Excellent film. Best seen with young people.

Annoying trash, with possibly the worst assembly of child actors in history.

The fact that it slavishly follows the book is no plus in my view.

good

This was a good adaptaion of the book.  There were minor changes to the storyline and things were omitted but that is to be expected when the make any book into a movie.  They have good casting especially with Harry, Ron, and Hermoine.  I really enjoy the Quidditch scene in the movie as well.

Eh, these movies are okay. Pretty annoying but okay. The story in this one is decent enough. I still thing "Lord of the Rings" is about a zillian zillian times better.

I mean, get real...it's Harry Potter!

A good opening movie to this series. Very informative, and showed good acting from the young cast.

As a Potter fan, I was disappointed. The acting was pretty bad and the whole story line just didn't fire you up like the book did. The book's good, though, so I'm giving it another star.

Yeah yeah - b**** and rant all you want but this movie is great.

I have read all the books and seen all the movies and I have my pro's and con's about it. I can see the witchcraft aspect of it but I can also see the bravery/heroic side of it. It goes both ways.

You have to enjoy well-done films, and this was a good one; just enough exposition for those who hadn't read the book, solid casting throughout, and a nice pace that caused neither snores nor nosebleeds. The monster animation left a little to be desired, but the other special effects were nailed with a fair degree of ingenuity. Should be plenty watchable over the next couple of decades.

This movie was okay but way too long. It felt like 6 hours. The book was exactly like the book. And I think that is where the problem was for many people. If we want to know how the book is we would read it. I wanted to see a shorter, compact version of the book. It felt streched. Still a good movie, but more for the younger audiences.

I read all of the books and I loved them, but I wasn't that crazy about the movie, I expected better.

I have read the book and have see the movie. Both were great. I was pleased to see that they followed the book so closely. To anyone who will not watch or read Harry Potter because they think witchcraft is evil, my grandfather, a devoted southern baptist preacher, has read all the books and seen all the movie so far produced and loves them and finds the stories to be a wonderful creation of fantasy. So to those nah-sayer, what's next, boycott Wizard of Oz and at least half the Disney movies ever created, burn David Copperfield alive. It's a story, and a good one at that!

fantastic visual interrpretation of the first novel in the Potter series. a little long in the tooth b/c of Colombus' wanting to appease the book fans. still good stuff. although after reading the Harry Potter books i renounced god and took up w/a cult that practices witchcraft and black magic. that wasn't even the worst part. all the other witches and wizards were 11 year old orphans, shunned by society, now working for evil. who knew?

I do not like this movie because it condones witchcraft and black magic, which is clearly evil and something we are to stay away from. When we are dealing with witchcraft, we are dealing with demonic powers, because we don't have magical powers. There is no such thing as using magic for good. Maybe the person may be using it for good in their mind, but that power is from the devil. He is mucking around with their mind and fooling them into believing that they are using his power for good. There are lots of Bible verses that speak against witchcraft, magical arts, astrology, psychics, fortune tellers etc. Some people may think that white magic is good, but whether it is black or white, it is still evil and God hates it. Black magic is using physical magic eg spells and doing a lot of the stuff on Harry Potter and Charmed. White magic is dealing with psychic powers, manipulating people's emotions and will, fortune telling, astrology etc. Using Satan's power is like throwing your steak dinner to lions. They will rip the steak up and eat it, turn around and rip you to pieces. Satan is a horrible, unfair bank dealer. Most banks charge interest, but the devil lends you money, but charges 200% interest.

The only reason I saw this movie is because everyone was reading the books, how foolish I was. I hated this movie because it was boring and uninteresting. The plot was pathetic and simplistic.I wish in these childish movies that good lost againest evil for once so they wouldnt bother me with the next movie.

Excellent movie,as true to the book as possible without being 8 hours long.

Bite my shiney metal arse.

i have read all 4 books! and when the movies came out.. they jus kept gettin better and better and even more better because its a story with imagination, magic, and adventure! will always love it!

Read the book first.

Loved it. It was a good introduction into the world of Harry Potter and is faithful to the book in most aspects. The cast did great jobs also. The scenery and Hogwarts itself were wonderful, it's like entering an entirely different world for the duration of the film.

I have not read any of the Harry Potter books, but I did not need too. I've seen the first two movies and they are two masterpieces. They will go down in history as classics. The movie is a pure cinematic gem that will take you into a world of wonderment and awe. Daniel Radcliffe is superb as Harry Potter who can act just as well as the veteran actors he's working with which include Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman Robbie Coltrane and Rex Harris. The other child actors Rupert Grint and Emma Watson are a delight. The story is terrific about a boy who grew up in a rather abusive home who discovers he is something special. Only more terrific than that, he doesn't flaunt it or abuse it, there is a great deal of humanity in Harry Potter. Story is superb, special effects will leave you in awe, characters are memorable and it's a movie one will want to watch again and again.

