British Critics Have Good News For Muggles

[Tuesday, November 6th, 2001]
E! Online reports on the reviews 'Harry Potter' is getting from british critics. Who are positively wild about Harry, praising director Chris Columbus' two-and-a-half hour adaptation for staying true to J.K. Rowling's vision of Potter's unique and imaginative world in which the youthful spell-caster battles the evil Voldemort and leads the Gryffindors to victory in the broomstick battles of Quidditch.

"It's dark, it's scary, it's funny. It's a Willy Wonka for the new millennium with special effects that will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up," writes Dominic Mohan in London's Sun tabloid.

"While ardent Harry Potter fans will bemoan the omission of some details that help to make the books so involving...the film is a treat, both visually and emotionally," says the London Telegraph's John Hiscock.

Even author Rowling--who was justifiably worried about how her best-selling series would translate to celluloid--is giving her thumbs up.

Rowling, who was treated to a private screening last week, told reporters at the premiere, "I'm enormously relieved. I think Dan [Radcliffe as Potter] nailed it. I just love his face. It is so endearing."

She said Columbus kept his promise and crafted a film as she imagined it, including its all-British cast.

"Admittedly I had been given a lot of input on how things looked. But they really do look as I'd imagined they would inside my head," Rowling said. "From my point of view it is obviously wonderful."

"The film's 152 minutes zip by, as do the broomsticks and snow owls and flying keys. Everything about this movie flies, as will its box-office receipts over Christmas and beyond," writes the Independent's John Walsh.

"It truly is a wizard show...There are 152 minutes of Potter magic to be enjoyed; and Harry's first spell is captivating stuff," says the Daily Mail's Baz Bamigboye.

"Never have two and a half hours passed so quickly. I didn't look at my watch once. And it is the first time I have been to a cinema full of children without hearing any of them cry or fidget," Mohan writes in the Sun.

"This is great, the best film I've ever seen, way better than any of the Disney cartoons," raved Barney--age six and three-quarters--for the Times.

Fergie, meanwhile, called it "brilliant." "I want to see it again," gushed Cher to USA Today. "It was one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen."

But proving every Potter needs a pooper, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber had this to say: "I really didn't like the film," Webber told the Sun. "I have read all the books and they are very witty. The film, quite simply, wasn't."

The film opens in the United States on November 16.

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