IT'S like having an early Christmas present. We've been teased and tormented for over a year, and now it's time to rip the wrapping paper off.

But have we got what we've asked for?

Oh yes Santa has come up trumps this time. Forget all the other presents (at least until Lord Of The Rings opens next month) because this one is going to keep us occupied for a long time to come.

Quite simply, Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone is the magical experience we have all been hoping and praying for. Fans of JK Rowling's books will not be disappointed; and the uninitiated will find this a wonderful introduction to the world of the boy wizard and his fantastic adventures.

It is a faithful adaptation, bringing to life many of the characters and situations as we imagined them as we turned the pages of Rowling's book.

Harry Potter (Radcliffe) is no ordinary 11-year-old. An orphan, he lives in a cupboard beneath the stairs at the home of his aunt and uncle (Fiona Shaw and Richard Griffiths) and their odious, overweight son Dudley (Harry Melling).

He lives a pretty miserable life, until one summer some pretty remarkable things happen. After a bizarre incident involving a talking snake at the zoo, Harry then receives a ton of letters which his uncle is anxious to burn. And to cap it all a giant with a big beard and a motorbike whisks him off to begin a new life at the mysterious Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The giant is Hagrid (Coltrane), the school's groundsman who tells Harry his parents were a witch and a wizard and that he himself has magical powers, which will be honed at Hogwart's, under the tutelage of its wise old headmaster Professor Dumbledore (Harris) and his staff of teachers expert in the likes of potions, the dark arts, levitation and transfiguration.

It is this set up that gave Rowling the licence to let her imagination run riot. It is down to the film's director Chris Columbus to realise her vision having stuck to the book to closely, this was a question of getting the look and the atmosphere just right, and he has done this admirably, achieving the balance between engaging performances from the cast and the seamless use of special effects.

The film is superbly cast. Radcliffe is Harry Potter, carrying the film on his shoulders for two and a half hours and doing so marvellously, with help from the young actors who play Harry's best friends Emma Watson as the prissy Hermione Grainger and Rupert Grint as cheeky Ron Weasly.

And then there is the experienced line-up of celebrated British actors. As well as Coltrane, Harris and Smith (as stern but fair transfiguration teacher Professor Mc- Gonagall), there are chunky roles for the likes of Alan Rickman as the sinister potions master Professor Snape, and Zoe Wanamaker as Madame Hooch, who shows pupils how to ride broomsticks.

There are less substantial but still memorable roles for John Hurt as wand-seller Mr Ollivander, Julie Walters as Ron's mum and John Cleese as the ghost Nearly Headless Nick.

On top of that, Columbus and his team have created some glorious set pieces. You will be as wide-eyed as the Hogwart's first years as they get their first glimpse of the school while rowing across a lake at night time, or taking their first trip from King's Cross aboard the Hogwart's Express (actually the Swindon-built locomotive Oulton Hall).

The shopping plaza that is Diagon Alley, and Hagrid's drinking hole the Leaky Cauldron could be straight out of Dickens.

We share the youngsters' excitement as they arrive in the Great Hall and prepare for the Sorting Hat (a magical hat that sorts the pupils into each of the school's four houses).

And the quidditch match the spectacular and quite violent school sport involving broomsticks, quaffles and golden snitches has to be seen to be believed.

The special effects department has worked wonders, showing great inventiveness, and again using Rowling's work as its source, honourably sticking to her written word, from the candles floating in mid-air in the Great Hall to a lifelike depiction of Hagrid's ferocious three-headed dog Fluffy.

If there is a criticism of the film, it's that the storyline basically building up to a confrontation between Harry and his nemesis Lord Voldemort is a bit slender and is used as a thread to hold together a series of episodes in the life of our hero.

But otherwise this is tremendous entertainment. Funny and scary, sad and uplifting, like the books it will appeal to people of all ages.

Let's hope we don't have to wait too long for the sequel, which is already in production.

Rating: 9 out of 10

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