Review Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)

[Doctor Omega]

Your thoughts on this movie.....

An orphaned boy enrolls in a school of wizardry, where he learns the truth about himself, his family and the terrible evil that haunts the magical world.

On to the next movie.....

HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS.....

https://www.imdforums.com/threads/harry-potter-and-the-chamber-of-secrets-2002.960/

 

[chainsaw_metal1]

I'm a little ashamed to say, I saw the movie before I read the book. I fell in love with the movie, and went out and found the first two books (Prisoner of Azkaban was still a few months away at that point). I read them both in a day each, and loved them so very much.

Chris Columbus had the unenviable task of bringing a massively popular franchise to the big screen, and I think, for the most part, he nailed it. Sure, there are little complaints I have here and there, but that's more as a fan of the book. From a filmmaking stance, he visually created the magical world of wizardry very well. Hogwarts, like in the book, is a character all unto itself. The cast is wonderful, even the child actors, who all seem to have a real grasp on the roles and embody them perfectly. The effects are great, even if some shots here and there look dated, but the film is 16 years old, so that's to be expected. I like that this movie was so brightly lit, so as to mimic Harry's wonder and amazement at this new world that he's been immersed in, and that every movie after that gets a little darker as did the tones of the books.

Also, John Cleese. Whoever thought to cast him should be knighted.

 

[Carol]

I saw the movie before I read the book

Ashamed my arse! No need for that at all, my darling - that's just the way it happened.

Two things bother me, I have to say, about Harry Potter's US reputation, which you, as a fully paid-up American Person, might be able to explain. And it goes without saying you're one of the good guys, who might just have some inside information because the impression we Brits get is a bit - err - unsubtle, to say the least. So, if you can help, I'd be really interested -

Really, WHY the change in title to "Sorcerer's Stone" for the US? And WTF with book-burning? There appear to be some anti - "Satanic" Americans who could usefully spend quality time with the back-catalogues of both Hammer Studios and Roger Corman before they hedge their bets.

Final question (said the Spanish Inquesition, offering a half pint of nicely chilled Amontillado by way of apology) - has the arrival of the New York- set Fantastic Beasts made homeland critics happier? Please feel free to be not the man-on-the-spot by saying very rude words to me in response. (Hints like Fuck Off Descendant of Redcoat Oppressors I get almost immediately.)

 

[chainsaw_metal1]

(said the Spanish Inquesition, offering a half pint of nicely chilled Amontillado by way of apology)

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

By the way, I knew Poe personally. If he offers you an Amontillado, run.

In America, the word Philosopher was associated with the great thinkers. It was thought that to use the original term would confuse the intended audience, younglings, and so they went with Sorcerer, a word they would know. It's one of those "English should be universal as we both speak it, but you take the lift and I'll take the elevator" (a Tennant-era Easter egg for you, if you know where to look). Silly, I know. However, in the present season of The Flash, they actually call it the Philosopher's stone. They also have the guy that played Draco this year, so that's another plus.

As for book burnings, *sigh*. There is a large fundamental (huge emphasis on the "mental") Christian population here. These are people who see the devil everywhere. Growing up in the 80s, I dealt with them because I listened to metal, and of course every metal band is satanic. Hell, there are those who say this of Christian metal bands, because some people have serious mental disturbances. They watch TV and movies to see if anything might be offensive to their delicate sensibilities or might cause them a momentary lapse in faith. Think Mary Whitehouse but on a much larger scale, and much more annoying.

So someone in their community simply heard that kids were eating these books up like all sorts (ya know, candy), and without actually reading the fucking books, decided that these books were teaching black magic to our children, were a gateway to satan worship, were leading children away from Christ, and that they should be banned, destroyed and JK should be shunned as a witch. Needless to say, it was a futile attempt, and the books remained - and still remain - extremely popular.

Does this sound insane? Yes. But this is the country I live in. A country that still has really stupid puritanical laws on the books, and puritanical hangups on a lot of things.

 

[Elliot Thomas]

I think this may be the weakest film of the lot. And the running time is ridiculous/oppressive

 

[Carol]

Think Mary Whitehouse but on a much larger scale,

REALLY trying not to think that, but now you mention it, where's Godzilla when you need it?

Very helpful answer, thanks (and don't worry - I have Henry V on hold - more fool Ken for adding a 15 minute dialogue-free action sequence, they can manage Agincourt without my close attention - the result is already in.) (We won.)

Lordy-lord- fundamentalists - I don't know where to start OR stop with all that - it's, as you say, the without reading first crap - you know - PRE judging = prejudice... I do think they are maniacs who still mentally inhabit the eighteenth century in many respects and would deserve it if the redcoats turned up again on the horizon. Don't worry, they'd be bringing condoms, copies of Lady Chatterley (not the book, it's crap, but the Sean Bean DVD, it's FUN), and LIBERATION from PURITANISM.

