Rating: 
Summary: What if I hadn't read the book?
Review: It took me forever to begin reading the first Harry Potter book and was very pleased. Before reading any other books in the series, I watched the movie with my fiance and I found the movie lacking. I liked the acting and the visual effects, but the overall plot was missing key elements. My fiance not having read the book was confused at some points and I had to explain what happened in the book. If I would have just seen the movie and not read the book I think that I would have been disappointed with the movie even more than I am. Unfortunately, the movie falls short of the charming book.
Rating: 
Summary: marketing hype ....
Review: --
It is not bad at all, but simply NOT deserve the attention. I have to admit the marketing is incredible effective! Waaaaaaaay over rated!It really deserves 2 or 3 stars, but I'd like to compensate ....
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Rating: 
Summary: Excellent and Creative
Review: This movie is the type you want to watch over and over again. I recommend it for anyone that enjoys the Harry Potter collection or a good adventure. My kids also love this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Keeps your kids glued to the screen
Review: I have young relatives with, shall we say, "issues." Harry Potter, despite being a long movie which would normally inspire such witty kid-actions as "try to hold your brother down till he turns blue while mom isn't watching", kept them glued to the screen for hours. It also keeps them that way EVERY time we play it. They just don't get bored, and there are fewer trips to the emergency room. This is because the movie itself is a really well done version of a pretty good book. I do think there are better books out there (the Narnia Series, for one) but Harry appeals to kids' sense of being unique, different and special. Heck, it appeals to adults' (mine included) same sense. I want to find the special train track myself, and I wish I could prove that all along my suspicions that maybe I was adopted or something were true and I was really this long-lost hero of a special world. Maybe that sense of being special can help the ordinary muggles like me want to BE special, and do good things. I think it's worth a try, and if it's at the cost of a movie rather than years of therapy, it's probably worth it. The movie's action sequences are well drawn, the magic believable, the actor who plays Harry looks the part, and I loved the way they made Quidditch look real. Get this for your kids. They will learn something about how treating people the way you'd like to be treated yourself is a good thing. They will also, whether muggle or magic kid, feel special and smart when they figure out who the "bad guy" is. Plus, it's just greatly entertaining. (Then, try to slip them some other stuff, by saying "It's a lot like Harry Potter).
Rating:
Summary: Dear god....I'm hooked
Review: Well, I have to admit that I didn't understand the whole Harry Potter craziness when it began but I decided to watch the movie to really see what the big deal was about. The movie's special effects help draw the watcher into the Hogwarts School and also Harry's home and really begin to understand the magic behind the mystery. Every piece of the movie was very imaginative and creative to help draw in the people like myself....that just didn't get it. And now I have bought the movie and watch it all of the time. Many movies just don't go to the extent that this movie went into. And with the many unique characters help inhance the movie to bring in both children and adults to this magical world. I just can't wait for the next movie and I also am waiting the series to show up so I can read the series. This is truly a Wizard of Oz for our time (like they said on the commericals) that will be charished for many years to come. This is one you have to have in your DVD collection
Rating:
Summary: It really deserves 2 stars but...
Review: ...I felt I had to balance out all the 5 star ratings. I admit the movie has some appeal because of the charming concept as well as the atmosphere established by the sets and the score. However, the movie pretty much fails in most other aspects. None of the jokes are funny. The editing and camera-work seem choppy and the delivery of the plot is often corny. Many scenes are overdone, especially the quiditch scenes. Worst of all, Harry seemed to me a totally unsympathetic character. He smiled at all the wrong moments and generally uninspired.
Rating:
Summary: Harry Potter rocks!
Review: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's(Sorcerer's as in America)Stone was the coolest movie I had ever seen.I've read the book before I saw the movie but I enjoyed the movie more 'cos if I had to read anything it would probably be the subtitles(my sister alays puts them on and it's sooo annoying) and not the whole script instead(i hate reading).The one thing I don't understand why people say that Harry Potter teaches children witchcraft and that it worships the devil.Does anyone undertsand that 'cos I certainly don't.Harry Potter just has all the things that us kid could imagine and I don't think us children would worship the devil(we can't anyway,he doesn't exist).But anways,Harry Potter was a great movie and the rest of the HP movies will be just as great :) (that is...unless they have to get some other people to play the part of draco,ron,or harry since tom,rupert,and dan are getting older.especially tom)
Rating:
Summary: Excellent movie follow-up from a great book!
