Harry Potter This may contain spoilers, but no ending is revealed!!! In keeping with tradition, I'll make the font white so that you have to highlight text to see it.

For the past year or so, since I learned that J.K. Rowling's novels were to be adapted to film, I have come to understand a bit of how young Harry Potter must have felt. Cramped in that tiny little cupboard under the stairs, hoping for some glimmer of magic to save him from the incessant barrage of idiocy and insults from the despicable Dursleys. I've weathered these many months of quiet torment and like Harry, my patience and suffering has been rewarded beyond my wildest dreams. For I have seen Harry Potter & the Sorceror's Stone.

The greatest fear of any HP fan today was that the story would somehow be butchered by the bastard that brought us Home Alone (no link, I refuse). I can assure you that this is not the case. Harry Potter & the Sorceror's Stone is probably the most faithful adaptation from a book I've ever seen. If you're dying to know where the two differ, please see the spoilers section below for my take on the most noticable ommissions and/or alterations. For now, lets concentrate on the magic.

For two and one half hours my family sat in rapt amazement as the surreal vistas of the wizarding world unfolded in front of us. Every crowded nook of Diagon Alley; the cluttered, chaotic order of Olivanders; the steam-swirled Platform 9 3/4 all were taken straight from the images etched into my mind from countless hours of reading. Hogwarts itself held all the complexity, the aged power and mystery that awed me, and continue to awe me every time I re-read one of these modern-day classics. And don't even get me started on the Quidditch match. To finally see visualized before me the game that I have played in my head over and over again was to me, the highlight of the film. The technical production was astounding. I was particularly pleased with the sizing effects that turned Robbie Coltrane into the gentle giant Hagrid.

One of the biggest challenges in this film was to bring to life all the memorable characters that we have come to know and love (and in some cases...despise) from the books. This is in my opinion, the one area where the movie lacks. There simply is not enough time to devote much to devloping any but the main characters, and even many of them get glossed over. From the movie alone, we miss a lot of Malfoy's evilness and Snape's bitter bias against the Gryffindors. Instead, we spend most of the film's time developing Harry, Ron and Hermione and their relationship with each other. I was especially taken with young Rupert Grint's portrayal of Ron Weasley, and I'm looking forward to seeing all three youngsters in the next film. Alan Rickman simply channeled Professor Snape. I only wish we could have seen more of him...a statement that could be applied to Hagrid as well.

But it's more than just the characters that made us all fall in love with Rowling's books. It's the magic of it all that introduces the young reader into that world of fantastic fiction, and that drew us older readers back. It's that magical melancholy that makes us yearn to be a part of a place where we can sluff off the bonds of our mundane lives and fly on our broomsticks. That's the appeal of Rowling, and a few others before her. And this magic comes through intact in the film version.

Select below for more with potential spoilers.

There were, in my eyes, only two major alterations from the book. First, the sub-plot involving Hagrid's pet dragon is significantly reduced in the film version. While we do get to see the birth of Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback, that's about it. Which is unfortunate, because this sub-plot is where we get a lot of time with Hagrid and see the trio's devotion to him. Also missing is Hermione's triumph of logic over Snape's potion puzzle. Her contribution to the advancement of the group through the trapdoor trials ends with the Devils Snare. If you share in every geeky triumph of Hermione you'll miss this. These are basically character builders, rather than plot drivers, and were apparently cut for time, reinforcing my sole concern that the characters weren't allowed to develope as fully as the did in the book.

A rather long review for a rather long movie. I simply don't have the room here to go into the depth that I'd like to, and I want to see it again soon anyway. So stop reading this and go see it! And if you've already seen it, stop reading this and go see it again! Either way, take a few minutes after you have seen it to post a comment here. I know there are a lot of us just dying to discuss this one. Posted by Mithrandir at November 18, 2001 04:48 PM