Your Lift / Elevator reference escapes me- oh dear, I'll have to re-watch all my lovely Tennant Doctors to figure it out.
Are you getting the latest and last series of Broadchurch by the way? Mildly menace close acquaintance and poke actual relatives to get it - hell! MUTILATE ancestors and descendants - a bit - who come between you and it - Tennant reigns supreme, and if they love you they'll understand.

 

[Carol]

I think this may be the weakest film of the lot.

Sorry, Elliot, looks like I took so long writing my last one I skipped yours completely - wasn't ignoring you! Were there specific soggy bits you would have removed? Streuth - seeing it in the cinema was so long ago, and I've watched it on TV so many
times since, I think nostalgia overrules objective criticism on this one.
Oh bugger- looks like I'm double posting here - BIG sorry, anyone who cares!

 

[Elliot Thomas]

Sorry, Elliot, looks like I took so long writing my last one I skipped yours completely - wasn't ignoring you! Were there specific soggy bits you would have removed? Streuth - seeing it in the cinema was so long ago, and I've watched it on TV so many
times since, I think nostalgia overrules objective criticism on this one.
Oh bugger- looks like I'm double posting here - BIG sorry, anyone who cares!

I think the director Chris Columbus was so eager to please fans that he was afraid to leave anything out in the editing room. So we had 2 and a half hours, which was way too long.

 

[chainsaw_metal1]

Your Lift / Elevator reference escapes me- oh dear, I'll have to re-watch all my lovely Tennant Doctors to figure it out.
Are you getting the latest and last series of Broadchurch by the way? Mildly menace close acquaintance and poke actual relatives to get it - hell! MUTILATE ancestors and descendants - a bit - who come between you and it - Tennant reigns supreme, and if they love you they'll understand.

In Daleks in Manhattan, there's a moment when they climb aboard an elevator, and it says "Lift". I've never learned if it was a clever way for the prop masters to slip in a British term, if it was a slip up because they didn't know the American term (in was, after all, set in America), or if they were afraid that British viewers wouldn't know what elevator meant. Either way, it's funny.

I'm blushing in shame, but I still haven't finished the first series. They're on Netflix, I just need to stop finding more shows to get addicted to.

 

[Gavin]

I think the director Chris Columbus was so eager to please fans that he was afraid to leave anything out in the editing room. So we had 2 and a half hours, which was way too long.

He managed to leave out the scenes of Peeves (played by Rik Mayall) .

Looking back, the first book had a lot of challenges in turning it into a film. The vast majority of the book is world building and set up for future books with only a small amount of real action. There's not a lot that could easily be left out without creating issues further down the track. In addition the three leads were young and inexperienced and it shows in their acting (although fortunately they all developed well as the series went on).

 

[Carol]

In Daleks in Manhattan, there's a moment when they climb aboard an elevator, and it says "Lift". I've never learned if it was a clever way for the prop masters to slip in a British term, if it was a slip up because they didn't know the American term (in was, after all, set in America), or if they were afraid that British viewers wouldn't know what elevator meant. Either way, it's funny.

One well two - of my favourites, and I never noticed that Lift sign because I would expect it to say exactly that - you're right. Maybe they went for the option that younger British viewers would easily understand - or, of course, just a cockup.

 

[chainsaw_metal1]

I remember when I first saw that one, it immediately angered me. Like, "You're setting a story in America, get the slang right!" But then I thought more about it and I find it funny.

 

[Carol]

I remember when I first saw that one, it immediately angered me. Like, "You're setting a story in America, get the slang right!" But then I thought more about it and I find it funny.

Also funny (at least to me) is when brave American actors do their best English accents to economise on hiring token real Brits on American TV. Woe betide them when these shows (and I mean good stuff I really like, like CSI, Castle etc) are then shown in Britain, where we fall about howling at their attempts at Cockney (why is it always Cockney?) or constipated RP - actually I do know - it's the 2 accents in Mary Poppins! The actors are good, the scripts are good overall - does the wider American public need to be defended from the mysteries of Brummie, Geordie, Scouse, etc.? Thanks to Sean Bean I know some nuances of proper Yorkshire utterance are well distributed... but since we are on a Harry Potter thread - some lovely regional varieties ticking over in all these films...

 

[Hux]

(and I mean good stuff I really like, like CSI, Castle etc) are then shown in Britain, where we fall about howling at their attempts at Cockney (why is it always Cockney?)

Because when its Geordie... this happens. Prepare to be gobsmacked.

 

[Carol]

Because when its Geordie... this happens. Prepare to be gobsmacked.