Review: I had read the HARRY POTTER books several times, so when I found out that a movie was coming out, I was eager to see it. I was not dissapointed at all, since it followed the book almost exactly! The plot (if you have not already read the book) is this: Harry (Daniel Radcliff) is a young 11-year-old boy who is an orphan and lives at his cruel Uncle and Aunts's house. Unexpactant letters begin to come to their house, yet for some reason is aunt and uncle do all they can to destroy the them. Finally, they decide to leave and camp out at a rustic old shack in the middle of nowhere. In the middle of the night, I strange giant (Hagrid) comes to the house. When he finds that Harry had not recieved the letters, he finally hands him one. He finds out that he is a wizard and heads off to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The scar on his forehead shows that while his parents died (not in a car crash as his aunt and uncle imply!) from the dark wizard Voldemort, he is the only boy who lived. I won't tell you the rest of the plt, as it may ruin the story for you. I'd suggest reading the book first, as it helps to give some extra background information not totally clarified in the movie. The actors, although many of them young, did an excellent job as their characters. (Daniel Radcliff as Harry, Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley, Emma Watson as Hermione, etc.) I'm looking forward to CHAMBER OF SECRETS, the second installment in the series, as there are more events and action taking place. The reason I gave this movie four stars (4.5 actually) was because of some lack in development. Everything seemed to movie by very quickly, so there was no real understanding. Of course, if you read the books it wouldn't be a bother, but if you didn't you might find yourself questioning about the events occuring. The movie is rated PG for some mild language (there's not much, trust me) and scary moments (i.e. the huge mountain troll in the bathroom, forbiddon forest and 'Voldemore scenes', etc.) Appropriate for most kids 8 and older. Check this out on video/DVD (along with some extra footage) and be sure to watch for THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS coming out this November!
Rating:
Summary: Creative Magical Fantasy
Review: We are introduced to Harry Potter as a baby and soon he turns 11 and is found living in a cupboard under the stairs with "overly" obnoxious "muggles." Nonmagic folk are called muggles and are presented as foolish, uncaring, cruel and verbally abusive. The professors and teachers at the Hogwarts school of wizardry are not especially kind and friendly either although they are presented in a better light than his adoptive parents. I found many of them to be rather creepy. Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) is soon inundated with letters brought by owls to his "muggle" home. His uncle, Vernon Dursely won't let him read the letters and burns them. His uncle finally moves the family, but that doesn't stop Harry Potters destiny from unfolding. He makes his way to the Hogwarts school of wizardry. Soon he is on his way to gaining wealth, power and makes it his mission to find the sorcerer's stone. Also could be called the "Philosopher's Stone" which is said to transmute base metals into gold and is said to be able to give the gift of immortality. The children wear wizard cloaks with their school uniforms and Harry Potter has a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead given to him by an evil wizard who killed his parents. On the surface, the Harry Potter movie could come across as an adventure that teaches good moral lessons. But digging a bit deeper into aspects of this story provide a look at "imagination becoming the first step to actualization." While there are many great special effects in this movie, I felt that there were too many dark and ominous aspects. Yes, there is swearing and violence in this movie. The Quidditch game was creative, yet I was a bit worried by the message sent to children when they showed two children falling from the sky and no rescue attempt was made that was visible to the viewer. A three-headed dog and mysterious figure (Voldemort) drinking blood from a Unicorn carcass to gain power, is just a bit too much for kids. If children do watch this movie, they should be told that there are warnings against practicing magic. "There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer."
~Read Deut. 18, Lev. 20:6, Isaiah 8:19-20 J.K. Rowling who is familiar with Balvatsky, Pike, Nicolas Flamel, Philippus Paracelsus (16th-century Swiss alchemist) and Crowley claims that her books are harmless fantasy. I believe she did also claim her books were not written for children. Although, she uses various aspects children will giggle over to entice them into her stories. Some of the more sinister aspects in the books don't make it to the screen. The use of a broomstick and magic wand (complete with a phoenix feather) to levitate objects and open doors hardly touch on spell casting, chants, crystal balls, occult rituals and shape shifting. For the first time, I watched wizards and witches become the heroes in a story. They try to teach that there are good witches and evil witches, but from whence does the power of even the good witches come? While I could understand wizards and witches celebrating Halloween, I was a bit surprised when they celebrated Christmas. Although the early Goths did celebrate the Yule feast to honor all the new occult "initiates." Overall, I think this film is more interesting than many adult films out there right now for the "adventure" aspects. I liked the chess game (although violent), the castle/school being on an island and the dragon was cute. The flying keys and the secret passageways were intriguing. What worried me is that younger children will find magic overly exciting and will want to learn how to cast spells and have a "wizard's" power. This is not a "wholesome" movie by any stretch of the imagination and has many ominous aspects. It introduces occultism and while entertaining, it could open doors of interest in a young child's mind to areas not even witches let their children get involved in until they are much older than 11 years old.
Rating:
Summary: The Books May Be Better
Review: Granted. Harry Potter has become one of the most popular literary icons in the world. The books about a young wizard have done what other books were trying to accomplish: make people read. I love to read, but I haven't read any Potter book yet. When I get to read one, maybe my opinion about the movie version of "Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone" will be different because I found it to be a little too heavy and dark for a children's fantasy film. The all-too-British cast do their jobs well, and the children -Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson -make this version watchable. However, when I saw it in the cinema, I was trying to make myself comfortable in the chair because it was kinda long and dense. The visual effects are good, and the music by John Williams fits the film perfectly.
As for the extras on this DVD, I was a bit disappointed quite frankly because there is only one short documentary in which the actors are interviewed. The rest are glossaries regarding the world of Harry Potter that, probably, keep the children interested. As I said before, I have to read at least one of the books.
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