Ever notice that every blockbuster movie has the same fundamental pieces? A hero, a journey, some conflicts to muck it all up, a reward, and the hero returning home and everybody applauding his or...

HogwartsIf you've read the books, you know how expansive the Wizarding World can get. Yet most of it still takes place at Hogwarts, and in The Sorcerer's Stone, there's really nowhere else it needs...

Third-Person OmniscientBecause The Sorcerer's Stone is the first film in a ginormous franchise, no one wanted to get fancy with the narrative. (They left the magic and tricks for the wizards.)The n...

Magical Realism, Fantasy, AdventureTechnically speaking, the Harry Potter stories are a form of magical realism, since they ostensibly take place in our world. But given the whole "magic castles fu...

The title is reasonably self-evident, at least on the surface. It's the story of a boy named Harry Potter looking for something called the Sorcerer's Stone. Hence: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's S...

All's well that ends well, and the ending to Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone does exactly, precisely what you'd expect. Harry vanquishes Voldemort, the school is saved, and Dumbledore even ha...

PGThe Harry Potter saga gets plenty dark—and hey, any movie that starts with the hero's parents getting killed by Freaky Bald Embodiment of Absolute Evil is going to have some dark patches—but...