Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone: Out Of Step

Welcome dear reader to the first in a series of reviews I am publishing over the coming few days which will explore the Harry Potter series a few decades on. We will be talking about contemporary issues with the franchise, mainly around the actors and we will be discussing it in depth. I have watched the series many times all the way through and hopefully we can have an interesting conversation along the way.

So straight off the bat I just want to say that I tried to not let my dislike of the actors particularly Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson spoil my enjoyment of these films. I fully stand with J.K Rowling in everything she has said and I think the fact that these actors, who would not have careers without her, so openly disparaging her is disgusting.

Summary

Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe, a young boy finds out he is a wizard.

So this is my least favourite of the Potter films for the simple fact that it feels so disconnected tonally to the others, and it feels like they don’t do enough to build up to the big Voldemort reveal at the end. Now obviously you are bound by the books, but I think that a scene showing more of the aftermath of the fall of Voldemort would have worked well here, we could also get a tease him being on the back of the teacher’s head.

As it stands it feels very generic fantasy, and that makes sense as it is a first film so clearly trying to find it creative voice, but I would have liked more references to the wider lore and world in this film. I suppose the film does introduce us to a number of characters and locations here so that very basic but necessary work is being done but I would have liked it to feel deeper.

Overall, a slow start and one that feels very disconnected from where the series will go tonally.

3/5

Pros

The effects mostly hold up

There are some enjoyable moments

The ending remains strong

Cons.

It needs more explanation of what happened in the world post Voldemort’s defeat

It feels tonally disconnected from the rest of the series

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