Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

”Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” is a red-blooded adventure movie, dripping with atmosphere, filled with the gruesome and the sublime, and surprisingly faithful to the novel. The novel by J.K. Rowling was muscular and vivid, and the danger was that the movie would make things too cute and cuddly. It doesn’t.
Like an “Indiana Jones” for younger viewers, it tells a rip-roaring tale of supernatural adventure, where colorful and eccentric characters alternate with scary stuff. Computers are used, exuberantly, to create a plausible look in the gravity-defying action scenes, chess game with life-size, deadly pieces. And a dark forest where a loathsome creature threatens Harry but is scared away by a centaur. And the dark shadows of Hogwarts library, cellars, hidden passages and dungeons, where an invisibility cloak can keep you out of sight but not out of trouble.
Three high-spirited, clear-eyed kids populate the center of the movie. They perform well, especially Daniel Radcliffe, whose smile is infectious. With the round glasses, in the few moments when he falters, he’s buoyed up by a stellar supporting cast, which includes Richard Harris, Maggie Smith and Alan Rickman.
Chris Columbus ”Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” is an enchanting classic that does full justice to a story that was a daunting challenge. Scary, yes, but not too scary–just scary enough.