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 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's StoneDVD Review by Yanman |
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“It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” It didn’t take a wizard to figure out that a Harry Potter movie would be a Box-Office blockbuster. With the first four Potter books being huge best sellers, and the following of the boy wizard by both children and adults, the prediction for a successful film was easy to do. But it takes more then a following of a book or a character to make a great film, it takes a solid story, great acting, good directing, and word of mouth. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone provide all of these and more. The two DVD set will do well for all these reasons and more, while there are a few issues with the bonus features (see below), we estimate that most DVD collectors and every Harry Potter fanatic, will want to add this to their library of must have films. When an infant Harry Potter’s (Daniel Radcliffe) parents are killed by an evil wizard, he is left to grow up with his aunt and uncle, at least until he is “old enough”. Old enough for what you ask? Well on his 11th birthday Harry learns that it is time to enroll in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Once there Harry embarks on what can only be called an adventure of a lifetime. Here Harry not only learns spells and incantations, but he is trained in the high-flying sport of Quidditch and makes new friends that are destined to last a lifetime. But there’s more going on then meets the eye at this school, something evil lurks in the darkness, and it is up to Harry and his housemates to figure it out. Can they do it in time? Warner Home Video has done a superb job on this Special Widescreen Edition (Also available in a Full Screen Edition) of the film. The video quality of the anamorphic video transfer is extremely good, maybe one of the best live action video transfers we have seen. This is more then likely due to the separation of the extras out to a second DVD. The Dolby Digital 5.1 EX soundtrack is also first rate, with sound filling the room from all directions, putting those rear surrounds to good use. We have to give a half-point ding here though for the lack of a DTS multi-channel offering, its not that we think that would have sounded better (but who knows it might have), it is just that many people would now like that choice. Ok are you read for a soapbox? I like hidden extras as much as anybody else (ok, maybe not as much as people that will spend hours trying to figure them out), but when a extra as important as never-before-seen deleted scenes is hidden and requires a cockamamie series of things to happen to reveal it, well…lets just say that I was less-then-happy trying to figure it out. We will let you figure it out for yourself, but if you get stuck and can’t find it drop me an e-mail and we will give you the steps (If enough people ask, well post it on a separate page, so that we don’t ruin it for others). Ok now that I’m up on this soapbox … here is one other pet peeve, the DVD-ROM extras can only be run on a PC (own a Mac? Sorry!), and a number of them require a microphone to be fully utilized. Let me tell you it makes it tough to review the extras on a laptop having a box pop up looking for a mic over and over again. Ok, I’m off the soapbox now, with that out of the extras on this two-disc DVD set are of very high quality making the disc worth owning just to discover all of their nuances. One of our favorite extras is missing from the list (see sidebar). Why no director’s commentary Chris? Too busy with Harry Potter 2? Harry Potter the book series is a worldwide phenomenon, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone the movie has set the high bar to do the same for the series of films. Despite this reviewers frustration with the hidden bonus features, this DVD is a must own for all wizards and Muggles alike, but I shouldn’t have told you that!
This DVD was reviewed on Yanman.com's Reference Theater #1, using a Toshiba SD-4700 DVD player, Toshiba TW56X81, and M&K 750 THX Speakers. Panamax protects all systems at Yanman.com. |
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Most DVD collectors and every Harry Potter fanatic, will want to add this to their library of must have films. Staring: Daniel Radcliffe Directed By: Chris Columbus Running time: 152 Min. Bonus Materials
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