Wizard Dumbledore saved the infant Harry Potter from Lord Voldemort, who killed Potter's parents, and placed him to live at his relatives. On his 11th birthday, Harry is visited by the imposing Hagrid who reveals to him a secret: Harry is actually a wizard and is accepted to study magic at the Hogwarts Wizard school. Harry is dispatched to Hogwarts and fits in, while he also makes friends with kids Ron and Hermione. They stop a Trol in a school, whereas Harry gets a cloak of invisibility for Christmas. In a secret basement, Harry discovers that Professor Quirrell is evil, and and has Voldemort living on the back of his head, so Harry stops him in his intent to steal the philosopher's stone. Due to his courage, Harry is applauded.
The only film with which Chris Columbus topped his own "Home Alone" hit (though "Home Alone" is still his highest grossing film when adjusted for inflation and by the number of tickets sold), "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" kicked off a wildly popular eight-part film series which would span a whole decade, and is a good, though also at times inappropriately scary film for kids. Since this was the 1st "Harry Potter" film, Columbus set the tone for the remainder of the series, and his vision was followed by the other three directors. At times, it seems a somewhat exploitative flick intended to cash in on the popularity of the wizard and sorcery trends at the beginning of the 21st century: there isn't much humor here, whereas Harry Potter is too one-dimensional of a character, without much charm or self-consciousness, yet overall, the movie works. In spite of its running time of 150 minutes, its pace flows smoothly, without turning boring, and it has mystery: several good ideas involving a cloak of invisibility (only from the outside, while it looks like a normal cloak from inside of the person wearing it) or paintings that move, though the best part is the broomstick tournament at the stadium, a sort of football on flying broomsticks. It is a spectacular sequence, but the rest of the story is nowhere near as exciting. A few horror elements are puzzling, as if they intended to make a hybrid subgenre of a "horror for kids" (the idea of Voldemort growing out of the back of the Professor's head is dumb). The performances are all-great, from Daniel Radcliffe as the title hero up to Robbie Coltrane as the lovable "giant" Hagrid. "Harry Potter" has magic, yet it only transfers on to the viewers to a limited degree.
Grade:++
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