decent first film

Rating: 6/10 (26 July 2007)

The first film in the epic "Harry Potter" series, directed by kiddie-movie specialist Chris Columbus, feels a bit slight compared to some of the stories that followed it, but there are many delights here for both Potter fans and fantasy movie fans in general. The fun of the movie always feels a bit contrived and forced, which I think is mostly the fault of the director. But on the other hand a wonderful cast was brought together for this film, a cast which formed the core of the solid ensemble that carried through the rest of the film series (so far). By that I mean not so much the 3 primary child actors, who in this film showed no particular flair or talent (though they look and feel right good casting as opposed to good performing, for the most part) but moreso the supporting cast of mostly British actors.
Me, I gotta confess  I love my villains. Give me Vincent Price anyday over Errol Flynn and I'll take Boris Karloff for Clark Gable. So I have to give it up first and foremost to Harry Potter's main man, Severus Snape  a brilliant performance by Alan Rickman that holds the movie together just as much if not more than Richard Harris' dignified take on Albus Dumbledore (which I find superior to the actor in the later films). Snape's character has a lot to do with the success of the film, because he must be oily and underhanded but at the same time complex enough to make the resolution believable. It's a really fun cast all around, with fantasy stalwarts like Warwick Davis peppering a cast of the U.K.'s finest character actors. Maggie Smith's work as Professor McGononagall is particularly spot-on, and the legendary Robbie Coltrane provides humor and personality as the perfect film version of Hagrid.
I think the action scenes feel a bit generic perhaps it's part of the downfall of the visual medium as opposed to the literary one, but the magic and so forth just doesn't have the humor and quirkiness of the book. My only other real problem with the film is the soundtrack, which is also very generic. John Williams seems to have been in a certain default mode for the last 20 years and this film was no exception. I'm glad they replaced the score in some of the later films with something more interesting and unique to befit the stories. With Williams' score lurching underneath all the action a lot of this film feels more ordinary than it should.
But the story is relatively faithful to the book, which is nice, and this is probably the easiest of all the books to adapt into a film. It's impossible not to feel charmed by the spirit of fantasy as we watch all the "first-years" clamber onboard the Hogwarts Express to trade tales of Wizarding and Bertie Botts Every-flavor Beans. Unlike some of the later films (particularly "Goblet of Fire") the movie doesn't just feel like an accessory to the books  although it has a very long running time this film stands alone more than the later stories.
A pretty good introduction to the Potter universe, when all is said and done, but not an exceptional fantasy film on its own merits.