Great British children's fantasy

Rating: 9/10 (15 March 2002)

In the tradition of classic Roald Dahl stories like The Witches, Matilda, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (the movie script) comes this feature version of the top selling children's novel. Forget all the hype, marketing and rigmarole surrounding the movie and just watch a great fun modern fantasy story.
This comment is based purely on the movie alone; as I haven't read the books. The leads are well cast; with Daniel Radcliffe showing great poise in the title role; and Rupert Grint providing great comedy as Weasley (who seems to get the bulk of the fun dialogue); and Robbie Coltrane practically steals the show as Hagrid.
The set pieces are very well executed; particularly the ball game (very reminiscent of the Ben Hur chariot race or Phantom Menace pod race); and the boy out of control on the broom (I LOVE the way the broom bounces off the buildings!).
This story seems to tap into the traditions of Old English school novels like Tom Brown's School Days; and there also seems to be a hint of satire of the English class system. The one disappointing thing I felt with this film was the contrived way the school house won the contest at the end. I think it might have been a bit more mature to have the rival win, and show you can't win at everything all the time. (but then, I'm probably just an old, cynical muggle!). All in all, great fun modern entertainment well worth watching.