Rating: 
Summary: Excellent for Kids!
Review: This is partly a response for the review about "Good For Kids???" This movie and series of books is about imagination, expanding people (and kids) minds about lives different from their own. By not allowing kids to see a movie like this is cheating them. The world is not sugar coated and in these times, tolerance of those different from us is even more important. Good parents would allow their children to see other points of view than their own (obviously within limits), so that they can raise well-rounded children with open minds. Let Harry Potter live on!
Rating: 
Summary: Succeeds in being not lousy...but is boring in parts.
Review: Sometimes promotional hype takes on a life of it's own and the actual merits of a film can be difficult to determine.
If you knew nothing of Harry Potter books or the author and were grading this movie as simply that...a movie, it really doesn't stand up so well.
What bugged me the most were the recycled ideas. None of this material is in the least bit original. It's just given a new hair cut and presented to an audience of children who are unaware of how much is borrowed from C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien and a slew of other authors.
The film is overly long and doggedly loyal to the book, which offers up no surprises. I had hoped that more children would have looked at this movie and realized it could have been much, much better. As it is, there are some fun scenes, but they are hidden among more boring scenes. I felt as though the movie was always building up to something that never arrived and then the credits rolled.
Rating: 
Summary: Did Malfoy create this DVD?
Review: The Harry Potter series is a wonderfull epic for kids and adults alike. Those who consider these books "controversial" because of the use of witchcraft in a light and entertaining manor need to take a hard look at the other influencing factors seeping into childrens lives. Overtly sexual and violent radio and TV don't seem to irk these folks, nor does rampant commerciallism turning kids into Nike wearing automatons. But a little magic makes them foam at the mouth. I'd say the priorities of the content critics are askew.
But this isn't my main point. The movie is something of a dud. I don't recommend it. Unless you're a hard core Harry fan, it'll make little sense and be a tad boring. I was terribly dissappointed at the film given the amount of talent behind it. I came away only appreciating the production design and the score.
The DVD is a poorly produced product as well. The transfer looks overbright and contrasty with the colors washed out. And the second disc which contains all the supplementary material is a collection of confusing and rediculous puzzles that must be solved before you can access anything of interest. I gave up looking for the deleted scenes because they simply aren't labeled anywhere and I've got no time to go hunting for them. That which I could find were just rehashed scenes from the movie and some crooked unlabeled drawings.
Perhaps a child with time on there hands and interest may find this more engaging but it annoyed me and I wondered why the option of skipping the games wasn't included. It really just seems thrown together. And poor Jim Dale is given the worst lines to read as the DVD MC.
This could have been the saving grace for this production had they created really informative and interesting disc set. It seems they're just looking to wow you with DVD tricks that aren't magical at all.
I'm just patiently awaiting book 5 and leaving this to the kiddies (who deserve better!).
Rating:
Summary: One of the best movies I have ever seen!!
Review: This movie was great!! Okay, I admit that to me it was a bit boring because I have read the books and I already knew what was gonna happen. This movie shoud be seen by people who haven't read the books, because you'll enjoy it much more and it'll be more exiting. But I bought the DVD and I loved it! It took me a while to find the deleted scenes and I think that they woud have looked very good in the movie, but then again, it woud have been WAY too long. Anyway, I loved the movie and to those people who think this movie is not for kids, it is. I think that you need to imaginate and this movie makes you imaginate. And besides, in case you haven't noticed, the rating's PG, not R!!!
Rating:
Summary: Just for Children? Definitely NOT true!
Review: Are you sure I can't rate a film 6 stars??? This would be one deserving of it! I am 49 and my husband is 54 and we went to theater twice to see this one and I cant wait for my DVD to arrive. The books are great - the movie even better! The child actors are suberb in their roles and then there are the special effects.....And as for children being unable to distinguish between a fantasy movie and Wicca - all I can say isn't it time to stop underestimating our youth? And while the movie is great fantasy on magic - it bears no relationship to Wicca. If you are not Pagan and don't understand what it means to embrace Wicca as a religion - please don't attempt to equate Wicca and fantasy of Witches and Wizards... You only betray your ignorance. Bright Blessings!
Rating:
Summary: IT'S SO HARD TO LEAVE THE MAGIC KING DOM!!
Review: First I am 68 years old, not bragging just lucky. I couldn't go see the movie I have endured all the negitive comments, and
waited for the movie. It was great!!! I loved the books, and the
Movie was as near like the book as it was possible to get.
