A Statement before we begin –
tytdreviews.com/2026/01/03/a-word-on-j-k-rowling/

And without further ado;

Its been probably about 5-6 years since I last revisited the original ‘Harry Potter’ films, I was never a particularly big fan of the series, I caught the first two films when they came out, but had a pretty sizable gap before seeing the third film, and it wasnt until around 2015 or 2016 that I finally watched all the other films for the first time. Tonight, me and my partner decided to go through the whole series again, but the first couple of films WELL exceed 2.5 hours, so its going to be one we do in chunks for the forseeable. Starting with the first film, and probably the one im most familiar with, and honestly? I found it to be a bit of a mixed bag.

On the one hand, visually? for a 25 (soon to be 26) year old film that relies heavily on CGI and special effects, I found this film remarkably held up quite well! some of the effects are creaking a bit by this point, but given that there are big budget studio films released in the last 12 months that dont hold up as well as this film does, thats pretty miraculous honestly.

Christopher Columbus clearly bedded himself firmly into the world of Harry Potter for this entry, as the end result is a striking and, for the time, destinct and vivid vision that blends various ‘classical’ period styles into an eccentric, but delightful tapestry. This entry in particular always felt a lot more whimsical and festive to me than some of the other entries. a film thats aiming more for a light hearted fantasy aesthetic and isnt afraid to lead with gentle visuals, and then contrast them with the odd stronger, darker scene or two.

the cinematography is rich, deep, crisp and colourful. the sequences are nicely hung together, and for a 2.5 hour feature, this really does move at a clip. honestly; on a technical level, theres very little I have to say about this production, other than its a very well handled and technically impressive for the time feat, and that I can totally understand how, for the time, this became the captivating theatrical piece that launched a generation of Millenials into a mad frenzy.

However; if I do have to pick fault with anything, the script would probably be it. Having read the book a few times growing up, it was noticable this time especially just how far afield the film goes compared to the book. entire backstories are just blatently abscent, and the front end of the book is particularly edited down, removing a LOT of action involving the Dursleys and chopping down/smoothing over a lot of character development and more entertaining moments between Harry and the rest of the cast.

Its so glaring as to really put me off the production, because so much of the more charming materials from the book have just been airlock’d. Not helped either by the elements of the book that WERE quite questionable (having the one Irish character be called ‘Seamus Mcfinnigan’, and having him be notorious for causing explosions is I feel…a bit rum.) being retained in full, and in some cases expanded into recurring running gags.

I guess what im saying is, and this is the case with most of the films in this series, if you are familiar with the books, the films will feel like entire continents have been deleted from them. Im still sore ‘Peeves’ (played by Rik Mayall) got entirely removed from the film for no good reason.

As a result, to me, the first act feels rushed and missing a lot of the setup and charm, the second act feels kind of pedestrian, but keeps things moving along just about, and the third act feels like a mad race to the finish, with an ending that doesnt really feel like we just experienced a film, rather we’ve ‘paid to play’ for a couple of hours, and our times run out. Come back next time.

This combined with the aforementioned rum tones and jumpy narrative does hinder the film ultimately, resulting almost in a ‘two tier’ viewing experience, where fans can ‘fill in the gaps’ while us movie povvo’s are forced to just GUESS why things have happened on screen.

As unfotunate as the scripting is, the cast are delightful. I wont talk about the kids performances in this because, this was essentially most of the child actors first gigs, so it would be a bit unfair of me to judge them given the stakes they were dealing with. However I can say that broadly speaking the casting is about as solid as could be hoped. Richard Harris, Robbie Coltraine, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman and Richard Griffiths could not BE any closer to their print counter parts if they tried and they absolutely nailed the brief consistently. just their presence in this film is enough to lift the whole thing up in spite of its faults.

Throw in a delightful and, by this point frankly ‘iconic’ score from John Williams, and you essentially have a flawed production, that just about lands on the ‘positive’ side of the fence. Of all of the films in this series, this is the one i’d be most inclined to say im ‘fond’ of. If memory serves, there are better entries to come in this franchise, but this entry is the one that i’d say comes the closest to giving me a sense of ‘nostalgia’.

Do I think kids today would enjoy this one? if they have patience, then I think they might. But at 2.5 hours long, I think younger kids would really struggle to sit through all of this unless they were pre-invested. and; lets be honest, non of us should be giving J.K. Rowling a sodding penny these days. So…probably not a recommendation from me here.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/harry-potter-and-the-philosophers-stone/