Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Two Disc Widescreen Edition) [DVD] [2001]

Was for a present. Mother in law loved it

Brill

Was very pleased with this

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Raised by a family who detests him, Harry Potter (Radcliffe) learns he is a wizard and soon finds himself at school of magic Hogwarts.It's hard to imagine in the 90's J.K Rowling being rejected a contract for her wizard series. The Harry Potter franchise has spun further than many anticipated and this film reminds us of the moment when the franchise really took off and some magic really happened.Almost 8 years ago now and current renowned teen stars Radcliffe, Watson and Grint star in their first roles as the famous friends Harry, Hermione and Ron, all with a magical gift. So the acting is far from perfect, it hardly matters now when you watch the series as the actors learn from their mistakes and we see them growing up and facing more challenging tests, for their characters and for themselves.It is however the older actors who generate the magic of acting. Alan Rickman was born to play Snape whilst Richard Harris fits the role of Dumbledore like a glove.But this is all about the story of a young unappreciated boy who was born in a different lifetime from his adoptive parents the Dursleys. Struggling under the strain of life Harry is thrown a lifeline when he arrives at Hogwarts, a chance to make friends and live life as he wants. This is an entertaining 2 hour picture that generates laughs, mystery and excitement in the form of a different world. The concept of magic is always tricky to cover in terms of realism but J.K Rowling's imagination is frequently present here and is adapted with some gusto in this 2001 fantasy adventure.However where this film offers spills and thrills consistently there is so much missing from the book. More imagination and excitement appears on the pages where we see more characters are introduced. Therefore it is worth reading before viewing, s with all the instalments.John Williams' score fits the scene perfectly whereas Chris Columbus' direction is good, you can't but feel the elements of magic could have been justified to generate a bit more surprise. Nevertheless the Quidditch match is some of the finest sporting direction you will ever see in the franchise.This first part is a humorous and enthralling family adventure that does enough good justice to the book and with some good performances is a fine reminder of where the young stars started and where the franchise really begun.8.5/10

Here I'm just going to tell you about the differences between the USA version and the UK version.I saw many people from the USA trying to buy those UK version since the difference in price is really big and the title say they are region free.Impressive the shipping company. I order them from UK the 14th and just 8 days later is in home (and yesterday it was a holiday). So shipping is not a problem, plus it was only $13 for all of them.The blu-rays are region free! wow! so I can play them without problem in my blu-ray player. The dvd aren't, not a problem for me, since I do own a free region dvd player, but it something that you should check if you want to order them.The are difference between the USA version and the UK version:- First... and not important at all. The boxes are a little taller (box 7 is the USA version)- More important is, that in the USA version, all the disc inside are blu-ray except the one with the movie is DVD (obviously), in the UK version they decide that the only in blu-ray is the movie and the rest are DVDs.- With that said, the difference in price is big, being the UK version really cheap if you compare with the US. The boxes are $50 for a total of $350. In the UK the boxes are $12.55 for a total of $75.30 (They still don't have the Ultimate 7, so the price is for the first six of them)So for $220 less (if you include the $75+$45 for the 7 in USA version), you get all the movies, with all the same extras, and the extended version of 1 and 2. But you get everything in DVDs but the movies, so you will need a region free dvd player (around $40 on ebay).So not bad at all. But be aware of those differences!.

Perfect for a movie night....kids were 100% satisfied

The first of J K Rowling's Harry Potter books made into a glorious film that holds the attention of children and adults throughout. The special effects combine with great character acting to provide a spectacular, magical, visual experience.