Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Review/Thoughts

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Being a long-time lover of the Harry Potter series, I could not wait for the movie adaptation of Harry and the Philosopher’s Stone. The first installment of this film splendidly captures J.K Rowling’s magical and fantastic world. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is seen for the first time in a flash. It immediately becomes apparent that no cost has been spared by the makers to bring alive different settings and characters in their entirety.

The story revolves around young Harry Potter on his 11th birthday as he finds out that he is actually a wizard who must attend a school called Hogwarts. We follow Harry as he discovers more about this other world through his friendships with fellow first-year students Hermione and Ron.

These relationships bring some comic relief as well as touchingly exposing people’s weaknesses amid all the showy grandeur. Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint are outstanding in their roles and demonstrate an amazing chemistry between them.

The age-old Sorting Ceremony that takes place in the Great Hall is what commences the real magic. Courses range from herbology conducted among its greenhouses to charm lessons where objects fly around the room. No other quidditch match provides a Quaffle tossing, bludger dodging athletic spectacle quite like it does. Legend and danger surround the final confrontation in the chambers of school.

These visual effects are fantastic for translating scenes from a book previously confined to one’s imagination only. Mostly faithful to Rowling’s original work, there are slight changes that shorten her long novel. For instance, instead of presenting Harry and his friends with individual challenges guarding the Philosopher’s Stone, they find out that their teachers have already done this, exhibiting their highly developed magical skills. This creates more space for Harry’s ultimate faceoff with Professor Quirrell and He Who Must Not Be Named. The adjustments maintain pace while retaining plot consistency.

The portrayal of Hogwarts, in my opinion, is my favorite adaptation because it is shown as a grand living breathing entity with staircases that perpetually move throughout the entire school, sometimes even spanning many floors. Famous dining hall scenes which are well described by the author have floating candles simulating starry sky above and ghosts mingling around students while mouth watered seeing piles of beautiful dishes out of nowhere. Producers have found an excellent fit for these immersive surroundings that match their movie’s style. It follows the path of a typical coming-of-age story with its humorous tone but also touches on profound matters such as good versus evil, friendship, sacrifice and standing up against injustices.

Harry goes through an emotional journey to find his place among the wizards and gain courage and wisdom to face the dark lord. These underlying themes together with fantastical aesthetics and wizard pranks balance each other out perfectly resulting in a film that can be watched by several generations at once.

Thoroughly entertaining coming-of-age story which inspires the imagination is what Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is. Smiling from start to finish, a tear or two here and there. Laughter during the troll bog incident and every mischief-making Weasley twin cameo in between definitely came out of my mouth. It promises to make children fall in love with magic forever just as the books did for many readers. Veterans can be sure that our cherished fantasy land is still kept intact by the filmmakers, bringing it to life convincingly. I give it 5 out of 5 stars and an earnest suggestion that you should watch it at least once each year so as to put some wizardry into your dull Muggle existence!