User rating=8,3 / 10 Star; Directed by=Chris Columbus; 2001; Rating=617990 Votes; ; Star=Daniel Radcliffe

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First off I haven't read any of the books. There's no real reason for this I simply haven't got round to them. which in the current climate must make me somewhat of a minority.
secondly one word to sum up this film: uneven
There are some thoroughly entertaining moments in this film particularly Robbie Coltraine's scenes as his comic timing is brilliant as ever. these moments are counter balanced by dire action sequences, particularly the quiditch game which is so slick and clinical that all traces of emotion are lost (think pod race in episode 1)
the three lead children where all excellent right up to the last twenty minutes when all of a sudden they reverted back to standard child actors and became stiff and wooden. In fact this entire section was badly scripted and directed which somewhat ruined what had gone before. until this point most of the dialogue between them was excellent.
In places however the film seemed little more than a montage of special effects which come so thick and fast that the subtlety of the "magic" scenery is lost.
I could be way off the mark here but from what I've heard about the books they are actually quite dark and Harry is quite insecure about his place in the school. I was expecting to see at least a little of this emotional turbulence but it appeared to have been glossed over with standard Hollywood values of friendship and loyalty. I thought the reason Harry had become so popular was that we finally had a child character who dealt with real problems. unfortunately the film doesn't deal with this at all.
All that criticism out the way the film is actually quite enjoyable over all and the running time didn't bother me at all so it must have kept me interested. It's just a shame thy couldn't have done more than present the same old 2 dimensional Hollywood characters.

Before I entered the cinema I was a little worried that the book may have been picked up and messed around with by the Hollywood machine and the film pushed out the end, But to my amazement they have kept almost the same. Several little bits were missing, like the absence of the poltergeist which I thought may have been quite fun. But a mystic magical adventure not to be missed.

Okay, I have never read a Harry Potter book in my life, and never intended to. So when I saw HARRY POTTER at the cinemas I wasnt expecting anything in particular and I was totally N-O-T blown away. It was like watching a TV series with a huge budget and just 5 episodes run one after the other.
The story was totally luckluster and does not deserve so much praise in my mind. I mean, it was okay. The SFX was okay. The direction was alright. The cinematography nothing super special. And the kid actors just plain sucked. What is with that over-annunciation (spell? when they speak? And their reactions were pretty bad. I mean. Kirsten Dunst - a real actress - seemed to be able to do a far better performance than these 3 when she played Claudia in INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE.
Anyway. I think if your a fan... I can only assume you'll wet your pants with pleasure of seeing your lovely books on the screen. Other people. I'd wait until the crowds have either gone or wait until video or even.

I love this movie and saw it 17 times. But I think instead of adding yet another great review, I'll be neutral here.
In order to completely appreciate the movie, you MUST read the book. (And, seeing it is the highest selling fiction book of all time, it probably won't be torture.)But it is not impossible to love it even if you are a Muggle. However, if you did not like the movie, I suggest reading the book.