Review - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)

        Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, it's now the month of November, and surprisingly, this month marks the twentieth anniversary of the launch of the Harry Potter film series. Based on the books of the same name by J.K. Rowling, these movies are still as popular today as they were when they first debuted. Hell, I remember being nine years old and seeing the first film of the series in the movie theater with my godmother. Yes, sadly I am that old. Anyway, let's head back to Hogwarts for Harry's first year with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, or Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone depending on which part of the world you're from. But, since I am from the U.S, it's the Sorcerer's Stone. 

           So, we open on the quiet street of Privet Drive in Surrey, where Albus Dumbledore douses the nearby lamps, and spots a cat nearby, recognizing it as Minerva McGonagall. McGonagall resumes human form and asks Dumbledore about the rumors, which he says are true, and how he's having a child being brought to the neighborhood by Rubeus Hagrid. Hagrid arrives with the child, a boy with a lightning bolt scar on his forehead, who is left on the doorstep at Number Four Privet Drive, home of his aunt and uncle Petunia and Vernon Dursley.  The boy's name is, as we learn from Dumbledore, Harry Potter. 

       Years later, and Harry is now ten, almost eleven, and is woken up to fix breakfast for his aunt and uncle, as well as their son Dudley. It turns out that it's Dudley's birthday, and the family is going to the London Zoo. While at the zoo, Harry talks to a Burmese Python, and is surprised when the snake is shown to be able to understand him. Seeing this, Dudley shoves Harry out of the way, which causes Harry to accidentally make the glass for the snake's pen disappear, which allows the snake to escape, and the glass reappears and traps Dudley in the pen. Seeing Dudley in the pen causes Petunia to freak out, but Vernon glares at Harry, knowing he's responsible. At the house, Vernon demands to know what happened, but Harry has no explanation, and is locked in the cupboard under the stairs, which is where he stays. 

        Some time later, when checking the mail, Harry is surprised to get a letter addressed to him. Vernon and Petunia, knowing what the letter means, do what they can to ignore it, but the letters keep coming, until there's so many of the damn things that the house is literally swarmed by letters for Harry, and the family moves to an island in the middle of the sea. It's here, at the stroke of midnight, that Harry's eleventh birthday begins with the door being broken down by Hagrid, who tells Harry that he's a wizard. Hagrid hands Harry the letter that was meant for him, which was an acceptance letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Despite Vernon's protests that Harry won't be attending Hogwarts, Hagrid creates a distraction by giving Dudley a pig's tail, and Harry leaves with Hagrid. 

        Hagrid takes Harry to the Leaky Cauldron, a wizarding tavern in London, which houses a secret entrance to Diagon Alley, a massive wizarding shopping district. Hagrid and Harry then head to the wizarding bank of Gringotts, where he is taken to his family vault, 687, where a massive fortune was left behind. Harry and Hagrid are then taken to value 713, where Hagrid picks up a wrapped object, which Dumbledore asked him to pick up. After a ton of shopping, Harry is then pointed towards Ollivander's wand shop, where Mr. Ollivander tests Harry out with several wands, and finds a surprising match with an eleven-inch wand of holly with a Phoenix tail feather core. Hagrid arrives with a birthday present for Harry: a snowy owl named Hedwig. That evening, Harry asks what happened to his parents, Lily and James. Hagrid tells the story of how an evil wizard named Voldemort either recruited or killed witches and wizards, and Harry's parents fought against him. And on the night he murdered the Potters, only Harry survived, and something about Harry caused a deadly curse to rebound on Voldemort, leaving Harry with his signature scar. 

         Hagrid leaves Harry at King's Cross Station, where he's to catch a train from Platform 9 3/4. Harry runs into a wizarding family, the Weasleys, and learns from Mrs. Weasley how to get onto Platform 9 3/4: run at the wall between Platforms 9 and 10, and Harry does this, making his way to the platform, where he sees a crimson red train, the Hogwarts Express. On the train, Harry meets and befriends Ron Weasley, who is also attending Hogwarts for his first year, and the two Bond over wizarding candy like Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Botts Every-Flavor Beans, and so forth. Harry and Ron also meet another first year, Hermione Granger, whose parents are non-magical Muggles. Upon arrival, Hagrid takes all of the first years, including Harry, Ron, and Hermione to a fleet of magically-driven boats, from where they see Hogwarts castle for the first time. Inside the castle, the first years meet Professor McGonagall, who tells of the four houses of Hogwarts they will be sorted into: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Harry also meets a few other first years, including the socially-awkward Neville Longbottom, the accident-prone Seamus Finnigan, and the blond-haired douchebag Draco Malfoy. Upon McGonagall's return, the first years enter the Great Hall, where the sorting ceremony begins, with each first year being sorted by the Sorting Hat. Malfoy and his pals Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle end up in Slytherin, a girl named Susan Bones ends up in Hufflepuff, and Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Seamus all get into Gryffindor. A massive feast follows, and the resident ghosts of Hogwarts arrive, including Nearly-Headless Nick. Ron's brother, and Gryffindor house prefect, Percy takes the first years to Gryffindor tower, and shows them the common room, and points them to the different dormitories. 

