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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Widescreen Edition)

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Widescreen Edition)

List Price: $19.98
Your Price: $14.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Movie
Review: If you didn't read the book, you might be confused, but otherwise they really brought everything alive. They cut out parts, but I felt like I was there. My favorite part must be the quidditch game. I highly recommend this.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great book -- good movie.
Review: Actually, my copy of the DVD is Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. (The Philosopher's stone is a real medieval legend. The title of the book and movie were changed for American audiences. British and Canadian versions have slightly different scenes were the characters say the proper name of the stone.)

I have to admit, as I saw the movie I had a big smile on my face. I particularly like Ron & Hermione and Hagrid, although Daniel Radcliffe makes a good Harry. Maybe a little too good. In the book, Harry is not perfect. His mistakes have been sanitized in the film.

I found most of the joy I had in watching this film came straight from the book. And overall, the movie is fairly faithful. Maybe a little too much. Peter Jackson's LOTR re-imagined the novel to make it work better on film. At times, the Harry Potter film just seems like a plot summary of the book. Good -- but it doesn't quite sparkle. There is magic in the film, but it is borrowed from JK Rowling's book. LOTR creates its own magic.

I also didn't like the Quidditch effect as it seemed confusing and the characters didn't mesh with the background.

As for the DVD, it's nice looking. The special features -- well, I've seen discs with a lot more, but there's a good assortment here. Kids might have a lot of fun trying to find the stone and Deleted Scenes. Adults might want to just cut to the chase.

Nice that the DVD has the sorting hat song. I wish the film had kept it.

All in all, it's an enjoyable way to spend a few hours. I'm looking more forward to the second film.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone
Review: I loved the movie. I was very disappointed with the build up before the release of the movie in the theaters. They said it was very true to the book. I found a lot of stuff deleted and new things added. I still found the movie to be very enjoyable. I'm glad i bought it. The movies is very different from the book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Wonderful Movie--A Great DVD
Review: Unlike some people who complained about Chris Columbus' so closely following the book in his adaptation of JK Rowling's first book in the HARRY POTTER series, I LOVED the fact that all the sights and sounds I had pictured in my mind came so wonderfully to life in this film.

Outstanding acting by the 3 juvenile leads, a wonderful supporting cast of Britain's best character actors (a stand-out is Robbie Coltrane's Hagrid), fantastic special effects, and a true sense of wonder--something not often found in "kid" flicks these days (look at what else passes for a kid flick: Max Keeble's Big Move, Snow Dogs, etc.).

The DVD is wonderfully presented, although I must confess that it took me longer than I thought it would to crack the codes to find the deleted scenes. Beautifully packaged, nicely put together (although it could have used a sneak peek at HP & THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS), totally enjoyable.

My wife, who did not see the film in the theaters or read the books, became a Harry Potter fan after watching this movie. Now we are both waiting for the next film--and praying that JK Rowling doesn't off poor Ron.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Wonder in My Son's Eyes...
Review: I admit I wished my son would have discovered the new Star Wars with the same enthusiasm as I did the old back in the late 70s. The mythology of the films stay with me and influence me today.

My son, however, has adopted his own franchise of fantasy and being a fan of Harry Potter, he's found his own lifelong menagerie of creatures and cast of characters to enjoy. He has his own series of epic adventures to enjoy with characters like Dumbledore and Hagrid, friends like Hermoine and Ron, monsters like Fluffy and such vivid imagery that capture and mold a young boy's imagination.

The DVD set encourages your participation in the adventure. A most interactive DVD, it features potion-mixing, treasure hunting, and a search for the "Sorcerer Stone"... quite nicely engineered.

