Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

Directed by Chris Columbus, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone follows Daniel Radcliffe’s title character as he discovers the truth about his past and, alongside new friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), begins digging into a mystery involving his greatest foe. Filmmaker Columbus, working from Steve Kloves’ screenplay, delivers a watchable yet thoroughly hit-and-miss introduction to author J.K. Rowling’s iconic protagonist, as the movie, which runs a palpably overlong 152 minutes, suffers from a fairly sluggish midsection that’s focused almost entirely on the heroes’ episodic exploits within Hogwarts – which, though certainly accurate to Rowling’s equally erratic novel, ensures that the picture doesn’t contain much in the way of forward momentum. (It’s clear, too, that the less-than-enthralling vibe is compounded by John Seale’s distressingly low-rent visuals and an ongoing emphasis on less-than-convincing special effects.) There’s little doubt, then, that Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone‘s mild success is due predominantly to the stellar, top-notch efforts of its various performers, as Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson’s rough-around-the-edges but endearing work here is matched (and often exceeded) by such first-class periphery players as Richard Harris, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane, and Alan Rickman. (The latter’s scene-stealing turn as the seemingly villainous Severus Snape remains an obvious highlight within the proceedings, to be sure.) The end result is a decent-enough first installment that admittedly does a nice job of establishing Rowling’s impressively detailed world and characters, although it seems fairly safe to assume that the series, much like its literary counterpart, will only grow more compelling and engrossing as it progresses.

**1/2 out of ****