         The next day, Harry and Ron attend various classes, including Transfiguration class with McGonagall, Potions class with Professor Severus Snape, broom flying lessons with Madam Hooch. Harry shows some skills on a broom, and McGonagall takes him to meet with Oliver Wood, Gryffindor Quidditch captain, and puts Harry on the team as the new Seeker. Hermione then show Harry a Gryffindor team Quidditch plaque, which shows that Harry's father played Quidditch as a Seeker as well. In the book, Harry's father was a Chaser, but that's a minor change and not a big deal. Anyway, Harry, Ron, and Hermione end up in the forbidden third-floor corridor, where they encounter a room with a massive, brown haired Cerberus guarding a trap door. The next day, Oliver teaches Harry about Quidditch, and that there are seven players on a team: three Chasers, who fly around on broomsticks to nab a red ball called the Quaffle and aim it at one of three hoops to score ten points, while the single Keeper defends those hoops, and the two Beaters fly around with bats to fling away the dangerous Bludgers, and the Seeker keeps an eye out for an extremely fast ball called the Golden Snitch, and the Seeker that catches it gets 150 points for their team and ends the game. 

       At Charms class, Professor Filius Flitwick teaches the levitation charm Wingardium Leviosa to the first years, and Hermione is the only one to succeed with it. After Ron bad mouths Hermione, she runs off incredibly upset. On Halloween night, Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Professor Quirinus Quirrell runs into the Great Hall warning of a Mountain troll in the dungeon. All of the students are escorted back to their houses, while the teachers go after the troll. Harry and Ron, realizing that Hermione doesn't know about the troll due to being in a bathroom crying her eyes out, go to save her from the troll. Harry distracts the troll, while Ron casts the Wingardium Leviosa charm on its club, which knocks the troll out when it falls on its head. McGonagall and a few other teachers arrive, and Hermione makes up a story about letting the troll into the castle. McGonagall takes ten house points away for Hermione's lack of judgement, and awards five points each for Harry and Ron, for what she calls mere dumb luck. The next morning, Harry has his first Quidditch match: Gryffindor versus Slytherin. Gryffindor starts off strong, but Slytherin, led by Marcus Flint, starts playing dirty. For example, Flint knocks Oliver out with a Bludger to the face, takes a Gryffindor Chaser out by forcing her into a grandstand tower, and so forth. Harry spots the Snitch, but is nearly thrown off his broom when someone is jinxing it. Hermione spots Snape muttering something, and believes he's jinxing the broom, and she goes to stop him by lightning his cloak on fire. Harry regains control of his broom and goes after the Snitch, catching it in his mouth. Regardless, he wins the game for Gryffindor. Speaking with Hagrid about Snape possibly jinxing the broom, Hagrid reveals that the Cerberus on the third floor is called Fluffy, and what he's guarding is between Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel. 

        Christmas time arrives at Hogwarts, with many students getting ready to leave for home for the holidays, while others like Harry and the Weasleys staying behind due to the Weasley parents going to visit one of their elder sons, Charlie, in Romania. On Christmas morning, Harry gets actual presents, including a hand-knitted sweater from Mrs. Weasley, and an invisibility cloak which once belonged to his father. Using the cloak, Harry checks the library's restricted section for books on Nicolas Flamel, running from the likes of school caretaker Argus Filch, Snape, and Quirrell, eventually finding a  with writing on it. In the mirror, Harry sees his parents Lily and James, and learns from Dumbledore that the mirror is the Mirror of Erised, which shows the one who looks into it the deepest desire of their heart. Harry, for example, sees the parents he never knew. 

        In the Spring, around the time of Hogwarts final exams, Hermione finds the book, which reveals that Nicolas Flamel is an alchemist that created the Sorcerer's Stone (or Philosopher's Stone depending on what part of the world you're from), which can turn any metal into pure gold and produces the Elixir of Life. Harry, Ron, and Hermione then go to see Hagrid, who has a dragon egg about to hatch. Specifically, the egg of a Norwegian Ridgeback. Hagrid named the new hatchling Norbert, but the four are caught by Malfoy, who rats Harry, Ron, and Hermione out to McGonagall, who takes away fifty points each, and gives the three, along with Malfoy, detention. Their detention is going with Hagrid into the Forbidden Forest, where they're to investigate the disappearances of some unicorns, whose silvery blood is potent and can extend life. Harry and Malfoy, along with Hagrid's dog Fang, find the dead unicorn being drained of blood by a cloaked individual, and after Malfoy and Fang run to find Hagrid, Ron, and Hermione, the cloaked figure is driven away by a centaur named Firenze, who reveals that the cloaked figure was none other than Voldemort, who wants the Stone, which is in Hogwarts castle. 

