Customer Reviews

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Widescreen)

5 star:		(573)
4 star:		(297)
3 star:		(163)
2 star:		(105)
1 star:		(81)

 

 

I will not go through the story as you can read my review of the book. However the basic primes is of a boy who grows up as the orphan nephew of a family that does not believe in magic only to find that he is a famous wizard. How will he handle his situation and the interaction with friends?

The movie its self as with all movies would have to be a mini-series to incorporate all the nuances of the book. However this movie does an excellent job of selection and gives the overall feel of the story.

Naturally comparing and contrasting this story with others in it genre you will always find a better or a favorite. This in no way diminishes the excellent story and the cohesiveness of the movie.

Daniel Radcliffe stars as Harry, a rather pitiful orphan who lives with his mean aunt and uncle. On his 11th birthday, Harry discovers he is a wizard and happily leaves home for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There, he makes his first-ever pals - classmates Ron and Hermione, and their friendship is the heart of the story. We follow the trio as they go through their first year at school attending magic classes, finding adventure, and even solving a mystery that puts Harry face-to-face with the dark wizard who killed his parents.

Radcliffe captures the innocence and sadness of Harry, as well as his daring-do and sense of fun. Rupert Grint, as his sidekick Ron, delivers most of the comedy lines and is very appealing. Emma Watson plays Hermione with a heart of gold underneath her bookish bossiness. They are supported by a stellar cast, including Maggie Smith and Alan Rickman. There is lots of action, fun special effects, and some sweet, poignant moments as well.

All ages can enjoy this movie, even if you haven't read the book. It's wholesome family entertainment that will leave you feeling good and looking forward to the next film in the series.

Harry Potter is a great movie that the whole family can sit down and enjoy. And the Harry Potter series has a big future. This is the first one in the series that introduced the school of withcraft and wizardry that Harry Potter would be going to. It's called Hogwartz. It introduces many characters such as Harry himself, Ron Weasley who becomes Harry's friend, Hermione Granger who also becomes Harry's friend, Draco Malfoy who is Harry's enemy, Albus Dumbledore who is the headmaster of Hogwartz and many more. Get your kids, get this movie and watch it. Trust me your going to love it. It's great fun really. Then when your done this one go to the store and get Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and then see Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in theatres.
10/10
Rated PG for Some Scary Moments and Mild Language.

harry potter is the BEST series in the world and kj rowling is sooo talented!!! there's a reason why harry potter's so popular! get THEM ALL

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone one of the best fantasy films i've seen, but one of the best films of 2001. when it premiered, the film broke box office records grossing over $100 million in it's opening weekend. the movie itself lived up to the hype and anticipation.

Believe or not, some ridiculous morality groups including agassiz middle school in fargo nd actually voiced concern over the film because of the witchcraft element.
from my experience with working kids (i mentor and tutor kids in my spare time ) i can tell you that kids can tell fiction from reality and right from wrong. ''harry potter and the philosopher's stone'' is based on the successful children's book by j.k. rowling who many didn't know is a woman, until she was interviewed on 60 minutes

Also what other people may not know is the children's books weren't successful at first. j.k. rowling came up with the idea for the books while working as a teacher. when rowling first displayed her early harry potter stories to publishers, all of them turned her down!!! Apparently these book publishers (like many in general) didn't know a good thing even if it bit them on the leg. eventually about 4 and 1/2 yrs after rowling's finished her final harry potter, warner bros. and chris columbus amazed by the popularity of the books, and seeing the opportunity to profit from it, convinced her to do a film from her books. this film ''harry potter and the sorcerer's stone'' is the result.

The film starts of by a mysterious sequence in which a young boy is dropped of the doorstep of a neighborhood. a big giant, named hagrid (robbie coltrane(, looks at the boy and eventually promises that he eventually come back for this special boy, who has an unusual birthmark on his head.

The boy we learn is Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and he been brought here to be brought by one of the worst excuses of a mom and dad: His nasty aunt and uncle Mr and Mrs. Dursely (Richard Griffiths and Fiona Shaw) and their big fat son named Dudly. They abuse Harry literally using him as a slave around the house, and offering little luxury and love. We fast about 11 yrs, and suddenly we see that Harry is going hundreds of letters inviting him to come to the school of Hogwarts. Harry doesn't know what ''Hogwarts'' is, but his aunt and uncle, and like evil people do and keep that info away from hm, literally ripping up every letter addressed to Harry from Hogwarts.

