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Harry Potter! A family that loved the book COMPARES it to the movie.
Date of Review: Nov 17, 2001
The Bottom Line: Try to think of it as the Readers Digest version of the book and explain to your children BEFORE they see the movie that parts will be cut.
My family are BIG Harry Potter fans! We started reading the first book on a LONG road trip to visit grandparents. The fact that by reading this book, all five children were not only listening, but eager to hear more, sold me! Everyone really enjoyed the first book and eagerly waited for the second, then the third and finally the fourth! We read all four books as a family and enjoyed the ups and downs of Harry, Hermonie and Ron!
As soon as they heard there was going to be a movie made, they have wanted to go! I have heard about it from each one of them over and over and just when I thought they were talked out, a new trailer would come out and it would all start again!
Finally, a few weeks before it opened, we were able to buy our tickets (see my review on Movietickets.com) and we waited for the big day!
This brings me to this review ~~ instead of an adults version of the movie, I am going to write how my children viewed it as well. I often read reviews before I take my children to the movies to see if it is one I think they would enjoy, but I would gain a lot more if I knew what other children had thought about the movie more than the adults.
Children have wonderful memories and they remember the books they love in very vivid detail. Since this is the first book we have waited to see in a movie, I was unaware of just how much they would recall and how they would expect it to be exactly the same in the movie. You might want to discuss this with yours BEFORE you go so they are more prepared for the changes.
THE STORY
The book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is the first of seven books by JK Rowlin and has sold over 100 million copies.
Harry Potter is an orphan raised by his unkind Uncle and Aunt who force him to live in a cupboard under the stairs. His life is miserable and uneventful until his 11th birthday when he not only finds out he is a wizard, but that he is going to leave his relatives house and go to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to learn his craft. He then gets to have his boring; horrible existence changed into a magical environment where everyone there seems to know more about his past than he does.
The movie version (like the book) covers Harry?s life from his eleventh birthday through his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
THE MOVIE COMPARED TO THE BOOK
Overall, we all really enjoyed the movie but all of my children had trouble with the fact that parts of the book had been cut. They were not always the same scenes, but they ALL complained about things they missed. After going over and over about how parts had to be cut in order to not have a 6 hour movie, they were still disappointed to have some of their favorites parts gone.
Life BEFORE Hogwarts
Both the book and movie basically start out with the arrival of Harry to the Dorsleys front porch.
SAME
Hagrid brings in Harry on the flying motorcycle.
Professor McGonagall is waiting (first as a cat)and Albus Dumbledore places Harry and the letter on the door step. Although this was condensed, it did seem to satisfy the kids.
Harry living in his cupboard in his Aunt and Uncles house. His horrid relatives who keep the truth about his past from him.
The Bank is very close to the book with only the length of the ride to the vaults changed.
Harry is left on his own to find Platform 9 and 3/4 where he gets help from the Weasley family.
DIFFERENT
Very little time is spent on this part so Harry?s treatment by them does not come through as much as it does in the book.
Dudley?s friends are not shown (I assume to focus on the cousin?s relationship) and so Harry is taken to the zoo for Dudleys birthday only with the family. Again, the scene is shorten but makes the point.
The letters to Harry scenes are fun but condensed to just the house and the lighthouse. They do add A LOT of owls to this in the movie.
Hagrid?s arrival at the lighthouse is similar but his stayed is shorten quiet a bit. His Uncle only makes one attempt to stop him from finding out and they take off before eating. The scene is changed, but you do get to see Dudley get his tale!
Shopping for Harry?s school supplies is cut and we miss going into (much to my youngest daughters disappointment) most of the stores, including the pet store. We do not see him get fitted for his robes and so he does not meet Malfo. He does go into the wand shop and although there is no measuring and the choosing of the wand is different, it is one of the better changes in the movie.
Harry does NOT go back to the Dorsey?s and wait for the quarter to begin. Hagrid takes him directly to the train station after shopping and drops him off after telling him to ?stick to his ticket?
The Weasley twins are not the ones who figure out who Harry is but Ron does when they share a train room. Malfo and friends do not come in and so there is no fight.
Hermione comes in alone looking for Neville's frog and after watching Ron try to turn Scabbers yellow (just like the book) she does a spell to fix Harry's glasses.
PLUSES
The snake scene at the zoo is delightful, the whole theater cracked up when Dudley falls into the snakes cage.
