HARRY, HARRY, QUITE CONTRARY A MUGGLE SPEAKS OUT ON 'HARRY POTTER' THREE STARS.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

As one of the few who have managed to avoid the Harry Potter cultural takeover of the last four years, I went into the movie version of ``Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'' not even knowing what a Muggle was.

Now I've learned that I'm probably a perfect example of one. From that perspective, I will attempt to explain to my fellow non-magical creatures what the film plays like for those of us unfamiliar with the chapter-and- verse. We are but mere mortals, it's true, but we nonetheless have our frame of reference.

First off, I couldn't help but approach this thing from a kind of archaeological viewpoint, just trying to understand why the stories are so outrageously popular. Acknowledging that the film can't hope to capture author J.K. Rowling's reportedly excellent wordplay - and knowing that director Chris Columbus, the happy vulgarian behind ``Home Alone'' and ``Mrs. Doubtfire,'' would be unequipped to bring equivalent cinematic eloquence to the adaptation - it was still pretty obvious why kids the world over love Harry.

The story centers around the English orphan who learns on his 11th birthday that he is the most naturally talented magician in the world. Harry (played by Daniel Radcliffe, a suitably Dickens-experienced young Brit) lives out a 'tweener power fantasy par excellence.

But there's even more wish fulfillment going on here. Harry is also an amazingly well-adjusted person, considering that his cartoonishly cruel aunt and uncle (``the worst sort of Muggles imaginable,'' as one witch describes them) make him live in the cupboard under the stairs and allow his piggy cousin to unconscionably bully the orphan night and day.

It's after the jolly giant Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) comes to escort Harry to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that the true brilliance of Rowling's kid-flattering concept emerges. Even though he's unaware of his lineage and destiny, all the other magic folk know Harry's name. So, basically, Harry is also a rock star, and the fact that Radcliffe looks like a junior Paul McCartney was certainly no accident.

OK, so that's why Rowling got the children of the post-literate generation reading again. Why this should so irresistibly appeal to adults beyond the fact that their kids or grandkids like it is a different matter.

From looking at the film, which I'm told is pretty faithful to the incidents of the first book in the series, all I can reckon is that Rowling has studied her Joseph Campbell. Enough mythic archetypes and heroic quest stages emerge here to make ``Sorcerer's Stone'' seem like ``Star Wars'' on broomsticks.

Rowling shrewdly mixed in ogres, centaurs, cute baby dragons, unicorns, three-headed guard dogs and Three Stooges shtick, among much else that is sure to reference at least one entertaining memory in every living member of Western civilization. All of this cultural cross-checking doesn't leave much room for character development, but the film works best when it's concentrating on spectacle anyway.

It's certainly not stingy in that department. Columbus and screenwriter Steve Kloves, who usually works on more adult material like ``Wonder Boys,'' wisely find a dominant motif.

Call it ``An English Schoolboy in Merlin's Court.'' It's expansive enough to comfortably accommodate visions from classical literature, Disneyland's Haunted Mansion and sports-action video games.

The real hero here is production designer Stuart Craig. He creates a Hogwarts campus that's equal parts medieval fairyland and Gothic ghost world.

Though basically dark and foreboding, the place is also a funhouse of visual delights. A cavernous banquet hall is illuminated by hovering candles, a supersize chessboard has pieces that move and destroy one another on command, the staircases have minds of their own, and much, much more.

While we're at it, we should also mention that the main villain of this film is composer John Williams. His insistent children's movie score outdoes even his bombastic worst for overbearing intrusiveness.

As for the narrative's villain, he's some evil wizard who went over to the Dark Side (what'd I tell you about the ``Star Wars'' stuff?) before killing Harry's good warlock parents. He's out to purloin the title magic rock hidden deep in the bowels of Hogwarts. Only Harry and his two first-year pals - lovably loserish but stalwart Ron Weasley (a well-cast Rupert Grint) and bossy know-it-all Hermione Granger (Emma Watson, cute but awfully prone to mugging) - can stop him.

That's because someone on the Hogwarts faculty is in league with the demon. All signs point to the snide teacher played by designated villain- player Alan Rickman (who wittily channels Oscar Wilde, I might add). It could also be one of the other British warhorses referencing their earlier triumphs here, such as Maggie Smith's brittle taskmistress or Richard Harris' hairily Arthurian headmaster.

All of these fine actors and more perform their duties professionally, but like everything else about the movie, they seem overwhelmed by the sheer, event-media sensibility that permeates the proceedings.

Ironically, the movie soars into spontaneous-feeling flights of cinematic exhilaration only when assisted by the most extensive computer graphics. There's the kinetic Quidditch game, a brutal kind of polo-cum- tournament competition played on rocket-fast broomsticks. Also watch for the moments when Harry and friends fool around Hogwarts' more menacing corridors with the aid of a very cool invisibility cloak.

Perhaps just for those of us who have yet to succumb to Pottermania, Columbus and company have included one refreshingly subversive moment. When Harry risks becoming obsessed with a mirror that reflects his most deeply cherished wish, a wise old wiz warns him, ``It does not do to dwell on dreams, Harry, and forget to live.''

Slipping a statement like that into a corporate entertainment franchise fantasy of this magnitude is real, old-school movie magic.

``HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE''

(Rated PG: violence, children in jeopardy)

The stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Robbie Coltrane, Richard Griffiths, Richard Harris, Ian Hart, Alan Rickman, Fiona Shaw, Maggie Smith, Zoe Wanamaker.

Behind the scenes: Directed by Chris Columbus. Written by Steve Kloves, based on J.K. Rowling's novel. Produced by David Heyman. Released by Warner Bros.

Running time: Two hours, 32 minutes.

Playing: Citywide.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Harry (Daniel Radcliffe, second from right) prepares for a Quidditch match in ``Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.''

(2) Alan Rickman, left, Maggie Smith and Ian Hart are Professors Snape, McGonagall and Quirrell, respectively, in ``Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.''