On Saturday, June 4th, 2022, at 1 P.M. Hogwarts time, James and Lily were in Lily's room to record another video for Lily Luna's World.
"Hello, all," greeted Lily cheerfully as the recording began, "My name is Lily Luna Potter and welcome back to Lily Luna's World. I am once again joined by my favorite brother James Sirius Potter and today we are going to be reviewing the movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. A warning up from that not all characters or events will be motioned and that we are picking and choosing. "
"We reviewed the book on our channel back in late January," James reminded them, "The first thing I'd like to talk about is the book to movie translation."
"In my opinion," said Lily clearly, "Sorcerer's Stone had the second best book to movie adaptation in the Harry Potter series behind Chamber of Secrets. The majority of the book was included and the things that were cut were mostly things that didn't affect the plot dad's story, such as the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff Quidditch match and Vernon's day at work. I do have one small gripe though."
"Which is?" inquired James.
"The filmmakers should have shown Harry finding Flamel on the chocolate frog card. The way it's portrayed in the movie makes it seem like Hermione lucked out and found the right book at random whereas you know in the book that she knew to look in an alchemy book after Harry found Flamel on the chocolate frog card. This is in fact a deleted scene that appears in the extended version, but it should have been in the main version."
"You articulated well why," smiled James, "Is there any scene you definitely liked better in the book than in the movie?"
"The Sorting," replied Lily, "I understand that it would have been too time consuming to include everyone's sorting, but not seeing Neville's sorting irritates me a bit. I also preferred the book's version of doing it in alphabetical order by last name."
"Neville proved to be a very important character by the end of the series," acknowledged James, "But what we did see of the sorting was good. Dad's sorting was portrayed well in my opinion. I'm with you on the alphabetical order thing. I like the first meeting between dad and Draco far better in the book because the book makes it clearer that Draco is a worthless piece of shit. Book Draco LITERALLY tells Harry to his face that muggleborns should not even be allowed at Hogwarts and is clearly not sympathetic when Harry mentions that his parents, insulting Hagrid into the bargain. The movie tones down how bad Draco is."
"Draco would also not have his undeserved popularity if it wasn't for Tom Felton fanboys and fangirls," piped up Lily angrily, "I'll have more to say in this during our Chamber of Secrets movie review, but, Dramoine shipping is disgusting."
"On the other end of the spectrum," inquired James, "Is there anything you liked better in the movie than in the book?"
"The ending," responded Lily, "The ending of the book has a feeling of abrupt awkwardness to it. The movie has a more clearly defined ending when the train pulls out. "
"For me," said James eagerly, "It's the Quidditch. Quidditch is far more fun to watch than to read about. I'd also say the chess scene was awesome to see on film. I loved the flying keys, but I thought those were cool in the book too."
"Do you like the music in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone?" Lily asked James.
"The music is great throughout, but Leaving Hogwarts is an outstanding music piece. Hedwig's Theme may be more iconic, but I love Leaving Hogwarts the best!" piped up James excitedly.
"Personally," cooed Lily, "I'm partial to the music that was played during the Diagon Alley scenes. Overall, I have to say that the music is a major component of this movie."
"As for the actors," transitioned James, "I really liked John Hurt's portrayal of Ollivander. The way he says "The wand chooses the wizard Mr. Potter. It is not always clear why, but I think it is clear that we can expect great things from you, Mr. Potter. After all, he who must not be named did great things. Terrible, oh yes, but great."
"The scene of dad getting his wand is a great scene overall," smiled Lily, "The music, the acting, the portrayal of the wand choosing dad, were all just about perfect."
"What about your favorite actor in this movie?" James asked Lily.
"The most popular answer is probably Robbie Coltraine as Hagrid," answered Lily, "And "Yer a wizard, harry is great. But my personal favorite is actually Warrick Davis as Flitwick. It just seemed like a great natural fit. I wish Flitwick could have had more screen time though."
"And what was your favorite task in terms of getting to the Sorcerer's Stone. For me, it has to be the flying keys. I love Quidditch and flying and it's the flying keys were just so super cool," was James's choice.
"My favorite," grinned Lily, "Is why Quirrell couldn't get the stone, but dad could. Only a person who wanted to find the stone, find it, but not use it, would be able to get it."
"Say what you will about Dumbledore, but that WAS ingenious," piped up James glowingly.
"Now," admitted Lily, "Particularly when compared with all the other movies in this series, I don't the visuals were that great."
"I do think things mostly looked like what I imagined them from reading the book," disagreed James.
"True," clarified Lily, "But I meant in terms of technical quality."
"The Visual effects were not as good as in the movies that followed," agreed James, "Not bad, but not elite either."
"That's true," nodded Lily, "Now, what do think about the alternative title Philosopher's Stone?"
"I don't care one way or the other," said James flatly, "Stone is the key word."
"That's my take as well," said Lily calmly, "I've never understood why people care about the alternative title one way or the other. You hit the nail on the head with stone is the key word."
"It should be noted," said James honestly, "That most people who watch these movies will have read the books beforehand. But for those who have not, the narrative misdirection regarding Snape and Quirrell works well."
"But there are clues in the movie about Quirrell if you can pick up on them," said Lily observantly, "Quirrell laughs when he realizes the troll is still alive. And you can see Quirrell giving Harry eye contact during the Quidditch match. His eye contact is broken when Hermione sets Snape on fire."
"So," James said clearly, "I think it's time we gave our scores. I give Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone the movie an eight out of ten and it's a low eight. A mostly good book to movie transition with a few flaws and great music. But the less than elite visuals and occasional miss on the book to movie transition stop me from going any higher."
"I'd go with seven out of ten," said Lily matter of factly, "It's a middling seven. I mostly agree with you, but I refuse to go higher than a middling seven because I despise how Draco was toned done to be a mild run of the mill bully/rival instead of being portrayed as the mean filthy dirty bigot that he is."
"We'll be reviewing the movie version of Chamber of Secrets next time we see you all," promised James.
"Thank you again to everyone who watches and supports Lily Luna's World," smiled Lily, "Until next time, Potters out."
And James and Lily waved at their viewers as the recording faded.