Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: “What happened down in the dungeon between you and Professor Quirrell is a complete secret. So, naturally, the whole school knows.”
30th June 1997, the day children’s fiction changed. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling was released and began the series of books march toward dominance. After the popularity of the books, it was only a matter of time before a film was made, and in 2001 Warner Brothers entrusted the much-loved source material to director Chris Columbus. It was a commercial smash hit and remains the one of the top ten highest-grossing films of all time.
The plot, as in book, revolves around the eponymous Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) discovering that he is a wizard and starting his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He is joined by his two best friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) as the trio try to uncover a mystery involving the fabled philosopher’s stone (sorcerer’s stone for our American cousins). It is difficult as a huge fan of the book series to look at the film without considering its source, and many criticisms levied at the film can simply be passed off as reviewers unwillingness to see what a difficult job the film-makers had in creating the rich world of the books. That being said it would be amiss of me to try even try to score this as a film in its own right, because the books have such importance to me. So I can say without a shred of guilt or remorse that for me, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is one of the worst examples of book-to-film transfer that it has ever been my misfortune to watch.
Chris Columbus, famous for making children’s classic Home Alone and Mrs. Doubtfire, seems to have never actually read the books, or he wouldn’t have tried to make the film Hook: Part 2. Everything has the colour turned up to eleven and it makes the surroundings seem too American, which hurts the very British material. The first book was always going to be the hardest to make because of the lack of ‘action scenes’ available, which means we are forced to endure an over-long Quidditch match with some truly terrible special effects. It might as well have been an animated film in these portions. Not a good animated film you understand, but nothing has even the vaguest sense of reality. The music is also terribly disappointing. John Williams has created some of the most impressive and memorable film scores of all time, but with the Potter franchise he seemed desperate to make it sound like the ewok celebrations at the end of Return of Jedi throughout. It’s too bombastic and loud to ground the story in the surroundings of a British boarding school. Sometimes less is more.
The acting and casting is hit and miss. Ron, Snape (Alan Rickman), Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane), Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) and Ollivander (John Hurt) should all be singled out for praise as they really capture the essences of their characters. It is just such a shame that Harry, Hermione and Dumbledore (Richard Harris) seem to lack the ability to play the characters as described in the book. At least Richard Harris has a little twinkle in his eye, but still seems far too frail and not nearly as engaging as he should be. Watson spends most of the time over-pronouncing ever syllable and Radcliffe is barely passable as a human being. There are large portions of the film that require the main trio to explain exactly what is happening, which is a shame because they lack the skill to engage for such periods and it feels forced and overly expositional. The running length is also an issue and at two hours 42 minutes it seemed to drag, and some clever cutting would’ve allowed more of the backstory to creep in.
All in all I didn’t enjoy a single moment of the film and it felt like a part of me was being torn apart to create a horcrux. The novels, which I so adore have been bastardised to the extent that all that is recognisable is the names. Everyone involved should’ve spent less time worrying about how to make it ‘epic’ and a little more time actually reading the books.
Related Reviews:
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
MISC.
The Making of Harry Potter – Warner Bros. Studio Tour
By Angelina 15/06/2011 - 01:29
As someone who is yet to read the books, I quite enjoyed it as an easy watch aside from some poor acting and bad effects. Roll on number 2.
By Alski 15/06/2011 - 10:58
Couldn’t agree more – the Potter films, especially the early ones, are a travesty! Such good material to work with and they come up with something that feels like a cheap knock-off of a Disney film.
By Byron Holloway 15/06/2011 - 19:50
I disagree, the books aimed at the younger demographic and the success of this film with that same group showed the film was pitched at exactly the right level. Yes the original book was lost a bit in the film, however there was more than enough background and plot to keep the youngsters (including me!) fixed to the screen. I think this should not be viewed as a film portraying an exact copy of a novel but a film in its own right based on a great story. With J K Rowling on set alot of the time, and having to ok everything that went on is in itself a statement of agreement with the way the film depicts her book.
By ThatFilmGuy 16/06/2011 - 00:00
Just because a film is popular does not make it good. Look at Shawshank Redemption, it features in a lot of people’s top 5 movies ever and failed miserably at the box office. People went to see it because they love the books, not because they love the film.
Now I’m not saying all the films are bad, and I did preface by saying that I couldn’t separate book from film because they’re very personal to me, however the child-acting, the score and the special effects are all bad. That’s a fact.
If I had to give it star rating based on it being a stand-alone film, it’d be ** at most, but I won’t. I will never watch this film again because it’s too upsetting.