By Matthew Flitton

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is a delightful film of the children's favorite novel, marred only by the theater showing it.

The movie tells of a young boy born to wizards and raised by Muggles (non-magical folk). When his 11th birthday comes, Hagrid, a giant, takes him away to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he makes friends and gets into all sorts of trouble. Harry Potter is the Hardy Boys meet the Hobbit.

Despite what every other reviewer on the planet has said, the movie is not just like the book. While the movie is faithful to the bestseller that spawned it, the film lacks the richness of J.K. Rowling's novel, which is understandable. At two-and-a-half hours, the movie is already long; to include all the scenes in the book would turn it into a BBC miniseries. However, that's not a bad thing. Seeing this movie may send all six of the children left on the planet who haven't read the book running to the library.

The special effects in this film are incredible. One scene uses a talking hat. The shifting folds in the cloth form the moving mouth, and it looks great. The quidditch match (a polo-like game played on flying broomsticks) made me duck as actors rocketed around the screen. Even the three-headed dog named "Fluffy" appeared to be flesh (a lot of flesh) and bone.

The acting was great. It must have taken a lot of work to get the main characters to learn to act around spaces where monsters, goblins and ghosts would later go. Robbie Coltrane (The World is not Enough, Buddy) played Hagrid. He was hilarious, especially when he delivered his signature line, "I shouldn't have told you that." John Cleese of Monty Python fame makes a cameo appearance as Nearly-Headless Nick.

This film is perfect for children over 7. I wouldn't take younger children because of some violent images that may frighten them.

The only bad part of seeing this movie was the volume. Westates Theatres played the whole thing too loud, which left me positively irritable and begging for the end of the film.

Overall, I'd give Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone four stars out of four. I'd give the theater where I saw it one.

NW
MS

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