Is there a there there?

Rating: Null/10 (17 November 2001)

It's hard to argue with the box. This film is likely to be the highest grossing film of all time and, I'll say this for it, it is certainly a lot better then Titanic. But there still wasn't much to it. While filming something which originally appeared in print instantly makes it more accessible, as many people can't or won't read, I wondered watching this movie if it is possible to film something as magical as Harry Potter and still have it be magical. The age old debate about viewing versus imagination is highly appropriate for this film. Movie technology has become so good that nothing really astounds us any more, and since effects can no longer carry a film, it needs a good story or a fun story to do so. This story, derivative as it is, is not bad, and the movie certainly is fun. The best thing about it is the cast. Every one of them is top notch and bring a humanity to material which could too easily be trite (sometimes it becomes trite anyway, but that probably couldn't be helped). For that alone, I'm not sorry i saw the film at all. And, although it is loaded with gimmicks, the gimmicks don't weigh it down the way they often do in other high budget films. Worth ten bucks, easily.