Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone (2001)
(aka Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, UK)
d. Chris Columbus, 146 minutes

Film Plot Summary

11 year-old orphaned Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), with a lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead after being touched by a curse, lived a miserable life with his Muggle ("non magic folk") relatives: Aunt Petunia Dursley (Fiona Shaw) and Uncle Vernon Dursley (Richard Griffiths), after the darkly evil/cruel wizard Lord Voldemort (Richard Bremmer) killed his parents James and Lily Potter when he was one year old.

He learned the truth of his life (that his parents weren't killed in a car crash) from long-haired, bearded half-giant Rubeus Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) - the groundskeeper from Hogwarts School, and was surprised to know he was famous: "You're the boy who lived"; he was enrolled as a student at a wizards boarding school called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, run by powerful Headmaster Albus Dumbledore (Richard Harris) and his strict Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall (Maggie Smith), who could morph into a cat.

Harry took the express train to Hogwarts from Platform 9 3/4ths at King's Cross Station in London; he quickly made friends with red-haired student Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and intelligent student-witch Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), who lived with him at Gryffindor House on the campus, in competition with the Slytherin House, run by devious potions master Professor Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) (revealed to be helping Voldemort).

The trio soon learned more about the mystery of Harry's parents' deaths -- a disembodied, cursed Voldemort, after trying to kill Harry years earlier, was plotting a comeback by taking a philosopher's stone (made by 665 year-old Nicholas Flamel, the only known maker of the Sorcerer's Stone: "It'll transform any metal into pure gold, and produces the Elixir of Life which will make the drinker immortal"), hidden in a chamber under a trap door at Hogwarts that was guarded by a fierce 3-headed dog named Fluffy.

The film's climax found the trio seeking the stone, and Harry discovering the Mirror of Erised (that reflected "the deepest and most desperate desires of the heart") which showed him his dead parents; when they were confronted by Voldemort (who parasitically possessed the body of turbaned Professor Quirrell (Ian Hart) and talked from the back of his head), Harry's magical powers prevented Voldemort from stealing the stone and defeating him with lethal spells; Dumbledore also helped to save the hero Harry, and the stone was destroyed.

The film ended with a victory of Gryffindor House against Slytherin for the House Cup when extra points were awarded to them.

The film contained many fanciful elements, such as owl-postal delivery, Gringotts' bank goblins, a Sorting Hat (to determine housing at Hogwarts), a fully-grown Mountain Troll that menaced Hermione in the girl's bathroom, an Invisibility Cloak, a young Norwegian Ridgeback dragon that spewed fire named Norbert, a forbidden Dark Forest with an injured unicorn and a centaur named Firenze, regular and life-sized games of chess, a game called Quidditch with players zooming around on broomsticks to catch a winged Golden Snitch, and changing banquet hall decorations.

Film Notables (Awards, Facts, etc.)

All of the films in this incredible fantasy/adventure film series were based upon adaptations of the J. K. Rowling books. Based upon Rowling's 1997 novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

With a production budget of $125 million, its box-office was immense, $318 million (domestic) and $975 million (worldwide), and the highest grossing film of 2001, and the highest grossing film of the series - to date.

With three Academy Award nominations: Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score, with no wins.

Some religious controversy surrounded the film in regards to its celebration of witchcraft and magic.