I would have to respect the attempt at living upto the genius of the book itself but the movies will always fall short of J.K Rowling's written word. Personally, there is absolutely no inclination to catch these movies as they take the world by storm with all their special effects and rich enactments of what the books are all about. Advice: Go get the books before you catch the film.

I thought this movie was so cute, I could watch it over and over again. The movie was entertaining from beginning to end, never a dull moment.

How long can a movie be, and still feel like something was missing. The editing was horrible. The scene cuts were like somebody bumping the needle on a record player. Ouch! But my kids loved it.

Complete and total bull sh*t.

The problem with humanity!

I want to give this a 4.5. It was better than I thought it would be. It got confusing at times, but I got it seconds later each time.

This was such a bad movie. The book was much better.

eat my shorts.

If you have to take your kids to see a hyped up movie, this is what you want to see. Delightful!

Not just a film for kids. This one can be enjoyed by all ages. It's fairly faithful to the original story, and the actors are all wonderful in their roles and most importantly, they all look like they are having a great time. The special effects are wonderful too. They not only look realistic, but they also serve the story instead of overshadow it. And the deal about satanism--forget it. It's not there.

Loved it, the characters were great and I can't wait until the next installment!

I was a bit hesitant to rent this movie and even more hesitant to watch it because of all the publicity it got (I hate it when movies manage to abuse the amount of attention it can possibly get) but I ended up liking it. Perhaps it was the character Snape that intrigued me the most because he was the most mysterious of them all and mystery is an attractive thing (so is Alan Rickman). Ugly with hediously greasy hair? I think not. I had to keep on rewinding his scenes. I really hope I see more of him in the next films. Too bad the story circles around Harry Potter rather than him.

wicked

So stupid!

great movie! didn't see it ill after it came out on video but i thought it was great. I loved the books and the movie was just a little bit less exciting then the book probably because the book came out before the movie and the origional is usually better but i still think it was awesome

i was wowed by the effects, and having read the books, i felt that they stuck to the storyline as well as possible in order to tell the story in a timely matter. the attention to detail of the scenery, such as hogwarts and diagon alley was amazing, and the astors were equally well cast. it is an enchanting movie for children and adults.

Thought the movie was very good......but can someone help me.....I'm confused.....I thought it was "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone"?????

I saw the movie before I got into the books, so perhaps that's why I loved it. It was original, imaginative, funny, and... British. I've always been fascinated with the Brits, and I think the decision to have a British cast was the right one. It kept the feel of the books, and the actors were superb! Of course they left some things out, but there would be no way to have every single detail fit into a 2 1/2 hour film. Anyway, this movie led me to read all the books and I'm now a potter freak.

As someone whose family won't normally watch movies of books with, I was impressed. I spent my time watching this movie in an environment devoid of my usual complaints about adapations. Truely, the changes were few, and needed in many cases. Of course I would have liked to see each character have the shining moments they have in the books, but in the grand scheme of things who is more important -- Ron or Percy Weasly? The movie was 2 1/2 hours as it was! I must, however, refrain from a 5 star rating due to their copious use of computer generated characters etc. Whenever a CGI character appears on the screen, I immediately lose my suspension of disbelief or, alternately, feel like I am watching "Who Framed Roger Rabbit." I am aware that it was best for some things (flying on brooms seemed to be one of the better applications), but why was the grass in the Qudditch field animated? And do we need CGI to make owls fly? All in all, I was enchanted. Drawn in by the same magic that caused me to devour all the books and beg for more.

good effects story is so-so

Ummmmm...... sucks the big one.

Harry Potter is an average children's adventure film. With a few standout performances, the film wears off alot of it's steam after the first hour or so. If you haven't read the book, or aren't a fan of it, then you should keep away.

i like the books but the accent really pisses me off. ~norelle~

It is a must see movie. I was one of the many others that was standing in line on opening night just to see if it lived up to its hype. It did i was very impressed it was very true to the book and the graphics were alot better than i imagined. This movie will definitely be in my DVD collection when it comes out.

i saw this before i saw LOTR, and i gotta say. id rather watch LOTR 47 times over before i popped this one in the VCR, if for some reason i might have it.

Just to tell you how much I hate Harry Potter/the movie/ the books, i wish there was something less than 1 star!!! i wish i could give it like a 1/18 of a star. I hate him! People are getting too excited about this guy that does magic!!

I thought it was ok. It was true to the book in plot line but it cahnged a lot of stuff that shouldnt have been changed.