Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - Review

Harry Potter might be my favourite film franchise ever. It's a tossup between this and Star Wars, but Harry Potter has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I embarked on a marathon with my cousin who had never seen any of the Harry Potter films a while ago and I recently watched it a couple summers ago with a 5-year old girl watching it for the first time. When Harry Potter flies his broom for the first time, I noticed her face lit up. That's when it occurred to me that this film is truly magical. And since I am going to London in the summer of 2018, I decided once again to watch all of the Harry Potter films. Not only is the plot about kids and magic, but it is magical movie how it strives on the human emotion. Not since Star Wars has a movie franchise really moved me like this. Happy, Sad, Angry, Scared. All these emotions are front and centre and in full effect. Yeah, if you are seeing this for the first time as an older teenager, it might not have the same effect but this is one of the best franchises to expose your kids to. Richard Roeper stated that this film is the Wizard of Oz of it's generation and I couldn't agree more with that statement. The world that J.K. Rowling created is brought to life so well by Chris Columbus and his creative team. In my directing classes in film school, we kept talking about world building and how it is so important. Harry Potter was an example we turned to all the time because this world is put together perfectly. Not only do you remember Hogwarts castle, Hagrid's Hut and the Quidditch stadium, but you remember the little things like Olivander's wand shop in Diagon Alley, Platform 9 3/4, Gringott's Bank, and you even remember certain spells they use. This movie creates such a rich and vibrant world. As for the characters, I grew up with them. This film came out when I was 6 years old and the final film came out when I was 16. These characters aren't just characters in a story to me, I almost consider them friends. Looking back on the franchise from a filmmaking perspective, I have to applaud them for the cast that they constructed, especially with our three heroes. Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grind and Emma Watson are all spectacular. Not only that, but they were able to play these characters for 10 full years. It's like Boyhood in a way where we see these actors grow up playing the same characters and they do an amazing job. They don't play the characters in J.K. Rowling's books, they are the characters from J.K. Rowling's books. Now with a story, group of characters and a world that is full of magic, Chris Columbus knew he needed a magical musical score to fully bring this world to life. So of course, you have to get John Williams. John Williams score is oozing with magic. Last time when I visited the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, Florida and I was walking through Hogwarts castle, John Williams' "Leaving Hogwarts" music started playing and I almost broke into tears. I'm not even ashamed of it. Harry Potter reminds me why I love movies in the first place. A wonderful, wonderful movie.