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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
****
Cinema Releases - November 16, 2001
Rated on a 4-star scale. Certificate PG. 152
minutes. Directed by Chris Columbus. Written by Steven Kloves; from the novel
by J.K. Rowling. Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Robbie
Coltrane, Richard Harris, Ian Hart, John Cleese, Zoe Wanamaker, Alan Rickman,
Maggie Smith, Tom Felton.
I have one complaint of "Harry Potter and
the Philosopher's Stone", which is that the final showdown is a little
too short, and therefore anticlimactic. With that observation out of the
way, I am free to tell you that the movie is a wondrous achievement whose
life, wit and vision made me grin from start to finish. In between the smiling
I actually found myself gazing, gasping and laughing out loud.
The film is, of course, based on the first in
a series of J.K. Rowling bestsellers about Harry, the 11-year old boy-wizard
from Surrey who finds himself whisked away to Hogwarts' School of Witchcraft
and Wizardry to learn potion-making, get up to mischief in an invisibility
cloak, play a supernatural sport called Quidditch while mounted on a broomstick
and foil an evil plot to steal the Philosopher's Stone, which will produce
gold and everlasting life.
The books are so well-loved that the filmmakers
sure had high expectations to meet. I've read "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's
Stone", and can report that the movie stays true to the letter of the text
and surpasses it in spirit. So many things could have gone wrong -- the special
effects could have looked cheesy, the kids in the cast could have been
embarrassing, the corporate nitwits at Warner Bros could have watered down
the material in a clumsy attempt to make it appeal to as many people as possible.
But no. This is a masterpiece.
Daniel Radcliffe, who plays Harry, has charm and
depth about him, and the proper look of a landmark hero. Rupert Grint plays
his best friend, Ron Weasley, and Emma Watson is Hermione Granger, their
grounding influence. The three main kids in the movie are both gorgeous and
talented, and, as with all the child actors in "Philosopher's Stone", they
have animation of movement and insistence of speech that would seem like
childish overacting in another movie, but here, as in "Willy Wonka and the
Chocolate Factory", is just the right injection of theatrical energy. This
is a story rooted in fantasy and largesse -- the kids here understand that
every bit as well as the wonderful adult supporting cast, which is made up
of legendary British talent such as Richard Harris, Maggie Smith, John Cleese,
Alan Rickman and Robbie Coltrane.
For some reason the technical credits looked cheesy
in the teaser trailer; they are, in fact, superb. The production design,
photography and visual effects all beam with colour and personality. The
original score by John Williams sounds like Tchaikovsky. The movie was directed
by Chris Columbus, the man who wrote "Gremlins" but whose credits as a helmsman
have included "Stepmom" and "Nine Months" and peaked with "Home Alone" and
"Mrs. Doubtfire". I would not have predicted that he could handle a project
of this magnitude with this amount of skill, but here we have
it.
Watching "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone",
I got the same gut feeling as in "Star Wars", "Raiders of the Lost Ark",
"The Wizard of Oz" and "Beauty and the Beast" -- that indefinable sensation
we get when we know we're watching something hallowed. The book was solid
storytelling -- well-structured, sweetly written, with well-chosen old-fashioned
imagery. The movie is magic. I am so convinced it will be a classic that
I have already begun pondering the drinking game.
COPYRIGHT©
2001 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
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