|
|||||
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
|
Reviews
Amazon.co.uk Review
As the first Harry Potter film of the celebrated series, this is a must for ardent fans and newcomers to the global fantasy phenomenon. An adaptation of J. K. Rowling's enchanting, funny debut novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (known as the Sorcerer's Stone in the US), it’s our first big-screen encounter with the series’ well-loved characters and the goings-on at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
We meet orphan Harry Potter (played by a young Daniel Radcliffe) while he’s as yet unaware of his magical powers and is living a miserable existence with his horrible Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. A mysterious letter arrives, delivered by the friendly giant Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane in fine acting form), inviting Harry to study at the exclusive Hogwarts School and he soon discovers his true heritage as the son of a wizard and a witch. He’s also gained widespread notoriety, being the only survivor of an attack by the evil wizard Voldemort that killed both his parents. The film explores Harry’s growing realisation that there are two worlds: the non-magical world of humans, called "Muggles", in which he used to reside and the magical fantasy world of wizardry that is his destiny.
The greatest strength of the film comes from its faithfulness to the novel, and this new cinematic world is filled with all the details of Rowling's imagination, thanks to exuberant sets, elaborate costumes, clever makeup and visual effects, and a crème de la crème cast, including Maggie Smith, Richard Harris, Alan Rickman and more. Especially fine is the interplay between Harry and his new schoolmates Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) as they club together to fight the forces of evil. --Sally Giles
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent,
This review is from: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Two Disc Full Screen Edition) [DVD] [2001] (DVD)
I thought this DVD was excellent, it had superd graphics and really brought the magic of Harry Potter to life, my two children always ask to see it again and again. I can't help myself from sitting and watching it too
49 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enchanting,
This review is from: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Two Disc Widescreen Edition) [DVD] [2001] (DVD)
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.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great film, but a disappointing Blu-Ray,
By Mr. Blu (Europe) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone [Blu-ray] [2001][Region Free] (Blu-ray)
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!
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192198663_.gif){kind=small}
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