Some people said it was too long. No way It was just right.
I so hated to leave the magical kingdom an return to mundania.
Why live aamong the Muggles when for two hours you can enjoy
travel in that magic place usually reserved for children. Of the millions of Harry Potter books sold Not all went
to children. This Movie broght Harry to the grown ups who
never read the books becaus they thought they were just childrens
books. Iloved this movie because it brought alive the people
I Have grown to love in the books.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderfully Magical
Review: I love harry potter. I own all the books, and never got to see it in the theater. Instead, I bought it when it first came out on DVD. I knew it was going to be wonderful and it was. The sets, the music, the acting... all lived up and surpassed my expectations. This is a wonderfully magical movie with just the right combination of movie elements. The characters are real, the storyline (while adapted from the book) is solid and everything flows so well that you forget it's a two hour movie. Even the special effects worked for the movie instead of being over the top. Watching the movie, I giggled and smiled and felt as if I was 5 again. My only complaint on this DVD set is that I own a Macintosh and the PC-DVD specials are NOT compatible with Mac drives. Actually, this set includes "bonus footage" that is no where to be seen on either disc when loaded into the drives. I presume it's part of the PC-DVD section. This did bum me out as I was looking forward to watching those bonus scenes. Because of this, I gave it 4 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Too much work
Review: When the fourth book was released to so much hype, I wondered what it was about and made my way to the library. I was completely hooked. I'm 26 and don't have any kids, but I own all of the books, saw the movie in the theatre 3 time (in three differnt countries), and bought the DVD the day it came out. The movie itself is a great way to see the stuff I've imagined in my head. It stays faithful to the book, but doesn't really add anything. I almost always like the books better than the movies that are created from them, but there is usually something in the movie that is better than in the book. I didn't really find that with Harry Potter. But, this is still a movie worth owning. The acting is for the most part wonderful. I hope they can convince all of the actors to stay with this series to the end. It would be a shame to suddenly have a new Hagrid in part 4. My biggest complaint with the DVD is how much work the second disk is. I really wanted to see the 7 extra scenes, but they're not a menu listing anywhere on the DVD. I haven't figured it out yet because I haven't gone to all of the menu items. It might be fun for kids to navigate through all of this stuff, but I just want to see the scenes! J.K. Rowling did a wonderful job of making her books appeal to both kids and adults; the DVD makers should have done the same thing. My last comment is on the critism Harry Potter gets for being about witchcraft and wizardry. Anyone who opposes Harry Potter for being evil or non-Christian has obviously not read the books or has only taken them at face value. The stories really don't revolve around Harry being a wizard so much as they deal with Harry finding a place where he belongs. And this is something that every kid deals with.
Rating:
Summary: Potter DVD disappoints (grownups)
Review: The fact that my seven year old son sat stone still, staring at the screen for two and a half hours is testimony to this movie. Truly a very good adaptation of the novel (for my money, a little too true to the book). The DVD brings Harry Potter home, and while the transfer is very good (I bought, and can only recommend, the widescreen version), I found the second disc frustrating. I still haven't reached the hidden deleted scenes, and their just isn't enough stuff for movie buffs or, for that matter, grown up fans of the books. Even my son, who was so caught up in the movie in the theatre, doesn't seem to have the patience or desire to wade through all this. I'm disappointed that a movie that was so popular with adults as well as children would aim the DVD squarely at the younger set (who don't seem to care anyway).
Rating:
Summary: One of the best DVD's ever
Review: This is one of the best DVD's ever released. First of all, the movie is great. It stays true to the book as much as possible. There is no way to make it completely like the book, because that would make it super long. But I think the director Chris Columbus did a great job. They did a great job of casting also. Daniel Radcliffe makes an excellent Harry Potter, I couldn't imagine anyone else playing this part. Rupert Grint and Emma Watson do an equally great job playing Harry's friend's Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. The rest of the cast is great also, including Richard Harris and Maggie Smith. The 2nd is disc is jammed with special features. You have to play a game in order to get to the deleted scenes, but it is worth it, plus it's a lot of fun. It also contains an interview with the director and the other film makers. The only other thing I would have liked to see or hear rather is an audio commentary by the director, maybe even one with the stars. But all in all it's a highly entertaining movie that you can enjoy over and over.
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