Harry Potter has lived under the stairs at his aunt and uncle's house his whole life. But on his 11th birthday, he learns he's a powerful wizard—with a place waiting for him at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As he learns to harness his newfound powers with the help of the school's kindly headmaster, Harry uncovers the truth about his parents' deaths—and about the villain who's to blame.
12 Mar Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)
Hermione’s Mouth
For a long time, we have been warned about what will happen when a couple large companies own all the news, publicity, publishing and film channels. Now, we have the results, a film product that is as moribund as Microsoft software. In both the new MS and HP products, we have more than an order of magnitude more spent on promotion than on real innovation or imagination.
This is a completely pedestrian effort. The books are fun, but only about as much as scores of prior ones. The rest is hype.
About the film, I found no charm and three things that impressed me with their lack of skill.
–The most puzzling of these is the score. Though always derivative, Williams has created scores that have become the floor of imagination for vast areas of our minds. He is tepid here, and one can only think is by direction from the Committee.
–No puzzle with the camerawork. The blocking and angles have less art and adventure than any major film this year. Compare the perspectives with ‘Monsters,’ which aren’t noticeably arty, but which really adds thrills to the experience.
–The thing that impressed was the ordinariness of the architecture. Casper could do this well — Ridley Scott can repeatedly. Why do we get buildings that would be unremarkable even in the real world?
Posted in 2001
Ted’s Evaluation — 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.
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