Harry Potter 1

I couldn't wait any longer I HAVE to do a in depth review on Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.  Such a good film in so many ways.

Ok, on with the good points:

1.     The entire soundtrack is epic, that's a fact.  It's just so exciting and majestic and new all at the same time.
2.     The great film work.  It makes Hogwarts look epic in every way the book did, very good shots there.
3.     Animation.  The ghosts, the troll, Voldemort's soul flying away(very The Mummy). Very well done, it didn't take away from the actual people.  Great.
4.     It actually went along with the book, may have skipped some little things but there wasn't that many little things in the book anyway.
5.     Casting.   Hermione Granger is great, could be a little poofier but that's fine.  MacGonagal is so great! Constant stern look but with a little mischief in the eyes - perfect.  Dumbledore is exactly how I pictured him in the book, really old and slightly crazy.  Filtch ... gross ... which is perfect.


And the bad points:

1.     Casting.  Harry Potter is supposed to have black hair and green eyes!  Alan Rickman is 60-something acting as a 36 year old character... what the hell???
2.     Felt rushed in the way things were happening(either that or I just read the book very slow).
3.     Rubeus Hagrid was kicked out of Hogwarts at third year... and yet he can do wordless magic with a broken wand hid in an umbrella.  AND wordless human transfiguration!!!  There is no way he could have known that at third year.  And he was kicked out because of a murder... shouldn't he be in Azkaban?  Another thing... this may sound weird but Hagrid's butt looks weird.


I wouldn't go as far as saying that this movie is perfect or anything, but it does do a fairly decent job.  This is my favourite Harry Potter movie, with Prisoner of Azkaban as my favourite book.  I like it because there is magic in it, and not just the 'actual' magic, it's a new world to explore, there's new things to discover, new things to see.  It's childlike in it's innocence, it's almost as if you go back in time to age eleven and get a letter written in green ink and sealed with wax.

End of an Era - Oliver Boyd and the Remembralls