The Harry Potter phenomenon - and make no mistake, it is a phenomenon - is unlike anything we have seen in recent history. Rather than being the result of clever marketing and hucksterism, Harry Potter's popularity began at the grass roots level. And, what's more, this craze is not derived from a movie, video game, or television series, but from one of the oldest forms of mass-market entertainment: a book. Of course, now that the cat's out of the bag, the marketing has begun in earnest. There are Harry Potter lunch boxes, trading cards, toys, wrapping paper, etc. But it's important to remember that these things followed the phenomenon, they didn't drive it.

Having only seen the film and it's marketing ploys but never read the book myself (forgive my "lack of culture"), here is my review and opinion of the movie.

For those of you who've made a comfortable home under a rock for the last several years, Harry Potter is a story of a boy wizard (good start for any story) who's apparently a celebrity of sorts among other wizards such as himself. The story follows a traditional poor-boy get's a break scheme as he's accepted into the "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry" where he is to learn the art of magic. There is of course an evil plot to do harm to Harry, and he and his friends Ron and Hermione have to save the day.

At two and a half hours, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone runs a full hour longer than the standard kid-film length, but it's still an easy film to enjoy.

The CG Eye-candy such as Diagon Alley and Gringotts Bank, the moving pictures, Hogwarts Castle, the Sorting Hat, the ghosts in the Castle (including a cameo by John Cleese), Fluffy the three-headed dog, the ugly troll, and so on was impressive and comparable to the CGI in The Phantom Menace (Gasp! Did he just say that?).

While the acting talent of little Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) was short of an Oscar the two other young actors and actresses were very enjoyable. The adult actors aren't given much time but they all present solid performances. Most notable would be the performances of Alan Rickman (as Professor Severus Snape who was simply fantastic) and Robbie Coltrane (Gamekeeper Rubeus Hagrid).

Conclusion: Watch this movie, you won't regret paying to see it in the big screen. It was overall a very enjoyable movie. 8.3/10.