Video: Buy Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Online

Average Rating:

First, the good stuff: This movie looked great. Nice cinematography and art direction. Hogwarts and Diagon Alley were perfect. A few of the special effects were good - Fluffy the dog, the chess board, the flying in Quiditich. There were a few - too few - quiet moments that really resonated: Harry sitting and staring at the Mirror of Erised, the huge flock of owls outside the Dursley house. Daniel Radcliffe got the right mix of heroism and ordinariness for Harry, the actors playing Snape, Hagrid + McGonnagall were spot on. A few actors with minor roles (Malfoy, Filch, Wood, Olivander) hammed it up admirably.

That being said, there were big things wrong. The kid who played Ron had one befuddled expression that he flashed in every scene. Richard Harris was as wooden as a broomstick as Dumbledore. A few effects, like the invisibility cloak, were clumsy. But that's minor stuff. The biggest problem is that the movie was poorly plotted and poorly adapted from the book.

It feels like they selected random scenes and dialogue and filmed them, not like they were trying to tell an actual story. Examples:

Haul out your copy of Book 1 and reread the chapter on the train. In one chapter, Rowling firmly establishes that Harry and Ron have gone from strangers to best buddies, Hermione's irksome bossiness, and Neville's patheticness. Nothing even remotely like that happens in the movie. For all the times they mention Bernie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, you'd think it was a real product that was paying for onscreen product placement. I could have done with less about the beans, more about character development.

When Quirrell takes off the turban, that should be the big climax, but the movie has done next to nothing to demonstrate that Voldemort is the big bad guy, everyone fears him etc. No one trembles when Harry speaks the name aloud. No mention of why Snape hates Harry, making him seem like a clumsy red herring in the movie (instead of, arguably, the most complex character in the books). Neville coming through at the end has no impact, because the movie hasn't established what a hard-luck case he is.

I could go on, but basically, all too much about the movie would make no sense and have no impact if you hadn't read the book.

It also doesn't help that the navigation of many features on the DVD is set up like a clumsy video game.

Here's hoping the more plot-driven Chamber of Secrets makes for a better film #2.

Nothing could top the excitement in that theatre when the theme song started playing and Dumbledore strolled onto the screen.

It is a FANTASTIC movie! It has just the right amount of suspence, action, and fun of the books. Most of all, it really captures the essence of the books. The movie had the audience cheering right along at the Quidditch match, hissing at Draco Malfoy, and to tears at the Mirror of Erised.

The cast is, as Ron put it, "BLOODY BRILLIANT!" The cast is made up of high-caliber actors and actresses such as Dame Maggie Smith (Prof. McGonagall), Richard Harris (Prof. Dumbledore), Alan Rickman (Prof. Snape), and Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid). But I was most impressed by the three new stars who play Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Dan Radcliffe IS Harry. He perfectly portrays the determination and courage of our bespectacled hero. Emma Watson displays Hermione as being smart and talented but slightly on-edge. Rupert Grint, though, was my favourite. He PERFECTLY captures Ron's personality. His facial expressions and the way he delivers his lines are all excellent.

My only problems with the film were its lack of character development for characters like Neville Longbottom and Draco Malfoy. Neville's few moments of glory aren't as poignant when he isn't described as being clumsy and bumbling but a true Gryffindor at heart. There also isn't enough screen time to show Malfoy and Snape being horrid to Harry. Snape is such a wonderfully complex character that he needs MUCH more screen time than he's gotten.

Overall, though, an absolutely brilliant movie.

The second disc is all extras. I guess it was designed for Harry Potter fans and people who enjoyed the movie very much because it was assumed that you've watched the movie beforehand. The deleted scenes were a little hard to find since several steps have to be taken. First I had to go to get the key and take money from the Gringotts bank in Diagon Alley. Then purchase wand from Olivander's. Then return to the school and attend classes. Go to potions class and answer three questions. The questions were a little bit of a hassle for me. Answer for the 1st question: Aphrodel and the tube next to it (forgot name); 2nd question: wolfsbane and monkhood; 3rd question: snake fangs and porcupine quills. After the questions, select winged key by trying out a few. Then select the orange colored potion and you will see the mirror of erised. There are a total of 7 deleted scenes. Although some will say they are not worth the hassle, but I liked them. My other favorite extra is the interview. It was good to learn about the behind the scenes interaction of the director/producer/actors etc and production of the movie in general. They also mentioned something about the second movie.

Overall good buy. Worth every cent. Will rewatch it on DVD many times.