Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
By Danny Sarnowski

Watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone made me yearn for my care-free younger days. Ah, to be eleven years old again. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to find yourself at school, getting into high-jinks and adventures? To find yourself making new friends and, possibly, new enemies. To have a class with that teacher that you are sure just hates you. To find those few teachers that seem to know you’ll do well. To be afraid of some things and curious about everything. To fight a forest troll. Or a three-headed dog. Or play Quidditch, a game of soccer/rugby played on flying broomsticks. To befriend a half-giant who secretly wants to own a pet dragon. And to defeat the world’s most powerful and evil wizard. Boy, those really were the days.

In my opinion, the contradiction in the previous paragraph is the magic of Harry Potter and the reason behind the incredible success of the series of books and, now, the first motion picture. The stories accurately capture the emotions, fears, anxieties, and energy of a child’s life. They reflect what we all have felt or what our children are feeling today. They take these emotions and feelings that we can identify with and then launch them into a completely new universe, one with dragons and wizards and flying broomsticks.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone does a great job of translating this literary magic to the big screen. While a lot of the wonderful book had to be cut due to time constraints, all the important elements are there. There’s Harry, a polite young boy who has known nothing but strife in his life, who one day learns that he is special, powerful, and even famous. There’s Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a huge, spooky castle filled with portraits that run around and staircases that move when they feel like it. And then there’s the magic. Lots of it. All over the place. Director Chris Columbus and his team have done a beautiful job of creating this magical world.

The movie is an interesting, exciting adventure story. One that is aimed for kids, but that will be appreciated by adults as well. The costumes are incredible, as are the sets, and lighting. The special effects really drive the story and aren’t used for the sake of being used. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of special effects used in this movie. But they all have a purpose, they all move the story along.

In order to keep to the story’s roots, and to prevent the book from being “Americanized,” the producers of the film chose an all-British cast. They did an amazing job and landed some of the best-known and well-respected British actors around. For the role of Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, they cast Richard Harris, for Severus Snape, a mysterious and wicked Professor of Potions, they found master of evil Alan Rickman. Strict and cranky Professor McGonagall is ably played by Maggie Smith and Hagrid, the enormous keeper of keys and the grounds at Hogwarts is played by Robbie Coltrane. The real stars of the movie, of course, are Daniel Radcliffe (Harry), Rupert Grint (as Harry’s best friend Ron), and Emma Watson (as the precocious Hermione). They steal every scene their in and somehow lend this fantasy world a sense of real kids in real situations.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is funny, scary, and exciting. It takes it’s subject matter seriously and treats it with respect, but it also never forgets the mixed bag of fear, excitement, and wonder that those carefree school days were filled with.

7 February 2002