Rating: 
Summary: Potter is not a Pot
Review: This is one of the best movies for kids and adults I have seen in a long time. It has lots of magic, some intrigue that kids can keep up with, honor and sticking by your friends lessons that both kids and adults can learn from these days. The cast is excellent and the kids, Harry, Weasley, and Herminoe just hit it off and meld together.
The Quiddish match is fun to watch and exciting. Makes you wonder how they did it so well. The extras that come with the dvd are fun too. I even sent a Harry Potter greeting to someone and it made them smile for the day!
You really can't go wrong with this movie, it's fun, and if you read the books,you know what's coming, but its fun anyway. Don't over analyze it, just sit back and enjoy it.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Movie Better Book
Review: First off I want to say that I did enjoy this movie. I saw it in the movie theater the week it came out and I now own the DVD. I am a big fan of this series of books, and the movie takes the first book (which is probably going to be the hardest to make a movie) and did it very well. This movie VERY easily could have put out some complete rubbish or horrid cartoon and relied on its built in audience, but the makers of this film instead went out and made a very good (not great) movie and stuck to the story in the book quite well.However, the movie did have one flaw in my mind that really brings down the quality of the movie. The story between Malfoy & Harry is barely told, I know that certain things end up not making it into a movie because of length, but I was surprised that they did SO little to build the primary theme of the series in the battle between Malfoy & Harry. At the very least they could have added in the bit about the Wizards Duel, and adding a few more lines in a couple of places to give Harry good reason for his animosity for Malfoy. Honestly in the hat scene Harry barely has any reason to not want to join the same house as Malfoy because they did almost nothing to build up his character by that point. Overall, this is a good movie based on a very good book. The quality of the movie especially considering it was the first really has me looking forward to the other movies based on the series to come. You can tell allot of effort was put into bringing the book to this media, and the attention to detail pays off in a very entertaining movie worth seeing. You do not need to be a child to enjoy this tale, if you havn't seen it yet go out and buy it or rent it today. You won't be sorry.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Positively Perfect!
Review: I'm not a Harry Potter "fanatic" persae, but I have read all the books. On the Christmas of 98', I recieved a book called Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone from my mother, who is a big reader. I looked at the book in my hands, and I thought to myself, what is this! So I decided to read it, and I got so involved in the book, that I sometimes would stay up very late, just so I could finish a chapter. Then, as the rest of the books came out and Harry Potter slowly became a trend, there was news of an upcoming movie. Let me tell you, I was taken aback, and I had to think to myself for a while. In my mind I couldn't stop thinking how bizzare this was....there was going to be a movie about some children's little book I read a few times? So I had to see it, but not the first day, because there were a billion other people going to see it. So I wen, and I while I was watching this movie, my mouth was wide open the whole time. The film was fantastic! It stayed so loyal to the book, but personaly, for me the best part was the music. I mean, come on...wasn't it just so perfect! It seemed to fit with the book like a jigsaw puzzle! It was great! My friends and I loved it so much that we made our own home movie of it for English class! I played Ron and Dudeley, with the English accent and everything and we had other friends be Hermione, Harry, Dumbledore, Professor McGonogal, Dudeley, Aunt Pettunia, Uncle Vernon, the professors, and my one friends little sister was almost Hedwig! We had so much fun I tell you! My friend was even going through this everything has to be Hemione phase. When I got the DVD the first day it came out, I watched it about 4 times. The only bad thing is me and my friend can't find where the deleated scenes are on the DVD, so if anyone knows out there, please tell me! I'm really sorry for making you read this long boring story about me, so I'll just sumarize in 2 words....Buy it! So go with your instict and get out your wallet and just buy it, believe me you won't regret it, unless you have this think against witchcraft or something, but if you do, buy it anyway, and you can always throw it away if you don't like it, which you better not do, because you're still gonna love it even after reading this long reason why, and if you don't I think you need medication or something, because this is a wonderful film people! Anyway, Thank you for your time and enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Oversold product of an overactive imagination
Review: Not much of a fan of the science fiction/fantasy genre, an overseas flight offered me the opportunity to see what I had understood to be a delicious, imaginative story of an orphan finding himself. Instead, I found the creative elements to be more boring and mundane than exciting, the kids to be overly stereotyped, and the plot more banal than bodacious. The story blends recycled elements of Dickens with Star Wars and Ben Hur only with tens of millions spent on 'special' effects. Expecting colorful characters, I found only silly characters dressed extravagantly drawn by aging if not ancient English thespians. Fighting off sleep was more of a challenge than the twists of the tale. And the bits of terror are inappropriate for any child under age thirteen, unless you accept that young people need to have nightmares. Thank goodness they didn't charge me for the headphones on the flight!
Rating:
Summary: This Movie Captured My Heart...
