Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Robbie Coltrane, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Richard Harris

Directed by: Chris Columbus

The following contains spoilers for the 3 current Harry Potter movies. I came in late to the Harry Potter game. When The Sorcerer's Stone came out in the fall of 2001 I had never read any of the books (still haven't) and because it was based on a children's series I didn't even bother to see it in the theater. I was a poor student and going to the movies was as expensive then as it is now. I just couldn't see spending my dinner cash on a kid's movie.

By the following summer I did see it on tape and I learned what a lot of people already knew, which is that it's more then just a silly kid's movie. It's a rich, complete adventure that, as corny as it sounds, is fun for all ages.

With or without my student dollars the movie was a huge hit, breaking records, and insuring sequels in its opening weekend. It was a big movie that had big success. I've rewatched it in hopes of pinpointing what about it makes it better then your averages kids fare. It's definitely got a lot going for it. Great story, big effects, a well-executed mystery? so, through analyzing it I questioned if it was a kid's movie at all.

I mean, forget the movie is two and a half hours long (a lethal amount of time to keep a child in one seat), and let's just take a look at the story. There's a lot of stuff going on that could easily float over the kid's heads. Maybe I'm not giving them enough credit, but I watched the movie 20 minutes ago, and I'm not even sure I could tell you exactly why Voldemort wanted the stone for.

The answer is immortality, but it's more complicated then it sounds.

The plot and the way it's developed and revealed is very sophisticated. Obviously this movie wasn't made BY children, but a story this well thought out is not usually FOR children. On the surface it's just a kid at school, but it's really a completely realized brilliantly told mystery. A simple slow set up with constant hints and reminders setting up a completely believable big reveal at the end.

The bad guy ends up being professor Quirrell. Knowing that going in it's interesting to see the way he's used. Set up as a stuttering buffoon and coward, almost forgettable, except that he's constantly popping up. It's brilliant in that you never suspect him but you're never given a true reason forget him. He's always around.

You can thank setting up Snape as the scapegoat for that. He's the best Potter character in that he will always be suspected of evil, even though he really is one of the good guys. He just doesn't play the games. He doesn't buy into the Potter celebrity crap. He even seems a little bitter, and that just makes him look more and more like the villain. He's a great use of distraction.

The best moment of the mystery I think is the Quidditch match. There's a lot of nothing that happens in that scene but when Harry's broom goes haywire and Snape is seen casting a spell, your mind starts asking the questions. Snape is casting a spell so it must be him, right? But who was it that gave him the broom in the first place? Of course if you look at the screen Quirrell is casting a spell too. It's great because there's so much going on attached to this game, and it really makes Quidditch part of the movie. Without this little interaction the entire 30 minutes would have felt like a tacked on moment. Just something cool to look at without any relevant relation to the rest of the story.

It just goes to show that in a good mystery everything means something.

The movie is rated PG with a warning that reads "Some scary moments and mild language". I didn't notice the language but the scary is there. How are kids not freaked out by this? Did you see the size of Fluffy the 3-headed dog? The whole concept of a unicorn vampire is going haunt me for a couple of days.

Seriously though, this stuff is tame compared to the spiders in Chamber and the reaper things in Azkaban. And that's good. Test your kids out on this and then move them up to the really freaky stuff. Before you know it they'll be ready for the Exorcist The effects are good? kind of. It's weird. Simple stuff looks outstanding, and the sets costumes and background are all outstanding, but when they get too big with the effects, something is not quite right. There are three major points for me. Fluffy the guard dog, the Troll, and the centaur in the forest. All three technically look really great, but when matched into the environment something goes wrong. I've looked at it as closely as I can but I can't figure it out. Lighting is fine, texture is good, but something is off. They look like really really nice cartoons. Cartoons aren't good enough though, it just needs to be a better match.

The Troll gets knocked out and there are a couple of close-ups on his face and head. There he looks great because they made a big puppet to use. Looked fantastic. I just want to give the credit where it's due.

There are a couple other questionable CGI moments with humans when they get into the action. Either on the broom or when Harry jumps on the trolls back it totally switches into video game mode. You know what I'm talking about, like when Neo is fighting all the agent Smith's in Reloaded. It looks awesome, but it looks fake. The sad thing is that if it were a cinema to a video game it would be incredible. It's the difference between something created strictly as CGI, and something that's supposed to represent reality.

Seriously though these CGI nit picks hardly affect the quality of the film. All the magic and excitement the story provides are still there. And the effects are good enough to startle you (in a good way), but not so bad you're taken out of the moment.

As a proper introduction to Harry Potter and the world he lives in, this movie is near perfect. It's thoughtful, and sweet, and exciting. So many people, environments and ideas are introduced in this movie that all have greater importance down the road. How they're able to include it all is amazing, and having seen the other movies will not take away from this movie at all, but make you appreciate these little introductions even more.

Movie: 8 out of 10

So it does work for kids and adults. Sure it's complicated and involved, but it's this big grand adventure that everyone can get excited about. That's the beauty of it. The effects are good (enough) but really it's the story that will win you over. Even as hour 2 begins there are enough ideas to keep you interested, and the time and care taken to bring those ideas to life is very clear. I can see why people freak out over this franchise.

DVD features

The standard version is a 2-disk set. On the first disk with the movie you'll get the theatrical teaser and full trailer as well as a listing of the cast and crew. That listing basically tells you what they did on the movie but little else. I always enjoy it when you can select an actor and see what they'd done before. Sure it's easier to look up on line, but what they have here is easier to get of the back of the box then the DVD itself.

For the kind of movie this is the DVD could be called bare bones, but there's enough there to keep you busy for an hour or so. Self guided tours of the school with closer looks at the entire cast. They had some fun setting up the interface. It doesn't look great but navigating through it was fun. For instance you couldn't explore the classrooms without first buying a wand from Diagon Alley. And you couldn't buy a wand without going to the bank to make a withdrawal. And you couldn't make a withdrawal without finding the hidden key first. Stuff like that. It's cute.

Stand outs There's an interview section on Disk 2 with a half hour special interviewing the makers of the film. As brief as it is, it's nice to hear their thoughts on the process and the finished product, as well as a sneak peek at what's to come in Chamber of Secrets.

What's missing?

Well for a movie like this there should be an endless amount of special features (think Lord of the Rings extended addition), and it's the sort of thing you can expect when a full set of the 7 movies is released at the completion of the series. But what really surprised me to not find was a commentary. Nothing from the director, the stars, or any of the crew. This movie could easily yield 3 or 4 commentaries worth listening to. I for one would love to know what they were thinking during the process.

Also some sort of "Book to Movie" featurette chronicling the process of editing down the book for the screen version. We all know that there was a ton of stuff cut out. Some interviews with producers, directors and Rowling herself would have been sweet. That's the sort of behind the scenes stuff I'm really interested in.

DVD: 4 out of 10

Honestly a commentary would have made it worthy to me. What they have is nice, but not nearly enough. DVD Worthy: Only to the die hard fans that need to watch it often. Honestly this thing is on ABC 3 or 4 times a year. Are people really that hard up to watch the first Harry Potter movie? It really is a great movie but the best thing it did was set up the franchise. We've got the back-story, now we can enjoy the rest of the story.

Today's special incentive shows Malfoy reaction to the last minute points.

And for the rest of the week I'll be taking a closer look at all of the Harry Potter movies leading up to the review of The Goblet of Fire on Friday. Until now, get ready for The Chamber of Secrets, and go check out the new design of the Digital Pimp home page. Thanks!