It’s a rating reserved for the best of the best that the movie industry has to offer.

While many factors contribute to movies worthy of this esteemed rating, a five star film has to have the right combination – a well-crafted and imaginative screenplay, a director with either an established reputation or incredible vision and a dedicated cast willing to embrace every nuance of their characters. But there’s one element of a great movie that can’t be scripted, can’t be directed, can’t be acted and can’t be planned. It can be summed up best with one word – magic.

Adapted from the critically and commercially successful J.K. Rowling novel, ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ is about a young British boy who learns that he is a powerful wizard.

Released last week nationwide, the film transforms Rowling’s first novel of the seven book series into a movie. No easy undertaking to be sure. Expectations were high. ‘Harry Potter’ fans looked eagerly for perfection and an exact translation from the page to the screen. These high expectations were met, if not exceeded, with a film version that captures all the magic of a world full of trolls, flying broomsticks and invisibility cloaks.

The first of seven ‘Harry Potter’ books was released in 1998, introducing readers to the hero with the lightening-shaped scar on his forehead. The title character (played by newcomer Daniel Radcliffe) is an 11-year-old living in a perfectly boring suburb with his horrid relatives, the Dursleys. We learn from the wizards that deposit baby Harry on the Dursleys’ doorstep that his parents – who are both wizards – were killed by Voldemort, so feared he is referred to as ‘You Know Who.’

Harry’s relatives – Uncle Vernon (Richard Griffiths), Aunt Petunia (Fiona Shaw) and Cousin Dudley (Harry Melling) – are Muggles, or non-magic people. They are extremely irritated that Harry has shown up to disturb their perfectly ordinary lives and vow to stamp all magic nonsense out of him. That’s how they justify their horrible mistreatment of him, making him sleep in a cupboard under the stairs and wear broken glasses and Dudley’s oversized hand-me-downs. But that doesn’t stop unexplainable things from happening, like glass separating patrons from the snake exhibit at the zoo suddenly vanishing.

Things are finally explained to Harry when he receives a letter, despite extreme efforts from the Dursleys to keep it from his grasp, announcing his acceptance into the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. With the help of Hogwarts’ gatekeeper Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane), Harry escapes the Dursleys, learns more about his legacy in the magical world and heads off to Hogwarts to embrace his heritage.

At the school Harry is quickly befriended by Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), the latest in a family line of red-headed goof-offs, and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), a prissy overachiever. He is then recruited to play Quidditch, a popular game in the wizard world (think soccer on flying broomsticks). And then there’s the mystery of what the dastardly Professor Snape (Alan Rickman) is trying to steal from the trapdoor underneath a three-headed dog named Fluffy.

Directed by Christopher Columbus (‘Home Alone’) and scripted by Steven Kloves (‘Wonder Boys’) under the careful supervision of Potter creator Rowling, the movie succeeds in bringing every one of the book’s magical moments to vivid life using breathtaking special effects. Candles hover in the air above the dining hall. A worn wizard’s cap talks, separating the first-year students into dormitories. Giant chess pieces come to life. An invisibility cloak allows our heroes to sneak around the school undetected. A horrifying troll stalks Hermione. And then there’s the amazing Quidditch scene, easily the best in the movie, as Harry and other players swish around the air on their brooms, desperately trying to score points for their team. You almost forget they aren’t really flying.

And fans who worried that parts of the novel would be left out in the film adaptation can relax. Except for a few minor moments, the storyline is accurately recreated in the film. From the arrival of baby Harry Potter to dreary Privot Drive to the awarding of the Hogwarts House Cup, from the centaurs roaming the enchanted forest to the newborn dragon born to Hagrid, the film stands apart from others based on books due to its unwavering loyalty to the source material. And even though it’s an almost three-hour movie, it’s worth not losing one incredible scene.

Frankly I can’t picture another actor playing Harry as incredibly as Radcliffe. His newness to the movie making business was exactly what was needed as he brought a sense of wonderment to his performance every time Harry learned something new about his past. Grint was the spitting image of the Ron you would cook up from reading the book and brought a great deal of wide-toothed enthusiasm to his role. And Watson blew me away as Hermione. Watson sparkled, whether she was shooting up her hand desperately in class or screaming in the face of an ugly troll.

The adults, all well-known in the British film industry, were also a joy. Coltrane is perfect as the doofy Hagrid. He’s a comedic gem. Hidden beneath mounds of white chin hairs, Richard Harris brings a sense of class and wisdom to the role of the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. Maggie Smith, my favorite nun from ‘Sister Act,’ is still snappish as Professor McGonagall. And Rickman sent shivers down my spine as the mysterious Snape.

Production on the second film, ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,’ is already underway.

Christopher Reilly is a sophomore magazine major. His reviews appear Fridays in The Daily Orange. E-mail him at passpopcorn@yahoo.com.

Published on November 28, 2001 at 12:00 pm