Review: I've read all four volumes of the Harry Potter series to date after seeing the movie in the theatre on the big screen. Couldn't wait for the DVD and I am thrilled with it. While, admittedly, the movie lacks some of the details and changes a little from the book, I found it enchanting and about as true to the book as can be expected given time limits and translating words into a visual presentation. John William's music is haunting and the melodic theme keeps repeating in my mind's ear (as his music usually does). The casting by Susan Figgis, Janet Hirshenson, Jane Jenkins, and Karen Lindsay-Stewart was phenomenally accurate to the books characters as I perceived them. Bravo!! I think Richard Harris as Albus Dumbledore, Maggie Smith as Professor Minerva McGonagall, Alan Rickman as Professor Severus Snape (simply found him incredible), Robbie Coltrane as Rubeus Hagrid (too perfect), and of course, Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, Emma Watson as Hermione Granger, Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley and Tom Felton as Draco Malfoy just about perfectly fulfilled the characters as they were presented in the book. I simply loved the special and visual effects, the cinematography, the art, well... everything about it. And Chris Columbus' direction is superb. I disagree with those who found it to be a copycat of Tolkien's works or any other movies, and that they were disappointed because the DVD didn't fulfill their expectations as to extra features. This movie and the DVD are wonderful and captured my heart (and I'm an over-50 adult to boot!). I will be watching the DVD over and over again.
Rating: 
Summary: Great movie, Awful DVD
Review: The movie is great and true to the book. The DVD is an atrocity. Someone had no clue about user interface design. The special features are unimpressive and it takes forever to get anywhere. I do not know who thought following an intricate 18 step process to get to the deleted scenes would be fun. For a video game with controllers, great, with a remote in hand, preposterous. There are few interviews and no commentaries. You get two disks full of annoying and ridiculous graphics..I would be insulting game designers everywhere if I refered to them otherwise. They should release a new single disk DVD with the movie and some decent features that you can reach in a straightforward manner.
Rating: 
Summary: GAG ME!!!!
Review: Ugh, this movie takes everything away from Harry Potter! First of all, wasn't it "so exciting" that all these kids were reading instead of watching TV, and now they go and make a MOVIE. Oh yeah, that makes sense. Furthermore, I am not only disgusted that J.K. Rowling would let the book be made into a movie, but also that she would APPROVE of this one! It had very little of the plot in it, and the children were terrible actors. The one reason I had gone to see it was to watch the Quiddich, which was just plain awful! The people looked like SIMS! You know, from the computer game? All in all, a waste of time and money!
Rating:
Summary: Loved it...
Review: I rented this DVD to take to my 9-year old brother's birthday dinner. I thought the kids would enjoy it. Once it started, the whole family became engrossed. People have said that they were disappointed by the special effects, but you have to think beyond effects and consider the set itself...not to mention the costumes. I think it was all great! We had a lot of fun. You don't have to have read the books to see the movie, but I highly recommend doing so...the books are fabulous. The only thing that disappointed us was the second CD with all of the extras. It took everybody quite a while to figure it all out and we found it to be very anti-climactic. That's the only reason I didn't give it 5 stars. If it was just the movie, I definitely would have given it all 5.
Rating:
Summary: Not as expected
Review: I have waited for ths for a long time. I thought that the DVD would be much more advanced in flavor than expected. They made such a big deal and it didn't even have a special look at the second movie. I paid extra money just to get it on the "Special" DVD.
Rating:
Summary: DVD Finds the Magic Movie Lost
Review: While the Harry Potter books are undisputably fantastic, it is widly agreed that the movie is, well, good. J.K.Rowlings has the humor of Roald Dahl and the magic of J. R. Tolkien. That being said, any attempt to transform the books into movie form would be incrediably difficult, at best. Director Chis Columbus did an acceptable (not wonderful) job. But the makers of this DVD redeemed the movie's shortcomings. This movie is true to the book regarding plot and events. However, by skimming over the details - like all the magic Harry learns in school, Nevile's trials, compacting time, Harry's nightmares, etc.- much of the magic and charm was lost.(I should mention that my love of the books most certainly jaded the movie for me. For example, my new boyfriend - in what was most certainly an attempt to win my affection - took me to see this in the theatre. He -a grown man and a fan of NASCAR and baseball- thought it was a great movie. We've been dating for a while now so I would know if it really bored him)
The DVD restores much of the magic from the book in what is the most interactive, creative and fun DVD I have ever seen. Most DVDs have "special features" consisting of bland mini-documentaries, cast lists and, occasionally, an intersting cut sceen or two. This DVD has truly SPECIAL special features. There is a game, a really cool guided 3-D tour of the grounds and of the dorm - you can choose which way to go, look at details - it is really neat. You can make potions in class, go to Digon Alley and buy an owl, take money from Gringott's bank,and try out wands. It is very imaginative. There is also a cd-rom game which I have yet to play (because it might make it obvious to my co-workers that I'm goofing off). This gets my stamp of approval. I liked it!
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