Hi friends! Yesterday proved to be a busy day for me! I filmed and edited 8 videos for this week and participated in a podcast style video discussion. It is the first in a monthly series we are doing leading up to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in November. Each month my friends Abby, Jeremy and Richard will join me to talk about one of the Harry Potter films.
As this is the first month we naturally are talking about the first film, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (or Philosopher’s Stone for UK). This is similar to what Jeremy, Abby and I did for our Star Wars series but this time we are joined by Richard who is a blogging friend of mine. He has been doing a detailed chapter by chapter review of the Harry Potter books on his blog so I had to include him. It was so neat to finally talk to him after reading his blog/tweets for years.
It was my first time leading a discussion with 4 people so I was a little nervous about that. Plus, I am no Harry Potter expert but I think it turned out pretty well. I am looking forward to the next videos where hopefully I will continue to improve and so grateful to Abby, Jeremy and Richard for making time out of their Saturdays to do this with me. It really was a lot of fun.
Anyway, as far as the movie itself it’s charming in many ways but in all honesty it didn’t hold up as well as I remembered. I understand Chris Columbus was trying to stay as true to the book but this movie should not be 2.5 hours long. Especially in the quidditch sections I found myself getting pretty bored.
Also Emma Watson and Rupert Grint were in their first movie with this film…and it shows. I hate to say it. They are passable I guess as child actors but you can tell they aren’t like a Jacob Tremblay in Room. It looks a little amateurish.
All that said, the introduction to Hogwarts and the magic world is very charming and fun. The British greats in the adult cast are all wonderful especially Alan Rickman as Snape. The sets and settings feel immersive and fun and the music by John Williams as expected is perfect.
So it’s not a bad film just a little more boring than I remembered.
Overall Grade- B-
What do you think of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and what do you think of our discussion? Thanks!