Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone directed by Chris Columbus

Hey everyone, today I wanted to review something else but I decided that I wanted to make a review in honour of Richard Griffiths who passed away last night, and since he was best known for playing uncle Vernon, I thought it might be nice to talk about the film.

I remember when I first watched the film, I was about 10 or 11 and I immediately fell in love with the world I was watching on screen. That's because from the very first moment you are placed in a fantasy world, why? Well, if I had to guess, I'd say that John William's theme was something so catchy, simple and magic that made Privet Drive and Albus Dumbledore a reality. From that moment on, you can feel how the magic grows on screen, not just with the story: the settings, the characters…

And then of course you get to Diagon Alley, I think that everyone is in love with it, and that's because the representation of it was so amazing that no matter how false it is, you want it to be real, more than anything. The same goes for platform 9 3/4 (How many of you have been to King's Cross lately just to take a picture at the recreation of the platform). That came from the books and Rowling's brilliant imagination, but thank god they got it right.

Once we are in Hogwarts, there's magic everywhere, and the way that they show it is just beautiful. But not only that is beautiful, I think that the relationship between Harry, Ron and Hermione is one of the best developed (in film) of the past decade, which is something worth mentioning, because in the books, their friendship is very important, and they could have got that wrong.

One of the most amazing things on these films is the casting. British acting royalty, as I want to call it: Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Richard Harris (he is Scottish I believe..), and many more made this a great experience. Obviously, the three main characters were very young in this, but they worked great as the magical trio, and it's very hard to imagine anyone else portraying Harry, Hermione and Ron.

Well, as you can see, I'm not talking much about the story because I already reviewed the book and I consider it to be quite a good adaptation, so I'll stick just to the film.

Now, after all eight films are out and we can revise them over and over, I do have to say that this one is not even close to be one of my favourites, not even the most visually astonishing. But as I see it, this was not intended to be some kind of Avatar, this was a film that was made to set a story in motion, and to introduce a whole new audience to a new world. And that, is just what the film did.

About uncle Vernon: Since the review is in Richard Griffiths honour, I want to make a special mention to Harry's uncle, who was perfectly portrayed by this brilliant British actor, who made something quite impossible, possible: He made us """love""" or better, enjoy, uncle Vernon. Thank you Richard.

MadHatterSays: I know that 95% of readers will have watched this one already, but…Watch it (again)!!

               3.5/5