          Believing Snape is after the Stone to give to Voldemort, Harry, Ron, and Hermione go after him, getting past Fluffy, surviving a deadly plant called Devil's Snare, get past a room of winged keys flying around, and ending up having to play a mammoth sized version of Wizard's Chess. After winning the game, Harry goes on ahead, while Hermione takes Ron to the hospital wing, and then to get a message to Dumbledore. 

       Harry arrives for the final confrontation, but is surprised to see Quirrell, who reveals that HE jinxed Harry's broom during the Quidditch game, while Snape was muttering a counter curse to save Harry. On top of that, Quirrell let the troll in on Halloween night as a distraction, but was cut off by Snape. Harry is called over to the Mirror of Erised, where he sees a reflection of himself with the Stone, to discover that the Stone is now in his pocket. Quirrell, per the instructions of the one that he's working for, removes the turban from his head, revealing Voldemort in the back of his head. Voldemort offers to bring Harry's parents back in exchange for the Stone, but Harry refuses. Voldemort orders Quirrell to kill Harry, but Harry's touch begins to turn  Quirrell to Stone, causing him to crumble and die.  

        Harry wakes up in the hospital wing, surrounded by get well cards and candy. Dumbledore brings Harry up to speed on what happened: Ron and Hermione are fine, the school knows what happened in the dungeons, and the Stone was destroyed. On top of that, it was one of Dumbledore's designs that made it so Harry would get the Stone, and it was the power of love from Lily's sacrifice all those years ago that protected Harry from Quirrell. At the end-of-year feast, Dumbledore reveals the House Cup standings, with Gryffindor in last and Slytherin in first. However, Dumbledore gives out last minute house points to Gryffindor: fifty points for Hermione's use of intellect in the face of peril, fifty points for Ron for his skills at Wizard Chess, sixty points for Harry for his outstanding courage, and ten points for Neville trying to stop Harry, Ron, and Hermione from sneaking out. With this addition of 170 house points, Gryffindor wins the House Cup. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the other students board the train, with Hagrid giving Harry a parting gift: a picture book with a picture of Lily and James holding Harry as an infant. The movie ends with the Hogwarts Express leaving to return the students back to London. 

         Okay, so it shouldn't be a surprise that I absolutely love this movie, as well as the entire Harry Potter series. Hell, I personally love Harry Potter ten times more than Star Wars. Part of what I love about it is the sheer scale of the wizarding world, from Diagon Alley, Gringotts Bank, and Hogwarts Castle, the world is massive and incredible. Also, some of the magical creatures like the centaur Firenze, Fluffy the Cerberus, Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback hatchling, and so forth look absolutely incredible. The designs feel like they were fresh out of the book. 

        Casting for this movie was really important, but I would like to give specific props the three performers that were part of every film of the series. Maggie Smith as Professor McGonagall, Julie Walters as Mrs. Weasley, and the late Alan Rickman as Professor Severus Snape. All three reprised their roles in all eight films, and while Julie Walters has a very small appearance as Mrs. Weasley at the start, she is excellent as one of the few genuine motherly figures in Harry's life. The same goes for Maggie Smith as Professor McGonagall. She was absolutely fantastic in the movie as the stern but kindly and caring Transfiguration teacher, who looks after all of.her students, especially the Gryffindor students. Also, Alan Rickman was J.K Rowling's personal pick to play the role of Snape, and after the studio's choice Tim Roth left the film to play the main villain in Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes, Rickman was cast, and definitely owned the role to the point that I personally can't see any other actors in this role. Now, the main trio of Daniel Radcliffe as Harry, Rupert Grint as Ron, and Emma Watson as Hermione are all terrific. Now, it's amazing to look back at this first movie and see just how much they grew as actors, and how much they grew with the characters. I also want to give a shout-out to Robbie Coltrane as the gentle half-giant Hagrid, who I absolutely enjoyed in this movie. 

         Storytelling for this movie was definitely where the film falls a bit flat. I should point out that when the movie was released in 2001, there were only four of the seven books actually out there on the market. So, not knowing what to keep and what to drop, the movie did get bogged down with a lot of front loading. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does slow down the film's pacing as a result. Now, I still love this movie, and it's definitely a must watch. If you've been avoiding this movie for the last twenty years, what's matter with you? You need to watch this movie, as it's definitely a generation defining film, and was one of the two films of 2001 to completely reinvigorate public interest in the fantasy genre. I'm giving Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone a rating of 5/5. This is Chuck signing off. Join me this Saturday for my review of Harry's second year at Hogwarts with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.