A faithful adaptation, but quite possibly the worst MOVIE I have ever seen.

Rating: 1/10 (30 November 2001)

I am an unrepentant Harry Potter fan. I adore the books. I thought I was going to have the holiday season of a lifetime, with Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings both coming out within a month of each other.
At least there's still Lord of the Rings to salvage the season.
Harry Potter was, in fact, very faithful to the words of the book. The feeling, however, that one gets in reading Rowling was completely gone. I didn't care about the characters as much, as Columbus didn't feel any need to tell us anything about them beyond the action on the screen; I didn't have any sense of anticipation, except in one scene in the forest (despite the fact that I have that sense each time I read the books); and I wasn't able to get involved in the story because the cuts from scene to scene were so abrupt (and often non-sensical).
The effects were worse than the plot. The troll looked like something by Pixar (Pixar is great, mind you, but it's animation and not realistic). Quidditch looked like a contest to see who could be the blurriest. Harry's much-touted digitally green eyes were only green in a couple of very brief shots. My own model train set in my living room looks better than the Hogwarts Express. I could go on, but I don't have the space to list all the problems.
My suggestions for the next movie are that the script writer try reading not Rowling's WORDS, but the EMOTIONS she evokes, and that they not rush the production so much that the effects and editing suffer. I really think that if they hadn't rushed to get this movie done in a year, the effects at least would have been vastly better.
The only saving grace in this movie is Williams' score. It at least lends a little bit of emotion to an otherwise flat movie.
My recommendation: buy the soundtrack, and wait for the video. Don't waste your money in the theatre.