Magic transferred from page to screen

Rating: 10/10 (5 March 2016)

I had read J. K. Rowling's first Harry Potter book before I saw its cinematic adaptation (it happened the other way round in the case of the remaining instalments) and I was very pleased with the movie. I still am. Chris Columbus was criticised for being too slavishly faithful to the book but in my view that was just the right approach. The movie presented Harry Potter's world exactly the way I had envisioned it. The cast was perfect, the tone was perfect, the visuals were perfect. Granted, the book is richer and funnier (Rowling has a very British, wicked sense of humour) but it is ultimately a children's book with a universal message about the value of love, friendship and courage, so, in my opinion, veering towards a darker, more grotesque feel would have been a mistake.
Having seen the whole story, Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone remains one of my favourites from the saga (for me, the top spot goes to the second one, The Chamber of Secrets). Rupert Grint and Emma Watson are especially adorable in this one, the former actually having his most heroic moment here with the wizard's chess.
Great entertainment for kids and the young at heart, endlessly rewatchable true movie magic that has a well-earned place among the greatest modern fairy-tales, that is, George Lucas's Star Wars (episodes I-VI) and Tolkien's/Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings & The Hobbit.