Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

What’s it about?

Harry Potter was orphaned as a baby when the evil Voldemort killed both of his parents. Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall hid Harry with his Aunt and Uncle to keep him from harm’s way. He grows up there living in the cupboard under the stairs and trying to conceal his wizard skills. On the eve of his 11^th birthday, Hagrid arrives to take Harry to Hogwarts, the school for young witches and wizards.

Harry makes friends with Ron and Hermione on the train to Hogwarts and they become firm friends. At the school, the friends wonder about some of the strange things happening there. They discover the Philosopher’s Stone, a rock which can turn any metal into gold and creates a magic potion which can give eternal life.  They get involved in many scary adventures which brings them face to face with the evil Voldemort.

What to look out for

Quite a lot of fantasy violence in this movie which would be quite scary for younger kids such as:

• A giant troll smashes a toilet cubicle and toilet bowl, where Hermione is hiding, with a club narrowly missing her. Harry and Ron arrive and throw things at him. Harry jumps on to the troll’s head and the troll grabs him and holds him upside down while trying to hit Harry with his club.
• The Quidditch match is quite violent with students kicking, shoving and throwing balls at other flyers trying to get them off their broomsticks.
• In a chess game the giant pieces use swords and axes to smash and destroy each other. Ron is thrown off a horse, unconscious.
• Voldemort, in the form of a face on the back of Professor Quirrell’s head, orders Quirrell to kill Harry. While being attacked and strangled by Quirrell, Harry grabs hold of him and Volemort looks like  a  burnt, mummified being before turning to ash and disintegrating.

There’s also a lot of scary looking creatures and magic such as ghosts floating through the school, pictures that come to life, cats that change into people,  a face in a book tries to get out and Voldemort’s face appears on the back of Professor Quirrell.

Moral of the Story

Good wins over evil.