Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (PG)

MUGGLES - that's us ordinary people to wizards - will surely love this truly spellbinding film.

Recreating the magic of J K Rowling's story was always going to be the biggest challenge facing the film-makers, but they have triumphed.

Readers are sometimes disappointed or even infuriated by what happens to much-loved books when they become movies, but this is remarkably faithful to the essence of the novel.

From its atmospheric beginning to its touching ending, director Chris Columbus keeps up the pace. An enthralling film, even if you are already familiar with the story.

For those who do not know, orphaned Harry has a miserable life living with aunt, uncle and cousin, the dreadful Dursleys, until he reaches his 11th birthday and is invited to attend Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

He discovers he is a very special boy - not just because he is a wizard and has a natural talent for the school game of Quidditch - and helped by two new friends he embarks on a fantastic adventure.

No-one strikes a false note, even if some of the characters are not quite as you imagined when reading the book.

Robbie Coltrane is brilliant as gentle giant Hagrid and Alan Rickman (Snape), Richard Harris (Dumbledore), Maggie Smith (Professor McGonagall), et al, are excellent.

Despite being surrounded by such a stellar cast, the young actors - Daniel Radcliffe (Harry), Rupert Grint (Ron) and Emma Watson (Hermione) - are not overshadowed.

Daniel is completely believable as the young hero, while Rupert and Emma are delightfully engaging as his loyal friends.

It is reported that the special- effects bill was more than £100 million and they are breathtaking, literally, in some places . Perhaps it should be good with that sort of money and with so many top names working on this film, and not just among the cast - composer John Williams, director of photography John Seale, production designer Stuart Craig and visual effects supervisor Rob Legato are all multi-award-winners - but that is not always a guarantee of success.

What makes this such a special film is that it keeps faith with Harry Potter's legions of fans.

As in the books there is plenty of humour, but it is also quite dark at times and may scare very little ones.

It might have been nice to see more of the lessons, which could have provided some more fun moments, but it was obviously impossible to pack any more in. Cuts included Rik Mayall's portrayal of poltergeist Peeves.

However, what matters is that nothing important to the story has been left out and nothing superfluous has been added.

It is also quite long for a family film, at just over two and a half hours, but time flew as fast as the golden snitch in a game of Quidditch.