Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: Fascinating or Flat?

For the very few who have never seen Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, it is about Harry Potter, an eleven-year-old wizard:

As a baby, Harry became famous in the wizarding world as “the boy who lived” when his parents were killed by Voldemort, an evil wizard. Voldemort tried to kill Harry as well but failed leaving only a scar shaped like a lightning bolt on Harry’s forehead. This left him in a weak and vulnerable state and was unseen for many years. 

Harry was sent to live with his non-wizard (muggle) relatives: his aunt, her husband, and their son. They treated Harry terribly because he was a wizard, but kept this from him, telling him his parents had died in a car accident. 

He found out the truth on his eleventh birthday when Rubeus Hagrid, a half-giant, half-wizard, found him and brought him to Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The rest of the movie goes through Harry’s first year at Hogwarts. He makes friends, enemies, and discovers more about his parents and himself.

Harry and his friends become entangled in the mystery of the sorcerer’s stone and discover a plot to bring back Voldemort. Harry and his friends, Ron and Hermione, discover the secret of the stone, where it was hidden (by the professors at Hogwarts who want to keep it safe), and the identity of the professor who wants it for Voldemort (Professor Quirrell).

They make it through traps set to stop intruders. However, the final trap hurts Ron and Hermione stays with him while Harry continues alone. Harry finds Professor Quirrell attempting to get the stone. After a struggle, Harry retrieves the stone and defeats Quirrell.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is an effective film because it contains great acting, a storyline that is accurate to the novel, and realistic interpretations of the “magical” elements that make the novel so special. However, you learn very little about the characters by watching this film. The characters were bland and were more suitable for children. Underdeveloped characters weaken the film. Two examples are Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is an effective film because it contains great acting, a storyline that is accurate to the novel, and realistic interpretations of the “magical” elements that make the novel so special. However, you learn very little about the characters by watching this film. The characters were bland and were more suitable for children. The audience connects with the characters and their stories. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone contains underdeveloped characters that weaken the film. Two examples are Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley.

What we know about Ron Weasley is that he is from a large family of wizards. He has one younger sister and five older brothers. Ron lacks natural talent for magic and is often a source of comic relief. However, he does contain a talent for wizard’s chess. This is shown towards the end of the film when he plays a life-sized game of wizards’ chess as one of the traps set to protect the stone. This is all that is revealed about Ron Weasley.

Even less is known about Hermione Granger, Harry’s other “sidekick.” She is the daughter of two muggle (non-magic) parents who are dentists and is very book-smart. Harry meets her for the first time on the Hogwarts Express.

Hermione walks into the car Ron and Harry are in and sees Ron trying magic. After Ron fails to preform a spell correctly Hermione says: “Are you sure that’s a real spell?” said the girl. “Well, it’s not very good, is it? I’ve tried a few simple spells just for practice and it’s all worked for me. I’ve learned all our course books by heart, of course.” These quotes are a perfect example of Hermione’s talent for knowledge and love for academics.

We learn very little about Hermione as a person in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and her character is less developed than it is in the novel that the film is based off of.

The poor character development can be explained based on the fact that Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone is the first film in a series of seven. Great acting, an accurate storyline, and realistic interpretations of the “magical” elements shown in the film counteract the weak character development.

The actors who were said to have done the best work in the film are:

 Emma Watson as Hermione,  

 

Alan Rickman as Professor Severus Snape, 

  

and Richard Harris as Albus Dumbledore. 

Emma Watson won a Young Artists Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film – Leading Young Actress for her performance in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Rickman and Harris became known for their parts in Harry Potter in the later films.  

The biggest reason why the plot is so effective is the script stayed true to the book. The only differences are: two professors mentioned in the book were not put into the film, the Quidditch uniforms are different in the movie, and the first scene of the movie is different than the first chapter of the book and the reason Harry, Ron, and Hermione receive detention with Hagrid in the forbidden forest is different.

The special effects were very realistic. Taking place in a school for teaching young witches and wizards’ magic, the entire film is an example of the excellent special effects. One example of many is Quidditch.

Quidditch is a big part of this film and making a game played with balls that fly while riding on broomsticks look realistic could be difficult. However, this magical game comes to life as Harry’s plays his first match (1:15:30). 

The special effects won the Technical Achievement Award at the 2001 Evening Standard British Film Awards.

What is your opinion of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone? Does the Harry Potter franchise deserve the amount of praise and attention it has been getting?