Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001) Review

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is directed by Chris Columbus and is based on the first Harry Potter book written by JK Rowling. The film is about a young wizard called Harry Potter, who was spared his life by the one who shall not be named and is sent to the wizard school Hogwarts. From there he learns more about himself and wizardry.

Before watching this film I had previously thought the first Harry Potter film was boring, maybe because I had not seen for a long time, but I was wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed the film, it was a funny and mystical world that I was instantly sucked into. I had never realised how funny the film was, every joke hit and made me laugh, which just gave the film a great quality to it, because if the jokes had missed (and with a film like this, it can be easy to make the joke miss) the film would have become slow, and boring but the funny moments made the film better and adding to the child friendly film. Which this film was. The film was aimed at the younger audience, rarely is there any scary or dark scenes, which can mean more of the adult audiences won’t enjoy the film as much but this is a film that is for the family, everyone can enjoy it because of the humour which engages the audience. The film can be watched by children to grandparents because of the light hearted feel to the film.

The casting of the film was perfect, I cannot think of anyone else who can replace the actors, they all fit the role they were given, maybe because they are embedded with me, even the tiny roles I cannot think of a replacement. Daniel Radcliff as Harry Potter did a good job for his age, of course his performance was not going to be perfect with some occasions his acting wasn't the greatest and I can let that go because of the magical, mysterious world being created took me away from the bad moments and only in the good moments. Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley, who instantly makes you laugh because of his appearance, he brings most of the comedy in the film, and sometimes by the way he just looks. He’s a character that everyone simply enjoys watching. Emma Watson as Hermione Granger was another great choice, another actress that captured the character so well. All of the casting was perfect and made the film more entertaining.

The story was simple, with Harry needing the stone, with a bit in the middle to beef up the film. I was okay with that because they had to first bring these character’s to life and they did, meaning all the character’s that I was supposed to like, I liked, which allowed the only plot point not bore me as i was rooting for them. However I can see why this film can bore people because of the simplistic story telling.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone is a fun, family, and magical film, which started the Harry Potter franchise in a light hearted way. The film gave me a good time and has that re watchable factor that some films in the fantasy genre lack. I was entertained throughout, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s stone achieves 7/10