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They're wild about Harry Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Danielle Phillips, 11, of Central Point opens her wizard's cape to show off her Harry Potter T-shirt after viewing the Rogue Valley premiere Friday. She gives the movie four stars. Little wizard's movie, Hogwarts and all, puts a spell on audiences at Tinseltown By BILL VARBLE Danielle Phillips gives "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" four stars. That's in a system in which four is the best. "The characters," says Danielle, 11, of Central Point. "The special effects. All of it. It's all like they describe in the book." Danielle is reflecting on the film at Tinseltown after an early show Friday. She wore a big, black cape over a Harry Potter T-shirt for the event. The lobby is full of people of all ages either coming out of the show or going into the next one. The reviews are good. It's not just kids. "It's nongenerational," says Debrah Whaley of Talent, a teacher who brought her alternative middle school class. "There were grandmas and grandpas in there." Unless you've been held in Ghazni, Afghanistan, this fall, you know that Harry Potter is a fledgling wizard and the hero of the books by J.K. Rowling. Harry's story is now a $125 million Warner Bros. movie with about a bazillion marketing tie-ins. Millions of kids who have read the books are expected to see the movie. Comparisons are inevitable. "The movie had some things missing," says River Cozo, a Talent sixth-grader. Kenny McNall, 9, of Shady Cove, hopes for the best as he waits for the next show with dad Michael, mom Karyl, and big brother Michael, 10. "Sometimes the movie is better," Kenny says. "Sometimes the book is better." Elizabeth von Radich of Medford came with her kids, Clemmie, 9, and Ellie, 7, and pal Sophia Bogle and her daughter, Kamela, 8. "These are kids that were Harry, Hermione and a unicorn for Halloween," von Radich says. The three read all four Harry Potter books and moved on to the audiotape versions before seeing the movie. Their moms say they're experts. "I expect a lot of criticism of the movie," Bogle says. Stephanie Huebner, 13, wears a Hogwarts (the school for wizards attended by Harry and his friends) jacket and carries a mysterious pocketwatch like one in the book. Her brother Greg wears a wizard hat from Universal Studios. Stephanie tried reading Harry to Greg ahead of time, but at 4, Greg's a little young yet. "He was kind of bored," Stephanie says. Alan and Kathy Burgess drove up from Yreka, Calif., to see Harry for themselves, no kids involved. The middle-aged couple say they read all four books, then re-read the first one before coming to see the film. Members of some Christian churches have criticized the movie, saying it promotes witchcraft, but no nay-sayers or protesters are in sight at noon Friday. "Some people are worried about witchcraft," Michael McNall says. "We're not at all." At two-and-a-half hours, the movie may be a stretch for very young children, but nobody seems to mind. "It was great," Kathy Burgess says. "I wish it had been four hours so they could have put more in." Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.