Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

The Harry Potter novels by J.K Rowling captured the nation's attention like almost none other. Kids and Adults alike were immediately taken with Rowling's tale of the goings on at a magical boarding school for Witches and Wizards, and the three students at the center of it. It was inevitable that a film version would come out and when it did, it was almost as good as the books that inspired it. 

Harry Potter (played by Daniel Radcliffe) was orphaned as an infant and placed into the care of his Uncle Vernon (played by Richard Griffiths) and Aunt Petunia (played by Fiona Shaw) along with his cousin, the spoiled brat Dudley (played by Harry Melling). He has been relegated to living in the cupboard under the stairs and is expected to wait on the other members of the family. All this changes when on his Eleventh birthday he is visited by the giant Hagrid (played by Robbie Coltrane), who informs Harry that he is in fact a wizard and is accepted to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft of Wizardry. Enthusiastically leaving with Hagrid, Harry finds himself in a world unlike any he imagined. He also finds out more about his past, specifically that his parents died protecting him from a dark and evil Wizard named Voldemort, who was soon thereafter defeated. He also makes two new friends, Ron Weasley (played by Rupert Grint) and Hermoine Granger (played by Emma Watson). The three begin to notice some strange goings on around the school and discover that maybe Voldemort is not as dead as everyone thought and may be trying to retrieve a magical object known as the Sorcerer's Stone to return completely to life. The three then set out to try and find the stone first and stop him from getting it.

Director Chris Columbus and Screenwriter Steve Kloves did a fantastic job adapting the novel to the big screen. It doesn't include everything from the novel, but it does a great job capturing the spirit of the novel and as a fan of the books, I have no real complaints. The film does have the burden of setting up the Wizarding world, the school, and the characters. As such the film does take awhile to get going narratively speaking. But with such a lush production design and a parade of fantastic British acting talent that includes the likes of Richard Harris, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Julie Walters, John Hurt, Ronnie Coltrane and countless others it's hard to complain. Likewise, the acting in the film is quite good and it's clear the actors are having a ball in their roles. Radcliffe, Grint and Watson all three make the perfect Harry, Ron and Hermione and turn in strong performances, especially for such young actors that carry the bulk of the film. It probably helped that they were surrounded by such seasoned pros. Among them, I have to single out Alan Rickman who is clearly relishing the role of Potions Master Severus Snape. I just love his performance in this and there is a scene of his in this film that I adore. It's such a throwaway scene in the scheme of things. Towards the end of the film, he catches Harry, Ron and Hermoine plotting and sneaks up on them warning them that "People will think you're...up to something." It's all in Rickman's delivery of that line and is one I have referenced countless times with one of my friends. It's such a small moment, but it has provided me countless amounts of amusement.

Overall, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is a fantastic adaptation of the novel by J.K Rowling and does a great job of capturing the essence of the novel with style and humor, along with a talented production crew and equally talented group of actors. As someone who has been a fan of Harry Potter since the novels first came out here in the U.S, I have always loved this movie. It was a great start to a series of films that are still going strong today, with the forthcoming prequel, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which the release of inspired me to revisit the Potter films.