Hagrid is PERFECT in this and all his scenes!
Life AT Hogwarts
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was a lot like we all expected. My children did expect the grand room to be larger and Snapes classroom a bit different but other than that they all loved the way the school came across.
SAME
The arrival to Hogwart's follows the book and is very well done. They do not all four ride in the same boat over as they do in the book.
The sorting hat still puts the students into their houses although in the movie, we only see the main characters get sorted and they are not done alphabetically. It also does not sign it?s little song and it of course has to talk out loud so we can all hear it.
The characters in the paintings leave and move around in the paintings themselves.
The inside of the school, the library and the grounds are very much like the book described them.
Hagrid lives in his hut with his dog Fang.
The House Ghost are there including Nearly Headless Nick.
The Troll has Hermonie trapped in the bathroom where Harry and Ron come to her rescue. Hermonie then lies to protect them and they all become friends, just like in the book.
Harry sees his family in the mirror but only his parents and not the larger group of relatives like in the book. Ron sees himself as Head Boy and with the Quidach Cup but we do not see his images.
Hagrid wins the dragon egg and hatches it which Malfoy sees through the window.
Harry gets his father's invisibility cloak as a Christmas gift. When using it in the library he overhears Snape and Quirel in the hall.
DIFFERENT
Peves is missing! This was a disappointment to one of my daughters that always seemed to enjoy his little songs. With him missing, parts of the book had to be changed including how they get caught on the third corridor.
Norburt is sent away to Charlie by Dumbledore so the whole sequence of having him picked up (and the leaving of the invisibility cloak) is all taken out.
The Forbidden Forest scenes are done with
Harry, Hermonie, Ron and Malfoy with Harry and Malfoy coming across the dead unicorn and the figure leaning down by the blood. Malfoy screams and runs, leaving Harry along and subject to an attack. He is saved by a centurion (the only we see)who helps him see what is going on.
The Christmas celebrations are all cut out with the focus being only on Harry getting the cloak.
Hermonie takes Harry and Ron to the trophy room where they learn Harry's Dad was also the seeker of their house team.
Going After The Stone
This is where my children (and those around us) complained the most about the changes ~~ and there are a few!
SAME
Harry, Hermonie and Ron realize it is up to them and they must go after the stone.
Hermonie uses her brains to help them, Harry his flying ability and Ron sacrifices himself in a game of Chess so Harry
Fluffy is lulled asleep by music.
The Chess game stays pretty true to the book except that in the book Ron gets knocked in the head and in the movie, his horse gets killed and he falls to the ground, getting knocked out.
Harry gets the stone.
Dumbledore visits Harry in the sick room and explains things he also eats the ear wax flavored bean.
Harry, Hermonie and Ron all earn points to help their house win the cup.
DIFFERENT
Fluffy is asleep by an enchanted Harp and so the kids do not play a flute to put him asleep.
The Devils Snare is different. They get out by relaxing and when Ron can?t, Hermonie lights up the area and it releases Ron .
In The Room with the keys ONLY Harry flies around to find the key. In the book, the keys run FROM them and in the movie the keys CHASE them.
After the Chess game , Hermonie stays back to help Ron and only Harry goes on. This is a major disappointment for Hermonie fans (three of my daughters included) as this totally cuts the part where she has to figure out which of the potions to use to get in and to get out.
Harry does not get tied up by Quirel .
When Voldomort leaves, Quirel has turned to ashes and there was nothing left, where as in the book, he is left to die.
Hagrid gives Harry the book of family photos at the train staion when the students are going home for the summer.
The movie ends as the train leaves, we never see Harry going back with the Dorseys.
PLUSES
The Chess game is wonderfully put together.
THE CAST which are all really great!
Albus Dumbledore ~ ~ Richard Harris
Harry Potter ~ ~ Daniel Radcliffe
Hermione Granger ~ ~ Emma Watson
Ron Weasley ~ ~ Rupert Grint
Hagrid ~ ~ Robbie Coltrane
Professor Snape ~ ~Alan Rickman
Professor McGonagall ~ ~ Maggie Smith
Professor Quirrell ~ ~ Ian Hart
Draco Malfoy ~ ~Tom Felton
DIRECTOR : Chris Columbus
PRODUCERS: David Heyman and Mark Radcliffe
