No 'Wonder' with this Wizard...

Rating: 6/10 (18 November 2001)

So there I was looking for another movie to take me to another world, to send shivers down my spine and thrill me to the edge of my seat - with high hopes that young Harry had the ability. Maybe at the ripe old age of thirty I've lost that sense of Wonder that Poppins and Wonka and Chitty gave me as a child but hell, a kid on a broomstick seems so passe these days. Flying nannies and cars and chocolate factory managers were amazing back then! Oh and there was no one as scary as the Childcatcher either.
So close to the book that the film dismisses the staple 3 act blockbuster format for episodic content that leads to small climaxes and a poorly placed highlight - yes the Quidditch game is great... There's no real sense of urgency to each scene, so when the final battle comes it leaves a feeling of...well, not much at all really...
There are some great set pieces (besides the Quidditch) and nice performances - notably the best child actor is Malfoy, snidey and annoying as he should be while Radcliffe as Harry is nothing more than O.K. The rest of the kids are cast well - though the Yorkshire nerd (who lives down the road from me apparently) left me cold. The adults are pulled from some great British actors holes and do a great job oh the whole, most playing roles that were written for them - Coltraine as Hagrid and Bates as Snape.
Look, I enjoyed it - kids'll love it, but it's an empty sort of feeling the movie leaves you with and with such good source material that's, well, annoying. Hell, the movie seemed to insult the book by holding up the obvious reference points that Rowling went to when creating Harry and Hogwarts. There's so much Star Wars - 'come to the dark side Harry' - and more than enough Lord Of The Rings theft going on here.
So as I left the cinema - I thought to myself, why was the most entertaining thing about the film the trailers that were shown before it? Hopefully Harry is just an apetiser for the main course of cinematic Wonder that's still to come...