And J.K. Rowling is a hottie.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: great
Review: So close to the book, you'd thought you were reading instead of watching.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: It's missing some thing
Review: Harry Potter was a good movie and has agreat DVD. I have all the books and i love them all, but the movie is missing some parts thats in the book. In the book Harry has todrink a potion to get through the fire and when Professor Qurriel tried to kill Harry at the Quidditch match Snape got in the the way of him when actually in the book Hermione knocked him into the row in front him. Even if they added all the cool features, the movie would have been better if they cagend them a little bit.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Harry Potter Comes Home
Review: A lot of the gripes I heard about this DVD was about the extra features,in a word who cares about the extra features.I buy DVD format for the durability and the movie within...And what a movie it is.Harry Potter finally comes home.AS a huge fan of the books I enjoyed seeing it brought to life.I think it was very faithful to the books(kudos to Ms Rowling).The young actors fell into their roles and the adults pulled off seamless performances(especially Robbie Coltraine as Hagrid)I cant say enough about this movie,to me its like the Wizard of Oz for the new millenium.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Magic of screen interpretation...
Review: I was really surprised by this gem because I usually don't like Chris Columbus's work. After my wife read every one of the books, I was forced to purchase the DVD, not entirely against my will. I love the film and the fact that the actors are REALLY English, for the most part and not just Americans pretending to be English. I believe they've captured the magical sense of the novels. I believe the author's forcefulness was a great piece to the film. As a writer myself I often play with the idea of the "what if" my novels are picked up for a movie release. I don't know how much control I'd want on the film. I'm more prone to keep strong about the soundtrack, rather than the film, which is mostly someone else's interpretation to the book. As with Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone parallel the novel very closely. Let's see what happens with the upcoming, Harry Potter, due this X-mass!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Video Excellentus!
Review: In 2001, two fall blockbusters involving witchcraft and wizards reached the theatres. Unfortunately, I don't have a wand with which to say "Review autoscriptus!" or some snowy owls on one-day delivery standby so I have to do this with my fingers (sigh) and create words of wonder on the movie I liked better.

While I haven't read J.K. Rowling's books, it must have been chock full of detail I don't know of the movie:book accuracy ratio, but for director Chris Columbus to fit it in two and-a-half hours, it must have been a book spectacularis.

Witches and wizards were persecuted throughout the ages, regarded as threats more than freaks as Harry's aunt did her sister, and more often than not, burned at the stake. With Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the song remains the same, only this time, his uncle, aunt, and obnoxious cousin treat him contemptuously, as if he's an unwanted burden. Who knows how his life would have been without the flurry of invitations to Hogwarts School courtesy of one-day owl delivery? Fortunately, giant Rubeas Hagrid comes crashing to the rescue. The real adventure begins from there.

Daniel Radcliffe gives a performance competentus and credibilis as the totally likeable title character. Of the troika of main characters, he's the most human. However, Emma Watson as the resourceful and well-read Hermione Granger steals the show wands aloft. Despite being snooty and knowing who she is, she proves herself to be a cut above others in classes (see her frantically waving on Professor Snape to call on her, and her proficient wand handling). She does have feelings, though, as she angrily stomps past through Weasley, who fed up with her conceit, was verbally cutting her down a peg to Harry, finishing with "No wonder she doesn't have any friends." If Hermione's character leads more children to flip pages instead of flipping bad guys on their PS2's or X-Box's, so much the better. Rupert Grint, as Ron Weasley, makes a good foil for both his counterparts, being a fellow explorer and Christmas holiday companion with Harry or someone for Hermione to impart knowledge.

The other performer to whom this show belongs to is veteran actor Robbie Coltrane as the friendly giant gameskeeper Rubeas Hagrid. After Krull, Nuns On The Run, two James Bond movies, and From Hell among others, he has finally become a recognizable face on American shores. American audiences should have warmed up to this talented performer earlier, and that's something I should've said.

As for other veteran actors, Richard Harris, Maggie Smith, and Zoe Wanamaker do wonders as the professors of Hogwarts, but Alan Rickman turns in a solid performance as the sinister Professor Snape, who doesn't seem to like Harry all that much.

People, (or should that be muggles?) this is one movie specialus. The special effects, while spectacular, do not detract from the character development or dialogue, like certain films I'm not going to name. They merely support the magic whether it's the entrance to the square or the action scenes, such as the Quidditch match.

Well, review terminatus, and see you at the theatres for the Chamber of Secrets


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