Good, but could have been better

Rating: 7/10 (12 November 2001)

A very good attempt, fast action all the way, perfect for the younger viewers to keep them enthralled through the longer than average running time, but not really thorough enough to please the people who appreciate the intricate and intimate relationships between the central characters and their backgrounds. The amount of 'family history' missing from Harry and Ron's lives completeley changes their characters; you don't know why Harry is living in a cupboard or what a terrible upbringing he's had, you don't realise how the Weasley family's financial struggle is a constant embarrassment for Ron, so the 2 boys seem a lot happier and carefree than the books portray them.
Voldemort, the most evil, feared and one of the most famous wizards in the magical world is hardly mentioned and you don't get the feeling of how times have changed. Professor Dumbledore is a central and well developed character in the book and is portrayed as wise but eccentric and playful. None of this showed in his film character, so the conversation between him and Harry at the end of the movie is a bit of 'catch-up'. Similar missing character development can be seen in Neville Longbottom, so his fifteen seconds of fame at the end are meaningless, and Professor Snape, who you don't have any reason to hate other than his sneering voice.
Couldn't fault the acting, great casting, especially with the adult characters. Shame the kids all sound posh, though. Note to Americans, we don't all sound like that!
On the plus side, the effects capture the magical creatures and flying antics beautifully, though I feel just a little bit more effort could have made the magic wands a bit more 'magic'.
In summary, fast moving, a little too fast, and probably an additional well chosen 10 minutes of character development would have helped to please more people. After reading some of the other comments here, I can see that people who haven't read the books found it hard going in the beginning, until the action at hogwarts got going. The thing is, all the plot-building at the beginning is there for a reason so I'd say to those people: You should have read the book!
I just hope there'll be an extended version when it comes out on DVD!
If I hadn't read the book, 8 out of 10. But I have, so I'll have to say 7.