Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone | 100 Movies Bucket List

 

I hadn't seen this film in years before seeing it on the bucket list, so I was interested to see it again after a long time.

I used to be a really big Harry Potter fan, and while my love for it started to wane before the 6th movie came out, I've seen the first 5 probably at least 50 times each.

Watching it again after so long made things fun but also familiar enough that I could slot right back into it.

This film is iconic. That's it - iconic.

All of the movies are great, but there's something about an origin that just holds a certain amount of magic, and this is no exception. 

The cast is fantastic! The child actors are all most famous for being in these movies, and it's so fun to go back and see them when they were young - they're babies! And they do such an amazing job playing these parts that it's a shame more of them didn't go on to have robust careers. But the ones that did, you can see exactly why.

But that's not to say the adult actors aren't worth mentioning! Whether this was their most famous role or not, they all became synonymous with their characters because of how well they played them and how real they felt. Hogwarts feels like a real place because the actors make us believe in it.

Speaking of the realism of Hogwarts, another reason we believe in it is because of the production design. I can't remember the description from the books but I'd guess that however it was described didn't do justice to the actual visual. All of the different areas are works of art - the whole movie is stunning.

It's one of those movies that's long, but absolutely every second is needed and necessary. There isn't a scene I'd cut out. The pacing is so good that it doesn't feel close to being 2.5 hours long.

But that's also because the story is so packed - this could be 2 movies in one because of how much information we get and how much we learn about the characters and the world. Halfway through, it's really hard to remember that this is the same boy who didn't even know what Hogwarts was an hour ago. The characters develop really quickly and we follow them on every step of the journey.

It mixed genres really well to combine aspects of fantasy, drama, comedy, thriller and horror to give us a story that feels really real. We believe everything that happens, and we go through these thoughts and emotions with the characters the whole way through.

So, this wasn't news to me, but I loved this film. It's really interesting watching it so many years after last seeing it, it almost felt like catching up with old friends, in the best way.