Harry Potter and the Removal of Substance

Rating: 7/10 (6 March 2005)

It is a common practice when adapting a book to condense the book, removing anything that is unimportant. However, how can you you tell what will and will not be important when a series isn't even completely written yet? There are so many short cuts taken in this movie, little scenes and bits of dialogue taken out that you lose a sense of coherence. The characters have been simplified as well, giving us bland versions of the characters in the books. I saw this movie before reading the books and wasn't impressed. I took an interest after the second film, which is more faithful and adds some depth. This is just bright, shiny, and simple. Having said that though, the story is so good that even simplified it still works. The special effects, especially the troll, are not up to par for a major studio movie. The cast is quite good, littered with strong, veteran actors to back up the young leads. The leads are not as great in this film as they are in the sequel with a film under their belts. All in all a good effort, but the screenwriter should have stayed closer to the characters in the book and the tone of the film is light. The humor of the book is almost completely torn apart. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban are better movies.