As described the Yahoo! Movies:

Kids/Family and Action/Adventure
2 hr. 22 min. HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE is an adaptation of the first of J.K. Rowling’s popular children’s novels about Harry Potter, a boy who learns on his eleventh birthday that he is the orphaned son of two powerful wizards and possesses unique magical powers of his own. He is summoned from his life as an unwanted child to become a student at Hogwarts, an English boarding school for wizards. There, he meets several friends who become his closest allies and help him discover the truth about his parents’ mysterious deaths at the hands of a powerful adversary.
MPAA Rating: PG for some scary moments and mild language.

Release Date: November 16, 2001 Nationwide.
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Richard Harris, John Cleese

Directed by: Chris Columbus

Produced by: David Heyman, Mark Radcliffe

Written by: Steve Kloves

Distributor: Warner Brothers

• BBC - "...it was really good and it totally blew me away."
• Chicago Tribune - (3 stars) "...enchanting..."
• Daily Mail - "...it truly is a wizard show."
• Daily Telegraph - "...succeeds triumphantly..."

Ugh. I can't believe it. It was practically 3:40 now and I was still waiting in line for food. My so-called-date actually sent me out of the screening room 5 minutes before the movie was about to start to get...him...popcorn! (YES we are going on our date to see Harry Potter... I wish you wouldn't ask. Not exactly proudest moment of my life.) So already the movie wasn't going very well for me. Come on, come on, I screamed silently at the woman in front of me. Finally! It was my turn to order. I ordered and tapped impatiently waiting the order to come. When it finally came, I ran all the way back to my seat. The show had already started. I cursed my date under my breath. When I finally got to my seat, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named (my DATE) grabbed the food out of my hands. Jerk. Okay now I'm just babbling about my awful lower-class life as a female, and not the movie. Back to that :)

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone must be the biggest thing among children this holiday season. My little cousins begged me thousands of times to take them, but I firmly told them it was a date.

The movie is based on the first of the series about Harry Potter, a young wizard who attends the Hogwarts School of Wizardry (I spelled that wrong didn't I?), by J.K Rowling. I myself was never big on the books until a friend convinced me I had to read them, and two weeks later, I had read all the books. I absolutely adored them! They were the kind of books that a 5 year old would enjoy as much as a 50 year old, and you can read over and over again without it growing "stale".

I want to start the "actual review" of this movie with the 6 major priorities director's put first, as I've learned in Theater class. They are plot, character, spectacle, theme, diction and melody.

I think the first priority that Chris Columbus, the director, seemed to have put first is spectacle. Spectacle is appearance, everything of the movie you can "see". It appears they probably spent a lot of money to make this "magical adventure" come to life. And I think they did an absolutely great job on it. I didn't find the monsters, and spells absolutely fake. I must admit though, there was one part that grossed me out, and I can't exactly give it away or it would ruin the story for you ;) But still, I find this movie would be okay for young viewers. I mean, I saw Titanic at age 10, and Jaws at age 6. Yes, my parents are very caring! I just don't find that this material would be unappropriate for children, and unlike some other movies, this one doesn't promote violence too much. But, I would still advise you to tell your children not to copy what these people do in the movie, like jump off the roof on a broom.

I think the next most important factor of this movie was character. I thought that the men and women in this movie did a marvelous job portraying who they were supposed to be. The casting was excellent, because the physical appearance of the characters looked exactly what they did in my mind when I read the books. The acting was excellent. Each person said each line and made it important to the whole thing. Their facial and vocal expressions were very believable. Praises for Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), an amateur actor who did a wonderful job on his first major film.

I think that plot, which should be the most important, wasn't the most important in Harry Potter. They seemed to have skimmed through the book, and left out some parts I found from the book, little parts, that I found enjoyable. Once again, I can't give examples... but aside from the leaving out of many small parts, this movie followed the book.

The theme, is the deeper meaning of the story, or the moral. I loved how the theme in this movie, good vs. evil, and how the manage to make it so a child would understand. It's teaching a valuable lesson that power isn't everything, and to always do what's good and right. This is something you should start learning as a child, which is why I don't think you should let out your little ones of seeing this movie.

Diction. Not much to say about that, since the lines followed the ones in the book. Diction isn't the way the characters say the lines (according to my teacher, that's part of character). It's supposed to be the lines itself, like how those lines were meaningful or matched the mood of the movie.

Melody and Diction to me were about on the same level. At points in the movie you'll notice a sad melody in the background, or a scary one. Nothing too major though, unlike the affect the "screeching" number had on Psycho. :)

Overall, I think this is an average movie, and is nothing compared to the books. If you want to see what's so great about Harry Potter, you might want to start with the books, because this movie might give you a bad starting idea :) This is a great film for a family weekend together, though I don't recommend it for anyone under the age of around 7 or 8. Some content might be scary of offensive. Once again, talk to your kids, and tell them it's not real! Don't do any of what they do in that movie. I, myself, was a bit disappointed by the movie because I expected the movie of my life, but then again I have very high expectations. :) My timing is unique from everyone else's, but I found that when this movie ended, I still didn't get that feeling it's over. Throughout the whole movie, I felt as if it was in the middle or beginning. Oh, and bring a pair of sunglasses to the movie, LOL. I found that one moment it's dark and gloomy, and then suddenly it magically brightens up, a LOT! I was blinded at points during the movie!

I know this review was just random ramblings about useless, nothing, but I seriously hope this at least sort of helped. (And by the way, do you really need a review to know if you should give up that $8 to see a movie??? Make up your mind already!!!)



Recommended:
Yes

Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8