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

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As there are many dark scenes and dark backgrounds in the film, and the wizards` robes are black, this is all very unfortunate - especially since the black level is set wrongly (i. while the film is one of the best family films to come out in a long time, i enjoyed every minute, and it DOES feel too short, the video is a lovely, clean, crisp anamorphic 2. Although my equipment isn`t the best in the world, the blacks in Phantom Menace were as black as the bars at the side of the screen, the blacks in this seemed more washed out. Sadly most of this is missing in the film (maybe we will see a bit more in the sequels when we visit the Weasleys` home, but I am not too hopeful). Harry Potter is an ordinary boy who lives in a cupboard under the stairs at his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon`s house, which he thinks is normal for someone like him whose parents have been killed in a `car crash`.

Harry Potter The Complete Collection: 20th Anniversary Harry Potter The Complete Collection: 20th Anniversary

Harry, Ron and Hermione form the new, young scooby gang investigating strange going ons at their school. The menu design was quite good, with some nice `family photos` of the Dursleys, but a bit slow to navigate. Hermione is a star, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle are spot on, Harry is OK (probably quite a good portrayal of Harry, who is an OK sort of bloke, but the actor is bad at portraying nervousness or excitement), but Ron is too flat and mournful, Neville is extremely wooden, and Percy is frankly appalling! I hate the features on disk 2, which are exceptionally irritating (for adults) - I particularly hated having to get the wand in Ollivanders, where there is no clue as to which one to pick and you get a cheesy explosion effect over and over again each time you get it wrong.

A good movie on first viewing in the cinema, mainly because of the novelty of saying, it`s Harry Potter, and it`s exactly how you expected it to be! Harry Potter finds out that he is a wizard and goes to Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry for the first time. It`s a bit like driving on a motorway - the plot takes you there at a steady pace and in a fairly safe manner (with a couple of points where it slows down due to congestion) - but where is the joy in that? For a disk that was pretty well guaranteed to sell in the millions, it is a fairly disappointing product. If you know the story, it is only the visuals that you are left to wonder at, and even the composting is poor.

Harry Potter and The Philosopher`s Stone (Widescreen) (UK) Harry Potter and The Philosopher`s Stone (Widescreen) (UK)

The Quidditch scene is a standout, but the poor effects let down a film that unfortunately has to rely on them. by pandering to children, all the dvd offers are 7 incredibly redundantr deleted scenes whcih take A LOT of finding, and a 20 minute featurette which while interesting, is slightly too kiss-assey. He is bullied by them and his fat spoilt cousin Dudley, and lives a very unremarkable life with only the odd hiccup (like his hair growing black overnight! I didn`t feel any empathy towards Harry`s character, either due to the acting or perhaps due to his eyebrows (which make him look like a clown, rather than like a magician). The transfer is extremely sharp and the (widescreen) disk is of course anamorphic, but I`m sorry to say there is something wrong with the gamma/contrast settings used in the mastering/encoding process.It`s not dark enough, it`s only mildly amusing, and it justs sticks to the book to much, yet cuts out Peeves the Poltergeist. When I saw it in the cinema, I thought it was great and gave it 9/10 on IMDb: I was just pleased that for once the people making the `film of the book` hadn`t messed around too much with the plot. Personally I don`t like extras anyway, apart from a theatrical trailer and a director`s commentary, as I never look at the rest of the *** that you get on DVDs, but each to his own I suppose.

The Dursley family are excellent in the film, and the shot of all the identikit estate cars parked in Privet Drive was inspired, but there was just not enough of this building up period, and so the line `You`re a Wizard, Harry` lost most of its impact. Only DD, and no DTS, which is odd as it probably would have fitted on the disc with ease, particularly as there is no commentary at all. Until he is rescued by a beetle eyed giant of a man, enrols at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, learns to play Quidditch and does battle in a deadly duel. but for the older harrypotter fan, and im only 17, WHERE THE HELL IS THE COMMENTARY, THE DECENT MAKING OF DOC, AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! Of course, it could be the direction rather than the actors themselves, and obviously it is a bit demanding to expect a whole cast of child actors to be perfect throughout a long feature film, but I can think of better examples, Lord of the Flies being one of them.The rest of the disc space is filled up with lots of huge animated menus, with a voiceover, and then clips from the film that you have just seen, so they`re pointless. The extras kept me amused for an hour or so, but why didn`t they put the deleted scences into the main feature? The problem is the only extras of note are some talking heads interviews, which are OK, and then some deleted scenes, which take an age to get to by playing some pretty boring set top games. The great ensemble adult cast are on the whole great but all have too little to do each to be of mention.