A Magical Beginning

Rating: 8/10 (5 November 2014)

I am huge fan of the Harry Potter series. On a 5 star scale I would give 6 of the 7 books in the series (all except Goblet) 5 stars. And when it comes to rating this movie, I would it give it a 10 if I were judging it based strictly on how much I enjoyed it. That said, I think on a 10 star scale the most accurate rating for the movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is 8. The movie is reasonably faithful to the book. And some of the decisions about how to transfer the story from book to film worked incredibly well. For example, the opening chapter of the book is a chapter of crucial importance. But this scene could not be allowed to drag on for 15-20 minutes in the film. A balance had to be struck between respecting the importance of this chapter and condensing it for time and space. The film struck this balance masterfully by eliminating Uncle Vernon's day and only showing Harry's arrival scene. Since that "day" was really more Uncle Vernon's story than Harry's it was able to be cut without doing any damage and what's left focuses on Harry's story as it should. Plus, cinematically, it worked well to have that whole opening scene set at night. This kind of good decision making was present throughout most of the book to movie transition. The only real flaw is that the main version of the film omits the scene where Harry finds Flammel on the back of the chocolate frog card before Hermione goes to retrieve the book. Hermione going to retrieve the book makes far more sense of the scene of Harry finding Flammel on the chocolate frog card before that is included. This is a deleted scene but it should have been in the main movie. Overall the book is reasonable faithful to the book. The casting is bloody brilliant. Robbie Coltraine and Alan Rickman were PERFECT for the roles of Hagrid and Snape. You can almost feel Hagrid's warmth through the screen when you watch this movie. As you expect, Richard Harris was a great Dumbledore, wonderfully capturing the grandfatherly mentor from the books. It's a shame he didn't live long enough to complete the series because he was so awesome in the role. Daniel and Emma do show some noviceness in this movie but their subsequent performances in the later films proved the casting correct. The special effects and visuals were mixed in this film and are by far the weakest in the series. On one hand, the filmmakers did a fantastic job bringing things like Qudditch, the Great Hall, and the Hogwarts Express to life. On the other hand some of the CGI was too cartoonish. Fluffy isn't scary at all and the troll is downright comical. The best part of the filmmaking was John Williams score. John Williams should have won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for this movie. This is some of the best music I've ever heard. And it's so identifiable. You here this and it instantly puts you in mind of Harry Potter. And the pacing is outstanding. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is an engaging and engrossing movie from start to finish and has very few slow moments. And as the most charming, innocent, and light hearted film in the series, this movie is great for kids.
Faithfulness to the book: 8 out 10. Casting/acting: 8 out of 10. Music: 10 out of 10. Pacing 10 out of 10. Special effects visuals: 6 out of 10. Overall; 8 out of 10.