Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone [DVD] [2001]

This set looks fantastic. It has a cardboard sleeve and the main box inside is large, solid and and very well-presented with lovely detailing. If you have all the sets together, they are quite phenomenal to behold! Inside there is a 'Creating The World of Harry Potter' photo album and this contains photographs of many of the Harry Potter film sets. There is also a paper folder which contains two artcards -Snape and McGonagall - and a digital film code leaflet.
The discs themselves are housed in a separate fold-out dvd set:
Disc 1: Blu-Ray Movie (Theatrical Version)
Disc 2: DVD Movie (Theatrical Version)
Disc 3: DVD Movie (Extended Version)
Disc 4: DVD Special Features (Additional Scenes, A Conversation With The Film-Makers, Visit Diagon Alley, Enter The Library, Attend Classes, Learn More About Quidditch, Seek The Mirror of Erised, Gallery of Art & Architecture)
Disc 5: DVD Creating The World of Harry Potter Part 1: The Magic Begins (1. The Magic Begins 2. Characters 3. Magical Creatures 4. Sound & Music 5. The Evolution of Harry Potter 6. Special Effects 7. Growing Up Potter 8. The Harry Potter Phenomenon)
Although this set is marketed as a Blu-Ray set please note that only one disc is Blu-Ray which is why I don't think it's perfect. Unlike the US version of this boxset, the UK version does not contain a Blu-Ray extended version of the film which is very disappointing. The special features from Disc 4 are not unique to this set but the hour long documentary on Disc 5 offers a spectacular behind-the-scenes look at the movies and how it all began. The real highlight is definitely the extended version of the film. The extra scenes really add to the film and aren't just fillers - my particular favourite new scenes include Petunia opening up the eggs to find Hogwarts letters in each one and the little conversation between the trio after they've defeated the troll. I loved these scenes in the books so it was great to see them on screen at last! This set is definitely one for the die-hard fans due to the price - it's just a shame that there isn't an extra Blu-ray of the extended version in the set.

The film is wonderful, for me clearly the better of the two Christopher Columbus 'family films', and in many ways my favourite before the obsession started with making Harry Potter increasingly 'darker'. Extras are not bad including around nine minutes of deleted scenes and numerous behind the scenes features. But the main issue here is the Blu-Ray quality and that is why this great film gets only three stars.

The video quality is not very good. Contrasts are surprisingly poor, with many scenes too bright (Harry and his owl during the Xmas holidays) and the children's faces often looking vampirically pale due to excessive contrast. There is also far too much soft focus and too little sharpness for the film to ever really shine let alone 'pop' as the jargon has it. Scenes which are just made for HD, lingering close-ups, for example, often appear surprisingly soft and lacking definition. There are moments of HD magic - like the moving bricks in the wall before Diagon Alley - but they are far too rare and are never of reference character. Faces, particularly the children, often lack detail almost as though some form of digital noise reduction (DNR) had been applied! I say "almost" because the film is not short of grain/noise.

Audio quality is pretty good but well short of what it could have been. The PCM track is only 48khz and sometimes lacks the extra detail and spaciousness associated with HD audio. Surround sound is very well used though, particularly in the Quidditch match.

All in all a disappointing BD. The new audio-mix on the "Ultimate Editions" available in the US and continental Europe seems to be an open admission that the soundtrack wasn't good enough. But I wouldn't hold your breath for a new transfer. On the internet I read that some of the video problems are to be blamed on the limited budget for Part 1 and the not sufficiently careful integration of CGI. Although I hope, at the least, a new transfer one day could sort out the contrasts, and remove DNR if that is what is making the kids' faces look so lacking in detail and smoothed over at times.

Not really recommended. The only good news is that a better sound-mix is out there and that general feedback from BD-loving Potter fans is that the series gets much better on BD from Part II on. I'll be sure to post on "Chamber of Secrets" when I've seen it!

I took my 3 young children to see this film with a little trepidation, knowing it to be 2.5 hours long. Also, having read the books to all of them as bedtime stories, they each had pre-conceived ideas about the characters, portrayed so vividly in the text.

My fears were groundless. From the moment Dumbledore walked onto the screen in the first act they were mesmerised, their sweets and drink were left untouched as they were transported to the magical world of Hogwarts. The time passed far too quickly as they were taken on a roller coaster ride of fun and excitement.

The atmosphere created by Columbus is engrossing, totally convincing. I watched my children's faces as the story developed, from looks of pure delight as the Dursleys house was bombarded with owl post, to hatred as Alan Rickman's Snape bullied the kids and finally to tears as Ron was knocked from his Knight.

The film is not perfect, some of the children's acting is a bit wooden (not helped by the script, which tries to stay too close to the book), some scenes should not have been cut (lets hope we see some of these on the DVD !!) and some subtle clue's provided in the book for eagle eyed kids are missing, but none of this detracts from the overall experience.

As we left the cinema, the first thing my children said to me was "when can we see it again ?". "Soon", I replied. I began to realise that I had probably enjoyed the film as much as they had.