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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Movie:
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Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:
Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:
Working in reverse, Warner Brothers has finally completed the Harry Potter transition over to 4K with the first 4 films as well as a complete 4K UHD boxset of the entire 8 film franchise a few weeks back. Thankfully Warner Brothers has seen fit to allow us to review all 4 of them and answer the question of WHY the reverse release. While the last 4 films were upscales from a previous 2K master, #’s 1-4 have been given full on 4K masters as well as extensive color correction and HDR encoding to make them the very best they can be for the UHD format. All of them replace some very weary VC-1 mastered Blu-rays that definitely could have used the facelift, and with that new comes these shiny new releases. The only caveat being that they are theatrical only editions, and left off the extended editions from the Ultimate releases a few years back (although the Blu-ray discs included in all 8 films are the Ultimate Edition cuts).
The Harry Potter books were a young adult smash hit, and I can still remember kids lining up around the block just to get in on the first day of release whenever J.K. Rowling’s next smash hit would arrive at Barnes and Noble. While we expected the 2001 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone to be a decent hit considering the books popularity, NONE of us were completely prepared for the runaway smash hit that the film series would become. However, looking back again at the 16 year old film, there may have been some rose colored glasses for the very first film. The Sorcerer’s Stone hold up rather well, but the subsequent films being much better paced and told makes you realize how many shortcomings the fledgling series had to overcome.
The film starts out with our resident hero being whisked away to his aunt and uncle’s place in England, with only a few whispers and ominous words to hint at the great future in front of young Harry Potter. 10 or 11 years later, Harry (a baby faced Daniel Radcliffe) is the abused step child to his aunt and uncle, locked in a closet and given the hand me downs to his fat and abusive cousin. However, that all changes when a mysterious letter comes to their abode and clues everyone in to the fact that young Harry is actually a young wizard, and he has been accepted into Hogwarts school of wizardry and witchcraft.
The Harry Potter books are incredibly dense and complicated for a young adult series, and this makes it so much harder for the first film to really come into its own with so much backstory to cover. And while The Sorcerer’s Stone does an admirable job at doing just that, there is so much backstory and exposition with small bits of character development that it has a very difficult time actually telling a full plot. The result being a 2 hour and 30 minute film that relies 95% of the time on exposition and character introductions to be fully self sufficient. With that being said, when viewed as a whole in the series, this was kind of a necessary evil, as there is just so much content and ground work needing to be laid that it was a very hard task to actually accomplish. In that respect the film is a bit weak, but in a broader point of view, the film acts as a very good base for the rest of the series to springboard off of, and the movies only get better from here on out.
Rating:
Rated PG for some scary moments and mild language
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
• Creating the World of Harry Potter Part 1: The Magic Begins
• A Glimpse Into the World of Harry Potter
• Additional Footage
• Trailers and TV Spots
• Feature Length PIP Commentary
Final Score:
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone still remains one of the weaker entries into the Potterverse in my humble opinion. It was a treat to watch when it came out 16 years ago (wow, has it been that long?) but is greatly eclipsed by subsequent films as it has the problem of being the one film that sets up all the exposition and world building, many times at the expense of a complete plot line to make it its OWN film. With that being said, Sorcerer’s Stone is a fun little outing that greatly benefits from the upgrade to 4K UHD, but comes with a few caveats. Mainly that the extras are a bit trimmed, as there is no official extras ON the 4K UHD disc itself, but is porting across the extras found on the 2 “Ultimate Edition” Blu-rays enclosed within (sadly the third disc of special features that were in SD on DVD is not included), as well as no extended cut in 4K UHD (which IS found on the Blu-ray enclosed as well, as the Blu-ray counterparts from this set all included the Ultimate Edition cuts). However, the new 4K scans and new color treatments are DRASTIC upgrades from the Blu-ray counterparts and really are worth the price of admission along with the DTS:X audio upgrade. Definitely worth a buy for Potter fans.
Technical Specifications:
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emily Watson, Rupert Grint
Directed by: Chris Columbus
Written by: Steve Kloves (Screenplay), J.K. Rowling
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 HEVC
Audio: English: DTS:X (DTS-HD MA 7.1 Core), Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, English, Spanish DD 5.1
Studio: Warner
Rated: PG
Runtime: 152 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: Own all eight Harry Potter films on Ultra HD Blu-ray on November 7th!
Recommendation: Great Buy
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