoyed about the movie - Ian Hart (who's most memorable role before this was as John Lennon in 1994's "Backbeat") as Professor Quirrel, Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid, Rupert Grit as Ron Weasley, Alan Rickman (as usual) as professor Snape, the Late Richard Harris... But the key things in the movie I couldn't stand was hwo Chris Columbus made Harry the center of the world and how he and Steven Kloves screenplay failed to tell the story in a compelling cinematic way....
I don't know if it was Daniel Radcliffe or Columbus that decided that Radcliffe should play the roll of Harry as a model instead of as a human being... Nor do I know if it was Kloves or Columbus that decided to downplay the difference between Muggles and Wizards and how Harry's parents avoided telling him the truth about his parents.... Or even forgoing telling us how VILE this kid's existence was with his Aunt and Uncle until he was rescued by Hagrid.... This stuff alone repulsed me and turned me off to the movie entirely.
Then there's the point where Harry was always brought to the forefront in scenes. He stood in the front of groups, he sat in the front of classes when he was a key person in a scene.... Yes, he is the STAR of the movie and the person the story revolves around, but mix in the kid's story-book persona with everything else -- he was always just another kid with hand-me-down's.... Ridiculed and revialed by those surrounding him... His image could be a stand out in a group -- but not the leader of the group (and by group I mean students in general - not just Hermione and Ron and Neville)...
I shouldn't get on Daniel for his portrayal - he's a kid and of course he isn't a shakespearean actor... Meaning my negative review for him should be only negativity rested upon Chris Columbus' vision which I see as a failure. Yes, the big budget and monetary return proves otherwise, but when you have a childrens phenomenon on the big screen, you will always get large returns. Look at Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and how they did in the box office, or even Pokemon's first movie...