Good but not as good as the book!

Rating: 8/10 (16 December 2001)

I guess I got just TOO excited about the movie being called a faithful adaptation of the book. The movie was entertaining but I could not help comparing it negatively to the book.
I thought all the actors were good but they seemed to be almost "cardboard cutouts" of the multifacited characters Ms. Rowling created.
My biggest complaint was in the loss of Dumbledore's "other side." Part of the enjoyment of the book is discovering with Harry that this "completely insane" odd bird is rightly someone Valdemort is frightened of. The character in the movie is a bright and capable headmaster, but that was something that was at odd with his eccentricity. None of the "charm" of the character is allowed into the movie.
Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, Dudley, Snape and Draco are all so tame in this movie that the viewer could not possibly understand how loath the book-character-Harry-Potter is to be around them.
And speaking of Harry, he is not the beaten-down, defeated character of the book that has to come to terms with being completely unknown and unwanted (especially by his family) to being THE CELEBRITY is a marvelous, magical world. The BOOK-Harry would never have been brave enough to release the snake on Dudley as was done in the movie. He just felt sympathy for another "caged creature." That "wicked grin" was too confident for a boy who had been through what Harry had.
Why wasn't Dumbledore allowed to "save" Harry in the movie? It was so much more impressive than the movie version?
Why wasn't Hermione allowed to do HER task in the movie? In the book she solved a logic puzzle that was just as important as Ron's chess play (although not as self-sacrificing.) And it was evident that only ONE could continue, rather than this very weak "Stay with Ron and contact Dumbledore" (both of which were completely unnecessary in the movie.)
Also the whole progression of the Harry/Ron/Hermione relationship was glossed over and seemed rather superficial. The genuine affection that the boys and Hermione developed for each other beginning with the "troll incident" seemed to be lost in the movie. They just seemed to start hanging out and tolerating each other (for want of anything "better to do?")
Why was the wonderful humor of the Weasley twins completely eliminated (except for one line at the railway station?) They added so much to the book--showing Harry what a real FAMILY was like, not always perfect but supportive of one another, unpredictable and downright fun sometimes! A couple of quips on the Quiddich field would have taken no time at all and would have added a great deal.
I can see how things had to be cut (Hagrid's dragon adventure, scenes at Privet Dr.) but I feel that other cuts would have been more acceptable than taking out 1/2 of the "grand finale" and making the characters so superficial. I am wondering how they are going to handle some of the incidents in the later movies (Dumbledore's suspension, Snape's continuing persecution of Harry, Harry reluctance to return home,the Weasley Twin's joke shop and map... that were so well set up by the end of the first book.