A sweet and endearing feel-good movie that serves as the perfect blueprint for the future installments of the franchise.
Back in 2001, British author J.K. Rowling had already published four of the seven Harry Potter books that became a worldwide phenomenon, engrossing millions of young readers into the vast world that she had created. A couple years before, she had sold the film rights to Warner Bros. that – coupled with her book series- would make her a billionaire author in the coming decade. Much like her books, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was the beginning of one of the most famous and celebrated film series of all time. Movie adaptations of books are often times a difficult task for writers and directors, considering that you have to tell a 300-plus page story into a two and a half hour runtime. The studio needed a director that could work well with children, since Harry and his friends are supposed to be eleven in the first book, so they found a guy by the name of Chris Columbus who made a little movie called Home Alone that starred famous child actor Macaulay Culkin, which turned out to be a pretty big hit among audiences.
Columbus’s vision is a very close adaptation of the first book in the series, taking the most important parts of it and translating it into the big screen beautifully, and instead the parts of the book that some might see as too “kiddish” or corny are put aside. What this movie did for magic on the big screen is, in my opinion, underappreciated and was revolutionary for its time. Much like the book, the movie captures the magic and feel of the world of Harry Potter perfectly with incredible sets, costumes/makeup and especially the sound design. You want the magic to look and sound realistic, and as the first movie of the franchise it succeeds in doing this. This movie makes you take magic seriously with the way it presents it, without any of the silly gags and stereotypes of wizard/witch movies of the past. The innovation that this movie did for the fantasy genre cannot be overstated. What immediately draws you in is the legendary score of the great John Williams, with the iconic Hedwig’s theme that so many have come to know and love.
But you can’t talk about this movie without mentioning the cast. Rowling wanted the actors to be British, and she even handpicked some of the roles, including the late great Alan Rickman. There is no one else who could have portrayed Severus Snape as perfectly as Rickman did. We also see Richard Harris as Albus Dumbledore, and he captures the warmth and compassion of the Hogwarts Headmaster brilliantly. The most difficult part of the casting process for Columbus and crew was choosing who would play the title character. They auditioned 5,000 young boys to play Harry Potter, but none seemed like the proper fit. Columbus saw a young actor named Daniel Radcliffe in David Copperfield (1999), and he immediately knew he was perfect for Harry.
One of the best things about Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and the rest of the Harry Potter franchise, was that my generation began watching and reading the series when we were kids, just like Harry and his friends. Like the characters, so many of us grew up with them and first experienced this world through this movie. As far as book adaptations go, you couldn’t ask for a more accurate depiction of this universally loved story and characters. Of course the book dives deeper into the lore, and some scenes are more fleshed out than they are in the movie. The final twist at the end has more foreshadowing in the book, and in the movie it feels a little abrupt. Although the CGI is a little dated (especially during the Quidditch sequence), the old-timey feel of this movie works to its advantage and it only gets better every time I revisit it now that I’m older. It’s a feel-good family movie that leaves you feeling uplifted and in a good mood long after you’re done viewing it. Much like what Hogwarts means to Harry, this movie feels like home for so many of us.