All Critics (186)
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Top Critics (40)
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Fresh (154)
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Rotten (38)
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DVD (44)
A near-perfect commercial and cultural commodity.
I hear the J.K. Rowling books are great, and on the basis of this 2001 movie I'm ready to believe it.
It offers more delights than disappointments -- and that qualifies as one of the year's great reliefs.
The filmmakers want to show us a magical world that is, at the same time, wholly believable. They want to create matter-of-fact miracles, but what they end up with is mostly just plain matter-of-fact.
You can't expect perfection from muggles.
Although it suffers nominally from being over-stuffed and under-paced, it's grand and involving, with magnificent production design and special effects, and some fabulous thesps present and correct.
First Potter movie is a magical ride but also intense.
A combination of computer graphics, detailed sets, and real-life locations gives the film the authenticity its fans expect. (Blu-ray Ultimate Edition)
Robbie Coltrane, Richard Harris, Zoe Wanamaker and Maggie Smith, to name but a few, all put in an appearance and it is these old hands who are the best aspect of the film.
Suffering from too much fantasy over too little reality, Sorcerer's Stone sets Harry Potter up for a longer and fruitful career as a screen legend.
Because the film is so glossy, so flippant in its presentation of the world that author J.K. Rowling has spent her sizable novels dissecting, that I still don't have a good idea what all the fuss is about.
The quickest, zappiest two and a half hours of entertainment you'll ever see.
Even though a few of the book's scenes have been cut, fans probably couldn't hope for a better adaptation. It bodes well for the rest of the series, when strong stories start taking precedence over set-up.
What a feast for children! Long, and engrossing. Kids will love it! Wizard!
A spectacular franchise takes flight.
I couldn't find one mis-step, one wrong move, or one disappointment in the transition from print to celluloid.
Columbus' rendition of the first Harry Potter is a slavish adapation of the book, lacking imagination or vision, though not as bad as to be insufferable to watch
The special effects aren't overwhelming and the ideas aren't too far-fetched, but the story will reel in just about anybody.
Unfortunately, many fine performances are nearly wasted by Columbus's predictable direction and an overbearing, relentless soundtrack.
Even though this movie impresses and delights on it's own, it is more exciting to view it as a teaser for the films to come
Even without a whit of singing, it is the 'Wizard of Oz' of our time. (Published 12-22-01)
A sense of loss accompanied my appreciation of the movie. The images created by my own imagination...will now be changed forever.
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