As Harry and his ''family'' are visiting the zoo , Harry notices he has special odd powers: He can talk to a snake and and literally makes the snake comes alive!!! Dudley, the big fat kid, tries to pet the snake, but ends going through the windows and poops his pants, lol, as he sees the snake escaping. 0 Harry is shocked, but happy he has this special powers. Eventually that day, Hagrid, comes to Harry's house, and tells him all about ''Hogwarts'' which is a special Wizards and Witches school for kids. He also tells Harry that he is a great wizard!!!!!!!! Harry and Hagrid, then leave the Dursely's and Harry begins his first step into the adventure at Hogwarts.

At Hogwarts, Harry meets other potentials wizards and witches like Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) who become Harry's roomates at Griffindoor.
The headmaster, Albus Dumbledore (Richard Harris), and a magical hat sort every Wizard and Witch candidate into their appropriate dorm, and so Harry Potters new classmates Ron Weasley and Hermione are sorted into Griffindoor.
Here Harry and others meet their teachers such as Professor Snake (Alan Rickman from Die Hard fame) who specializes in potions. They also learn a bout special sports at Hogwarts like quidditch a special wizard sport. However, the trio also uncover mystery , danger, and adventure as they uncover, trolls, three headed dogs, and a special mystery known as ''The Philosopher's Stone''. Harry above all will discover a mysterious secret about his parents, and their encounter against, an evil Wizard named Voldemort.

''Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone'' is loaded with
special effects: The school of Hogwarts is loaded with special spirits and dangers. There is a great effect in the film where a couple of painting come alive in the movie!!! It looks cool. More special effects such as the walking stairways at Hogwarts. Of course the biggest effects come with showing the Wizard powers of Harry, and the amazing enemies he encounters.

''Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone'' also has great makeup effects as well: For example , Harry in the beginning meets a couple of Goblins who work at the Gringotts bank where Harry has an account. The makeup is fantastic, the people playing the Goblins look amazingly real in their makeup.

''Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone'' was a big hit for it's great story about a special boy, the amazing adventures he has as he Wizardy and Mystery where he will not uncover, great adventure but uncover himself as well. J.K. Rowling has done her best work with Harry Potter. 3 of the Harry Potter films have already been finished, with the 3rd film film being released later this year. There is a great special 2 disc dvd for the movie and it includes:

* A special interactive tour of Hogwarts
* A special trivia section and Wizard section
* Special DVD Roms features such as a screensaver
* Interviews with Chris Columbus and cast
*Commentary and much more

However, the DVD features has it's setbacks for one is it's ''Extra Footage'' of the film. The ''Extra Footage'' are deleted scenes that didn't make the cut of the film. Ordinarly deleted scenes, are put into a special category on a dvd, so users can see the original film and then see the deleted scenes separately. I did like the commentary though explaining how tough yet fun it was in bringing Harry Potter to the big screen, obviously when the movie was a successful a box office franchise was born.

The franchise of Harry Potter is not limited to the film or books, video games for the Playstation, Gameboy Color and Gameboy Advance all have games of Harry Potter. However, Harry Potter is one the greatest fantasy movies in quite a while and J.K. Rowling has a done great job in bringing it to life.

Naysayer after naysayer tries to write off this film, and those which followed, as well as the books, as fluff for kids. Others went as far to say that this franchise had satanic or evil qualities about it. I say that's a bunch of bull. These movies and books do something for kids(and adults) that hasn't been done since films like "The Neverending Story" and the original "Star Wars" trilogy came along. It allows kids to use their imagination. It gives them hope that there is something magical and wonderful in this world. Regardless if you believe in witchcraft or anything of that sort, let kids have some FUN!. Sorry to be preachy, but for the last fifteen or so years, kids have been hammered with "suggestions" from professionals, preachers and the ACLU as to what they should be watching and doing. Well guess what folks, kids need to have fun. Granted, they do need to learn right from wrong and good from evil, but they have to live a little as well.

"Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone" gives kids a chance to laugh, scream in fear and be awed all at the same time. Who in their right mind didn't pretend to be a wizard, witch, knight, cowboy, football star, etc. when they were growing up. Today's kids have been robbed of that privilege by overprotective parents and worry-wart professionals.

So just sit back, relax and watch a pretty cool kid do some pretty cool things. Harry is a wonderful role-model for kids. He is respectful of others, minds most of the rules(the ones he breaks are broken with the best intentions), and fights for what's right. He doesn't whine about being in a rough situation. He makes decisions that would make any parent proud. Oh, and by the way, he doesn't use his powers for evil purposes. He actually fights evil.

Please don't let the whackos scare you away from this movie or anything related to it. I'm a Catholic convert, and if you know anything about Catholic converts, you know that we're pretty holy-roly. I don't see anything evil or satanic about Harry or any of his friends. I'm not afraid that I'll find my daughter doing incantations sometime in the future trying to conjure up some evil spirit. Instead, she'll be using her imagination, much like all of the kids that I grew up with, and pretending to be a warrior or a crimefighter or even a witch! Who cares? Just let the kiddies have some fun and quit strangling their childhood.

Sorry for going off, but in today's world, somebody has to say something. God bless you J.K. Rowling, for bringing wonder and imagination back to life in a time where so many are trying to destroy it.

Highly recommended film, highly recommended book. I enjoyed this as much(if not more) than my daughter.

This was the first installment of the Harry Potter series; it all depended on the actors and the filming. All in all, I think that they did an awesome job. From Harry's Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon all the way up to the scenery, they did a good job doing what the movie was made to do: Stay true to the book and provide a great movie. My only complaint was that Albus Dumbledore didn't have a great show of character. He played the role all right, yeah, but he didn't expand it to improve the role. Well, I guess you can't have everything you want in life but this about has it all: Two thumbs-up for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone!

I think the people that call this movie a kids flick are just a bunch of boring prudes.I'M 24,and I think that this movie's fun for any age.Sure it has some overly silly part's,like the ghost's flying around,and stuff like that,but let's not be so critical.The rest of the movie was really AMAZING!I give all of these movie's five star's!Although I do think that the second one's storyline was twice as good as this one,and the third one was twice as good as the second one.I think the movies just keep getting better.Now I don't really read the book's that much!But if the adaptations are good enough for the writer J.K Rowling,than who am I to argue.Plus I find it stupid when christian's hate these movie's when they sell The lord of the ring's movie's at their store's.I mean those movie's deal with Wizard's,Goblins,and an the evil eye.So being as they think there is no such thing as a good witch.Than they should all hate Gandalf,and not sell those movie's either.This movie is just good harmless fun.So I think that those people most likely haven't even seen this movie.For god sakes it has enchanted chocolate frog's that jump,and kid's that have funny backfiring wand's.Plus they collect wizard card's,and play a game called Quidich on their broom stick's.If that's not very imaginative,and harmless fun,then I don't know what is!If people get into witchcraft that's their own private perogative,but I can garauntee you,that if they say this really fun,and imaginative movie was their sole reason for doing it.Than they're most likely lieing.And if it did,than they should stay out of the theatre's all together,because they take thing's far,far,far to seriously,and literally...

I can remember back when the 1st installment of the Harry Potter series entitled HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERERS STONE, came out in theaters back in November 2001.It still to this very day remains the best installment. I think its because back then everybody wanted to see it. It was just very magical the way it was released because no one really knew the real deal of the h.p. films. This is a great movie if you like h.p.. This is my favorite of the 3. Rent the Sorcerers Stone, and The Chamber Of Secrets, and then go see The Prizoner Of AZkaban.The point of this movie was a wizard whos parents got killed, that lives with his abusive aunt and uncle it a brilliant wizard but he doesnt know that. And then he enrolls in a magical place called hogwarts, a school for witches and wizards. After that things start looking up for him, He makes friends, gets away from his stupid fat uncle, and wrinkly old mean aunt, and joins a place where he is protected and cared for. I strongly reccomend this wonderful film.

This was a great movie for all ages. It's so intresting. The sequel didn't fail either!!!!!!!