Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone

It's a phenomenon. We all know that. J.K. Rowling's novels of the potential-filled youngster are the most popular books of the young generation. I'm suprised it took them this long to get a feature film adaptation of the material to the screen. Having never read the books myself, I can't testament to their greatness but many of my friends are more than willing to call them some of the best books they've ever read. I value their opinions and I don't doubt that the books are borderline masterpieces. After having seen the film I can understand why the books are so popular. There are some great characters featured in the stories that Rowling has presented. There's a tantalizing dark mysticism associated with Harry's past and future prospects that makes for a great story.

Choosing Chris Colombus as the director ranks up there as one of the most controversial directorial choices I've ever heard of. Chris Colombus has some special effects experience (Bicentennial Man) and some child pleasing experience (Home Alone), but his features usually have the kind of overloaded sentimentality that makes me want to vomit. Of the directors interested in the material (Steven Spielberg, Terry Gilliam, Ridley Scott amonst them), Colombus seemed like an awful choice. What he's done here, however, is better than I expected. It's not great, mind you, but its better than the debacle I was expecting. I think that a different director could have done some really fascinating work with this story, but Colombus is merely adaquate. He's definitely chosen to fit as much of the book into the film as he possibly can. I can tell this without reading the book because of the frantic way it moves from scene to scene. There is a ton of material crammed into this two hours and twenty minutes, perhaps too much. A more gutsy director and screenwriter might have changed this to add emphasis to certain elements. This lack of emphasis on any particular element of the story is the film's weakest point.

It's not a horribly weak point, however. The film is definitely entertaining and visually stimulating. There are no particularly great scenes because of the rush between set pieces. The parts that come closest however are Harry's first venture through the wizard center of London culminating in a trip to the vaults of a bank, and the battle with the troll. The game of Quidditch, a centerpiece of the novel so I've heard, would have been great if not for the special effects. It's so obviously blue screen that its nearly impossible to notice anything else.

Harry is a fascinating character and so are his two closest friends. They'll make for an extremely entertaining (and profitable) series of films. While Colombus will definitely be acceptable as director, I'd hope that they'd bring in a new helmer for each film. That way we can get entirely different films for each. With material such as this and characters that ooze great personality, changing the director for each could land the Harry Potter films on a pedestal next to Star Wars in terms of popularity. But alas, it won't be done as Chris Colombus has already begun work on the sequel.

On a scale of 1 to 10 lightning scars : 7