Hux, I love you for this - also, please consider my gob well and truly bitch-smacked.
(seriously, is this an episode yet to raise its head over here?)

Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! |And also
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
And, err, huh? OK clearly script in the vicinity of some Geordie-aware phrasing but the actor is floundering somewhere between north of Carlisle and the southern suburbs of Glasgow...intermittently. POOR SOD.

Better he had spent a happy day watching Likely Lads or the entire Beiderbeck Trilogy before committing himself to this.

You are wise and witty in this riposte - I will await this arrival of this episode with fear and trembling and a very large supply of Newky Brown .

 

[duzit]

@Carol , As a Castle lover forever the video that Hux provided did wake up some memory cells that remembered this episode. So with a little Internet searching came up with this info:

Geordie character on American TV series Castle: Is this the worst Geordie accent ever?

Geordies get ready to wince and cringe in equal measure, you might be about to watch the worst Geordie accent ever to be heard on television.

The offending interpretation of our lovely dialect appeared on an episode of American show Castle which involves lead character Richard Castle getting himself into all sorts of interesting scenarios.

"In one particular episode of its eighth series Richard has to go undercover in an English class for beginners in order to find out who committed a murder."

So if/when season 8 which is the "last" season, episode 13, roles around in the UK, you can get a full hour of belly laughs...

 

[ant-mac]

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

By the way, I knew Poe personally. If he offers you an Amontillado, run.

In America, the word Philosopher was associated with the great thinkers. It was thought that to use the original term would confuse the intended audience, younglings, and so they went with Sorcerer, a word they would know. It's one of those "English should be universal as we both speak it, but you take the lift and I'll take the elevator" (a Tennant-era Easter egg for you, if you know where to look). Silly, I know. However, in the present season of The Flash, they actually call it the Philosopher's stone. They also have the guy that played Draco this year, so that's another plus.

As for book burnings, *sigh*. There is a large fundamental (huge emphasis on the "mental") Christian population here. These are people who see the devil everywhere. Growing up in the 80s, I dealt with them because I listened to metal, and of course every metal band is satanic. Hell, there are those who say this of Christian metal bands, because some people have serious mental disturbances. They watch TV and movies to see if anything might be offensive to their delicate sensibilities or might cause them a momentary lapse in faith. Think Mary Whitehouse but on a much larger scale, and much more annoying.

So someone in their community simply heard that kids were eating these books up like all sorts (ya know, candy), and without actually reading the fucking books, decided that these books were teaching black magic to our children, were a gateway to satan worship, were leading children away from Christ, and that they should be banned, destroyed and JK should be shunned as a witch. Needless to say, it was a futile attempt, and the books remained - and still remain - extremely popular.

Does this sound insane? Yes. But this is the country I live in. A country that still has really stupid puritanical laws on the books, and puritanical hangups on a lot of things.

So, do you reckon I should lose the horns, pointed ears and tail before I visit?

But what do I do about my red-tinged skin?

I suppose I could always run for the presidency...

 

[Carol]

So if/when season 8 which is the "last" season, episode 13, roles around in the UK, you can get a full hour of belly laughs...

I think I'm currently waiting for s.7 to start on Five, so it'll be a while. And by the state of that clip, I'll need plenty of time to brace myself. Thanks for sharing!

 

[chainsaw_metal1]

So, do you reckon I should lose the horns, pointed ears and tail before I visit?

But what do I do about my red-tinged skin?

Face paint, trench coat, and a stocking cap. Like those bracelets used to say, WWSD - What Would Spock Do?

I suppose I could always run for the presidency..

I was going to say super villain, but...oh, I see what you did there.

 

[Amyghost]

Also funny (at least to me) is when brave American actors do their best English accents to economise on hiring token real Brits on American TV. Woe betide them when these shows (and I mean good stuff I really like, like CSI, Castle etc) are then shown in Britain, where we fall about howling at their attempts at Cockney (why is it always Cockney?) or constipated RP - actually I do know - it's the 2 accents in Mary Poppins! The actors are good, the scripts are good overall - does the wider American public need to be defended from the mysteries of Brummie, Geordie, Scouse, etc.? Thanks to Sean Bean I know some nuances of proper Yorkshire utterance are well distributed... but since we are on a Harry Potter thread - some lovely regional varieties ticking over in all these films...

You have to wonder why too. Any American actor who's halfway competent at accents should be able to do a decent one; I work with a lovely British lady at my job who has what I suppose would be called 'middle-class London or immediate suburbs' accent (definitely neither Cockney nor RP, nor yet northerly), and it would seem that her speech would be not too hard to replicate convincingly. But I suppose it's a bit like American actors attempting to do the American regional Southern accent--of which there's a huge variety and of which the average American actor only appears to be able to sound one or two, and usually not even those very well.