Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Faithful to the Book For Both Good and Ill

The film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is a wonderful and faithful to the book as well as to it's main audience of young readers. Director/Producer Chris Columbus worked deftly with his young stars and acting veterans to bring J.K. Rowlings' Hogwarts to life as young Harry Potter discovers his place in the wizarding world.

While the film is faithful to the book, this a determent as well. The attempt to replicate as much as possible the well loved book to cater to the film's young audience, drags down the overall product as many favorite scenes that could have been skipped or shortened were in the film whole. The decision to cater to the millions of young readers is understandable, however it created several instances of plot dragging which is very noticeable on film than on a page.

The acting is very good and natural for main of the young actors, many of whom were doing their first acting jobs in this film. The veteran actors on the cast did a superb job in their characters--whether teachers, relatives, or other adults--which provided the world Rowlings created with an air of realism and not the sense that they were doing the film for a paycheck.

Overall, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is a wonderful film that this faithful to the book for both good and ill. It is a fantastic first installment of the Potter film franchise that any new young reader of the Potter books would greatly enjoy.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R2YTT95H2DZN1/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm