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Summary and Rank

By Daniel

    So your saying, "Why do you need a summary for the movie, it's almost the same as the book". Well the key word is almost. Below is a summary of the movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Differences between the book and the movie are listed as well. A 'rank' of the movie from the scale of 1-20 (1 being the best) is also given.

SUMMARY
    Harry Potter has never had anything out of the ordinary happen to him during his stay at 4 Privet Drive, thanks to his unbearable Aunt and Uncle and their abominable son Dudley, who are the most 'normal' and 'ordinary' people you could ever meet.
    But one fateful day something both extraordinary and unexpected happens...Harry Potter receives a letter, stating that he has been excepted into Hogwarts: School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!
    After a living room is flooded with letters; a long drive to a deserted island, an encounter with Hagrid the half-giant, after Dudley grows a pigs tail, and after Harry has purchased all of the necessities of a First Year, Harry is finally on his way to Hogwarts.
    During his stay at Hogwarts Harry makes new friends,  learns to fly a broomstick, has a quite terrifying run-in with a Troll and Three-Headed Dog, and learns that someone or something is determined to finish him off, like they did Harry's parents eleven years ago.
    Join Harry in the adventure of a lifetime and help him discover who is trying to steal the Sorcerer's Stone.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE BOOK AND MOVIE

-No Piers Polkien.

-No 2nd floor bedroom.

-Harry meets Malfoy right before sorting, instead of at Madam Malkins  Robes For All Occasions.

-The cards found in Chocolate frogs are more like holograms than real moving people (like the portraits and other pictures).

-Harry and Hagrid don't sleep over on the House on the Rock. After  telling him he is a wizard, they go straight to Diagon Alley.

-During the Boa Constrictor scene Dudlry becomes trapped inside the snake tank (this doesn't happen in the book). This is one of the few scenes in the movie that wasn't in the book that I really liked.

-There is no Railview Hotel in the movie.

-In the movie there is never a scene where Harry and the Dursleys are in the car driving away from the letter filled house.

-In the movie there is no Herbology, DADA, or History of Magic classes.

-Harry and Hermione never send off Norbert, Dumbledore finds    out about the dragon and sends it back himself. I don't like the way they did this in the movie, but I guess they HAD to do it to shorten up the length of the film.

-In the book Neville gets detention and has to go into the Forbidden Forest. But in the movie Neville is never mentioned, and Ron goes into the Forbidden Forest instead.

-In the movie 'The Forbidden Forest' is called 'The Dark Forest'. What is the purpose of the change in name???

-The 1st years meeting ghosts scene never happens, the movie has many more ghosts than are mentioned in the book.

-In the movie Hermione, Ron and Harry meet Fluffy, (Neville never does). Not by a midnight dueling match with Malfoy, but because the stairs changed passages and they accidentally meet Fluffy that way.

-In the movie Qurriel and Snape's Forest conversation never occurs, instead it happens inside the castle.

-In the movie, the Mirror of Erised only shows James and Lily Potter (in the book several other people appear, such as what appears to be Harry's grandparents).

-In the movie, the Christmas Presents scene is different from the book.

-They delete the Potions Challenge, Hermione actually leaves with  Ron from the Chess game. I really wish they had put this scene in the movie...

-Devils Snare scene is much different.

-In the movie, there is no scene where Uncle Vernon is on his way to Grunnings.

-In the book there is a Television Report about the unusual behavior of the owls. There is no such scene in the movie.

-In the movie, there is only one Quidditch Match...but of course the movie would have been much longer if they had included the other matches.

-The movie starts with Dumbledore summoning the light of the lamp posts with the Light Putter Outer. The book starts out with Uncle Vernon going to work.

-Professor McGonagall is supposed to take out Oliver Wood from charms, not DADA as they show in the movie.

-Prior to the sorting ceremony, Professor McGonagall calls out the students' first name and then last name, but in the books they are called by last name first.

-In the movie, Hagrid takes Harry to King's Cross, but in the book the Dursleys are the ones to take him.

-There is no Giant Squid in the movie.

-Harry and Ron weren't late for Transfiguration in the book, though they are in the movie. I like this addition though.

-Mrs. Figg is never mentioned in the movie.

-In the movie the scene in which Neville takes off on his broom is different from that of the book.

-There is no scene with a knocked out troll in the movie.

-In the movie, Harry only meets Firenze, not Ronan and Bane.


RANK
    The movie is very true to the book, but I feel that a few necessary parts should have been added, and it wouldn't have even added 5 more minutes to the movie.

    Therefore I give Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone the Rank: 3

 

Do you have a difference between the book and the movie that is not mentioned above? Or do you have a comment on the summary of the movie? Then send an e-mail to: thefans@twwn.net