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At the Movies
with Mark Moorehead

Film:  Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone

Cast:  Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Richard Harris, Maggie Smith and Robbie Coltrane

Director:  Chris Columbus

Rated: PG

Now Playing: Harkins Chandler Fashion 20, Harkins Arizona Mills, Centerpoint 11

Viewability Rating: ***** (Excellent)

In the final paragraph of J.K. Rowling’s blockbuster book Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry’s friend Hermione says to Harry, “Hope you have a good holiday.” Harry replies “Oh, I will.”

The same exchange might have taken place between Harry and the folks at Warner Brothers, makers of this year’s latest box-office smash.

For all appearances, Harry appears destined to record the most spectacular and highly profitable holiday season in movie-making history.

After all, Warner Brothers is capitalizing on the titanic success of all four of Rowling’s books, which have sold more than 110 million copies in 200 countries. It’s a marketer’s dream come true.

Surveys show that 60 percent of children between the ages of 6 and 18 have either read Harry Potter or are familiar with the story.

Warner Brothers expects to make a half billion dollars from combined box office and merchandising sales before New Year’s Day 2002.

Enough said about the Harry Potter phenomenon. The question that’s really on your mind: Is the movie faithful to the book in word and deed?

Happily, the answer is a resounding yes.

All the dialog is lifted directly from the book in perfect harmony, and Director Chris Columbus’s brilliant casting breathes life into characters you envisioned while reading the book.

Daniel Radcliffe plays Harry Potter and looks and acts like the real McCoy. For those unfamiliar with Harry Potter, a brief explanation is required. 

Harry is a bespectacled, 11-year-old orphaned son of two wizards, and therefore a wizard himself.

One day he receives an invitation to attend the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he learns the requisite skills of an up-and-coming wizard. 

There he also meets friends and foes alike while becoming a broomstick-riding sports celebrity at the game of Quidditch.    

Hogwarts is a Halloween-ish castle staffed by the types you’d expect in a strict Dickensian prep school, except for a three-headed dog, a 30-foot troll and a 300-owl airborne delivery service.

Richard Harris plays Hogwarts’ head wizard Professor Dumbledore and Maggie Smith plays Professor McGonagall.

While watching Maggie Smith in this role all I could see is the perfectly punctual and proper Miss Jean Brodie with the added skills of the good witch from the north.

Maggie Smith deserves some sort of award for her performance but I can’t think of a category.

With an all-British cast it is unlikely children will recognize any of the actors. Not that it really matters. Hagrid, played by Robbie Coltrane, upstages the whole lot and soon will be recognized by children around the world.

Towering, hairy, strong and gentle, Coltrane may not look like the brightest candle on the cake riding his motorcycle down from the sky like a Hell’s Angel from ninth century Norway, but his performance as the affable Hagrid is outstanding and memorable.

Besides many fine performances in this movie, there is much to be said for the effective and carefully measured use of special effects.  

Rowling’s story is complimented rather than diminished by the sights and sounds in this film that provide a magical thrill ride which will sweep children off their feet. 

Oddly enough, the only complaint I have with this film is one that is rare in the vast library of children’s films:

The film runs 2½ hours, and this is a tad long for children under 10.  My six-year-old almost fell asleep near the end while I was wide awake, wanting the film to continue on through the next three books. 

As you might guess, Harry Potter the Sorcerer’s Stone is just the beginning. 

A second film, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, goes into production next week and is planned for release in November 2002. 

Also, the screenplay for the third film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, is now being written and could be in a theater near you in November 2003. 

And, when Ms. Rowlings releases her fifth book in the series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, that should dispel any doubts about the magnitude of the Harry Potter franchise that will grow each Thanksgiving like a big, plump turkey. 

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