The best that it could have possibly gotten

Rating: 8/10 (26 December 2017)

There is a major difference between reviews here and this is very easy to explain. Anybody who (like me) has read the books multiple times, knowing the slightest details and loving absolutely everything from the series, can´t be completely happy with the film. For the neutral watcher who read the books maybe once or not even at all this movie must seem like a really entertaining and well directed film. The problem is that though very good acting, especially Alan Rickman as Snape, a beautiful scenery and very good camera work, the most important essentials of the books are pretty much non-existing. For instance, I, as an hardcore fan since the first time reading the books when i was 9, was always extremely interested in reading a passage of a normal school lesson or a normal day at any job of an fully educated wizard, eg in the ministry of magic. Rowling made us have the desire to always experience more of the universe she created. I was always amazed by the lightness and uncomplicated way of Rowlings writing, how she managed to let us accompany Harry in his daily life, making the actually extremely strange and funny way of the magicians life seem so normal and casual for the readers. The film on the other hand is more of a build-up to Harry´s first encounter with Voldemort, a scene that´s perfectly directed with impressive effects and good filming, which is definitely the highlight of as well film and book, with the difference that the book is more focused in describing Harry´s adventrous first year as a whole. The film is a little bit inconsistent in terms of how close it sticks to the book´s plot and this is another problem. Because of the book being so comprehensive and full it is nearly impossible not to skip any sections of the book. In my opinion the screenwriter should have either sticked closer to the book or distanced the filmplot more from it. Another thing i miss is the great dry humour the book is spiced with in a lot of ways. The problem is that this can´t really be translated in the movie because it´s often in the way Rowling describes things and not only in the dialogues. One thing that is awesome is the music. In my opinion John Williams is the best film music composer and the way he captures the mysterious and thrilling atmosphere and the majesty and greatness of Hogwarts is marvelous. At the end I can say that the film can meet the expectations but it´s just not possible to convince a haerdore fan completely, just because while reading the book, everybody creates his own picture of Hogwarts, the characters and the scenery. This is called imagination, it is the best part of reading a book, not possible to be translated completetly satisfyingly into a movie and the reason to my big recommandation concerning Harry Potter and also every other book which is filmed. Read the book first! If you watch the film first and read the books afterwards you´ll miss a great time imagining everything for yourself. And this will come espescially pronounced in the books of Harry Potter.