Special Features:
Theatrical Trailers  �  Self-guided tour of Hogwarts  �  Never-before-seen footage

Live action "kids" entertainment can often times be the hardest type of film/TV show to get an adult audience to watch. Much of the time both the technical quality and content are just too "cheesy" to sustain an adult's attention. (Think Power Ranger's, Barney, etc.) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone sidesteps every one of those possible problems and turns out a classic for both kids and adults.

I had not read any of the books when I saw the movie the first time last November, but from the opening scene where Harry is left on his relative's doorstep by three extremely unique characters, I was hooked. (In fact I would say if by the time the film reaches Diagon Alley you don't feel the movie is one of the greatest fantasy movies you have ever scene I would just switch the disc off and not waste another couple of hours of your time.) As each scene develops we learn more and more about Harry and what makes him so unique. In fact, one of the great story elements set up by the author JK Rowling is that Harry is a legend throughout out the world of wizards and witches, but he knows absolutely nothing about that world. It makes for some very funny scenes of self discovery later in the movie.

One of the complaints I had heard from some people was that they actually didn't go into enough details that were in the book. Having since gone back and read the first book, re-watched the movie and then read the second and third books I find that statement to be very untrue. In fact I would say that this is one of the most faithful adaptations of a book I have ever seen. Sure there are a few scenes that are consolidated or deleted, but absolutely nothing that detracts from the overall story. At two hours and thirty-two minutes the film is fairly long so added a bunch of details that would only satisfy the aficionados of the series would to more damage to the film as a whole. My guess is that the characters are so alive in the reader's minds that they are forgetting that some of the details that they are remembering that are not in the film are actually from the other three books.

Now on to the DVD itself: Sound and video quality are both top notch. The film is both dark and colorful and both extremes are reproduced almost flawlessly. The sound puts us right in the middle of the action and all of the surrounds are nicely used. (Especially when the letters start flying down the chimney early in the movie, during the Quidditch match and when Harry has to escape the pursuing keys near the end of the film.)

The box is labeled as a Special Edition, but that is stretching the truth a bit. Usually with a 2-disc Special Edition you would expect commentaries, documentaries, featurettes and deleted scenes. We get a short featurette with no real insights and an extremely difficult menu scheme to get to a few deleted scenes. A lot work went in to the menus, but they were more of a hassle than fun. (Maybe it is because I am not 8 years old). Instead of going through the long process to get to the deleted scenes here is a simple way to view them. The deleted scenes are titles (not chapters) 27-33 on the second disc. You will need to look in your DVD player manual (if you don't know how to do it already) to determine how to select a specific title, but it will be worth skipping the pain of getting there through the menus.