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Harry Potter and
The Sorcerer’s Stone
Harry’s a little Scary

“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” a movie that was heralded as the new king of the box office, in 2001 breaking “The Lost World” box office opening weekend record. And it was forecasted as the one movie that would sink “Titanic” domestic gross of 800 million and 1.8 billion world.

With online movie tickets sales at an all time high as well as opening on nearly half of all US screens totaling 7,000, there is no way “Harry Potter” could not have set that opening weekend record.

All the buzz on the net and a good percentage of all critics rolling over and giving rave reviews out of fear of the backlash from readers how could “Harry Potter” go wrong? The answer for me is “Harry Potter” doesn’t go wrong but it doesn’t make me want to stand up and cheer either.

In my defense let me say that I did not read the books so I wasn’t as jazzed as most, nor was I acclimated to the nomenclature of J.K Rowling’s story.

To recap this story, that is so zealously loved by readers, would be rather superfluous, however there is a minority out there, such as myself, that have not indulged out selves with Rowling’s piece of literature.

Basically one night in a quiet modern suburb three magical beings, one a witch, one a wizard, and one a giant, motorcycle riding, wizard appear. They have a orphaned baby boy they must leave with the boy’s unsuspecting aunt and uncle. There is something special about this child and the three are deeply committed to the future of this child.

The child turns out to be Harry Potter. Harry is made to sleep in the cupboard under the stairwell. His aunt and uncle berate Harry and treat him as a manservant; Harry’s cousin is a little spoiled ogre like brat.

Harry’s uncle has noticed that odd occurrences seemed to happen when Harry is around and acting up. After a rather unusual incident at a zoo on his cousin’s birthday a letter arrives for Harry. His uncle after seeing where the letter is from -“Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry”- becomes incensed and refuses to let Harry have the letter.

The letters are being delivered via airmail, owls actually, and soon they’re inundated by, lettering bearing, owls. Even on Sunday the house is besieged with an influx of letters from Hogwarts. And Harry’s uncle continues to refuse Harry to have his mail.

Well Uncle, Aunt, and Cousin take Harry and move into a lighthouse on a sea battered rock island. One night a giant knocks down the door. It’s Hagrid the giant who rides the flying motorcycle. He’s come to hand deliver Harry’s letter, give him a birthday cake, and to take him away to Hogwarts.

This first part of the movie was rather taxing for me because so much was unknown to me. I really felt an outsider up until this point. Plus I just couldn’t hang with the over-the-top, vaudeville-like manners of his Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin.

Now the movie actually takes off for me. I began to understand the enchanting quality of Rowling’s imagination as Harry is taken off to get school supplies.

Harry catching his train at lift 9 ¾ was a great touch adding an otherworld, other dimension setting to where Harry’s adventures take place.

The Hogwarts School itself was another excellent portrayal of a magical place where wizards and witches learn their craft.

Translating faithfully J.K. Rowling’s book often referred to, as “sacred writ” by moviemakers, has been a priority for director Chris Columbus. This resulted in the 2 ½ hour length of this kids tale.

There are a number of great highlights; one I especially enjoyed was the scene in the Forbidden Forest when Harry encounters something feeding on the blood of a unicorn. Quite chilling considering this is movie for children. However I enjoyed it very much.

It is easy to see how this will appeal to kids as the imagination used to bring this fantastical tale to the screen has been handled with surprising finesse.

So I didn’t not enjoy “Harry Potter” as much as say “Monsters Inc”, I was intrigued enough to where I intend to read the books now.

I can only imagine what the hype will be when Friday, November the 15th next year 2002 when “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” returns to the silver screen.

Impressive! This is definitely one that kids will want to watch over and over again, and I believe it is setting itself up for several sequels. Great story and special effects. A little farfetched in some areas and it gets to the point where the computer animation gets sloppy in parts and doesn't look quite as real as it could have, but kids are not going to notice that. One thing for sure, is the movie is far from predictable. This is a fun one!

I read this series before I saw the movie. Now I'm glad I did, because the explanation of how Harry was related to Voldemort was REALLY bad. This is not a movie to see if you want to understand the book more completely, but definitely one to see if you want a laugh - and a few scares! The sequence where Mr Dursley was glad it was Sunday because there were no letters nearly had me collapsing when I saw a million owls covering their roof, their lawn. They were everywhere they could possibly perch! Sorry to all those poor people who haven't read the books. You wouldn't get what was significant about all the owls, but you won't find it in this review!

This is one of the coolest movies out. It's a must-see.

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