As we approach the opening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Pop Goes The World, will take a look back at each of the Harry Potter films, beginning with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

On November 16, 2001, the first Harry Potter film opened up in theatres. Based on JK Rowling’s popular book series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone had huge expectations to fill. It was going to make or break a potential film franchise.

I fell in love with the books back in 2000 and even turned a few people on to the books. So when I knew there was going to be a movie version of the first book, I was very excited. Casting was paramount and the film makers had to get it right.

I remember back in 2000, I was in New York City and attended a taping of the Rosie O’Donnell Show and while the show was showing a pre-taped segment, Rosie took some questions from the audience. Because Rosie too was a big Harry Potter fan, someone asked her if she was going to play Molly Weasley, the matriarch of the Weasley clan that includes Ron, Harry’s bestie.

She said no because the film makers were going all British. Thank goodness that she didn’t play her and we instead got the wonderful Julie Walters to play Molly. There were stories that they would film the movie in LA, add cheerleaders to Hogwarts and make it a more accessible high school-type story for American audiences. I am grateful that the producers like David Heyman respected JK Rowling’s work too much to pander to Hollywood. Instead we got a who’s who of British actors (who were all perfectly cast in their roles) and filmed in the UK.

So when I saw the first trailer for the Philosopher’s Stone, I nearly peed in my pants. It was so good and seemed very faithful to the novel.

Christopher Columbus, who is most famous for directing Mrs. Doubtfire, was at the helm for this one and I was a little bit hesitant at what he could bring to the table but he did a good job.

When I first saw it I loved it and I have now seen this film many times. Looking back, I realized and did at the time that Columbus was very faithful to the source material and if you watch the extended version on DVD, it is even more true to the book. There are some exceptions of course like reducing the adults in the novel to mere background players and playing down Ron’s importance and upping Hermione’s. Also, to this day, and no disrespect to Michael Gambon, but when I read the Harry Potter novels, I hear Richard Harris’ Dumbledore in my head.

As for the kids, I was immediately taken by Emma Watson as Hermione in the trailers as she seemed to be perfect but when I saw her on screen, her Hermione felt a bit forced like she was trying really hard to nail the nuances of being Hermione. What was a surprise was how natural Rupert Grint was as Ron. He was so good as comic relief. And Daniel Radcliffe was pretty good too as Harry Potter and did a great job of carrying the first film on his shoulders. If he wasn’t great as Harry Potter then we only would have gotten the one film.

One of the problems I had with Philosopher’s Stone and is still a problem now is the CGI in the film. It frankly sucked. The troll was terrible and so were the centaurs. The Narnia films do a better job at centaurs than Harry Potter. Unfortunately, some of the CGI for subsequent movies did not get any better (I am looking at you Grawp).

The score by John Williams is nothing but magical and again he gives us a movie theme for the ages (Hedwig’s Theme) that when you hear it, you immediately think Harry Potter.

The running time for Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone was 2 hours and 32 minutes and you never once feel it unlike Transformers 3. Even at the running time, there were still some stuff that they had to cut, which is weird considering the novel’s length.

Anyways, 10 years later and I still enjoy watching Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. I think what made this film successful thus us getting all of the novels filmed was being faithful to the source material and the casting. Without it, we wouldn’t be waiting for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 to open up.