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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (U.S. Title)
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (U.K. Title)
Released November 16, 2001
Directed by Chris Columbus
Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson

This movie is based on the first novel in the highly popular Harry Potter book series, and it's far more faithful to the source than book-based films usually are. I re-read the book the day before I went to see the movie, so I was well prepared to nitpick. The film isn't a perfect re-enactment of the novel - it simply isn't possible to cram every detail in a 300-page book into a two-hour movie. There were scenes that were eliminated and others that were simplified or modified, but it was remarkable how much of the book's detail they were able to retain. So if you've read the book there won't be any big surprises in the movie, but it's a charming film and a great deal of fun to watch.

The exposition seemed a little artificial at times; you could almost see a little sign saying "pay attention, this is an important story element." And the movie was too conscious of how cool it was, with an overdose of "wow, look at that" from the Hogwarts students. Since most of them were from wizard families, I thought they shouldn't have been quite so impressed with everything they saw. But overall the modifications were smooth, and while purists might object, I had no major problems with it. Sometimes, though, the changes brought other movies to mind, and that was a little jarring. Every time a kid shouted with fear, it felt like a Home Alone moment - all that was missing was for them to clap their hands to their cheeks while they yelled. Parts of the Quidditch match felt like a blend of the pod race in The Phantom Menace and the speeder bike chase in Return of the Jedi. Harry's final confrontation with Voldemort was expanded, and I found it highly reminiscent of Luke Skywalker's confrontation with the Emperor and Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi. So instead of the proper fear and loathing I found myself grinning and muttering "Harry, I am your father" under my breath. But this is quibbling; the movie is true to the spirit of the book in most respects, and is worthy of repeated viewings. The sets and scenery are gorgeous.

Warwick plays two parts in this movie: Professor Flitwick and a Goblin Banker. In addition, he provided the voice of Griphook, the goblin who takes Harry and Hagrid down to the vault. The staff at Gringotts (England's only wizard bank) consists exclusively of goblins, because they are so dangerous that no one would dare to rob the bank with them around. Professor Flitwick is an old wizard who teaches the Charms class at Hogwarts, the wizard school that Harry Potter attends.

I knew from the book that these were minor characters, so I didn't expect Warwick to have much in the way of screen time. And while he doesn't have a lot, I was pleasantly surprised - both characters have more screen time and more dialogue than I thought they would. In fact, they have more dialogue in the movie than they do in the book. It's fun to listen to the difference in their voices; if I didn't know better, I would never have guessed that it was the same person talking. Warwick also supplied the voice for Griphook, the goblin (played by Verne Troyer) who takes Harry and Hagrid to the vault. Each of Warwick's characters has only one speaking scene, but Flitwick can be glimpsed on various school occasions, and there's a bonus appearance by the goblin banker in a newspaper photograph.

I do wish they'd applied Flitwick's makeup with a lighter hand. All the other teachers got to wear their own noses, and Warwick's got a perfectly good one in the center of his face, too. There was no reason at all to give Flitwick an unnatural-looking snout; he's supposed to be basically human, you know. But I'm quibbling again - at least they gave him a humorous moment and some decent lines to say!

According to published reports, at the Harry Potter premiere Warwick asked J.K. Rowling if she thought Flitwick was all right in the movie. He was nervous about the answer; if Rowling thought it was bad, she would say so! And she replied that Flitwick wasn't all right - he was great.

The Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone DVD released in May 2002 doesn't include any new footage of Warwick's characters, but the special features do include some Warwick-related stuff. Before you can access most of the special features you have to make a trip to Diagon Alley, including a stop at Gringott's to withdraw some money. There's exactly one goblin visible in the still-frame picture there - guess who! After you finish your business in Diagon Alley you can proceed to the Classrooms area, which has classes for four teachers - Quirrell, Snape, McGonagall and Flitwick. Each classroom contains some film clips of the teacher in question and an activity. Flitwick's class actually has two activities - a chance to sample Bertie Botts' Every Flavor Beans, and the ability to watch a specific scene from the movie in eight different languages with a pretense that you're making this happen using a charm that you learned in Flitwick's class. You can see one screen cap each of the Gringott's and Flitwick's class special features in Harry Potter Pictures Part 2.

Warwick's goblin character appeared in the main Harry Potter parody in Mad magazine #412 (December 2001), while Flitwick made an appearance in the same issue's collection of Harry Potter comic strips.

Click here for information on the pictures of Warwick's characters in the Harry Potter coloring books.

The Articles section includes a number of Harry Potter-related articles.

The Pictures section includes Harry Potter photo galleries.

Here are some good places to find Harry Potter information:

The Harry Potter Lexicon has a detailed description of Professor Flitwick.