Posted by Jeff Lebowski at v90-228.autoroute.net on November 17, 2001 at 18:39:53:
Well, firstly, Coltrane was excellent. Thats for sure. Rickman was pretty good, too, but should've had more screen time. I think the movie would have benefited from more plot/character development than special effects. As it stands now, I find it merely an introduction to pertinent places and characters that will prove significant in the next few books/movies, rather than a stand alone picture. And painful as it is, I really found Richard Harris as Dumbledore underwhelming. I went in thinking along the lines of Alec Guinness as Obi Wan Kenobi, and was extremely disapointed. I liked Maggie Smith quite a bit, as well as all the other teachers, but there just wasn't enough of them. Aw well, I guess it isn't called "The Teachers and the Philosopher's (or "Sorcerer's" for you Americans) Stone". You know what it felt like to me, it felt like it was a big-budget, high-gloss re-enactment of some kid's favorite parts of the book. It's sufficiant to say that I was disapointed.