'Sorcerer's Stone' - High-Def Digest review

[jed]

Peter's review of 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone' is up. Boasting solid video, audio and supplements, he says this HD DVD is a respectable release on all counts, but not unlike the film itself, it's only a prelude to the true greatness to come...

Full review here:
http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/393/h...rersstone.html

[project-blu]

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0705356/

I dunno if I'm right or wrong on this, but I think Tailor of Panama was Radcliffe's first film role. I remember sitting down to the blu-ray last week, and upon seeing the credits (I honestly ignore children in adult movies....) I just about bust a gut laughing seeing his name. Since they're both same year (2001 accd to imdb), I can't be certain.

edit: nm....I think this film probably had a lot more time in post production, I'm a moron)

[crazzeto]

Can't wait to read reviews of the rest of the movies... I picked up Prisoner of Askaban today... Didn't have time to watch through it completely but I picked up some sceens that I thought should be mighty impressive... I didn't think it was quite as good as what we got with Goblet of Fire (UK), but over all awesome... I particularly enjoyed the extra detail on the dementors, and frankly I finally like the Loopin Wearwolf sceen now, with the SD-DVD it looked so artificial, the extra detail REALLY helped!

[crash]

"(Radcliff had never even acted before)."

He was in David Copperfield 2 years previous. A quick check with imdb would have told you this.

[ben1080p]

3/5 for movie quality? He must be comparing it to the more mature films. The first one was a great interpretation of the book... IMO at least a 3.5..
otherwise awesome review,, can't wait to get my box set...

[crazzeto]

Originally Posted by ben1080p

3/5 for movie quality? He must be comparing it to the more mature films. The first one was a great interpretation of the book... IMO at least a 3.5..
otherwise awesome review,, can't wait to get my box set...

Yes, but it suffers from a lot of the same problems the first book suffered from... I.E. the story tended to be a bit fractured which comes through in the movie. Also the movie is actually a bit more kiddish than book 1, and book 1 was already fairly kiddish. My fav out of movies so far is Chamber of Secerates, very close to the book and they actually did manage to throw in some good scary stuff.

[mosman22]

I posted this on another thread but i am posting it here as well since i want feedback:

Hey guys i just popped in the first Harry Potter into my A35. For some reason the true hd track takes over a minute and sometimes doesn't sync and handshake with my onkyo 705. For some reason a couple warner discs have this same problem. The Happy Feet true hd track also took forever to bitstream. I know this is a disc issue since i just watched the Bourne Utilmatum and HPOOTP and both true hd tracks synced in seconds. Has anyone else that is bitstreaming the codecs noticed that the first hp true hd takes forever to sync up?
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[HDGator]

I have to disagree with part of Peter's review. I think Columbus did a utterly fantastic job on this film. He took what millions of kids and kids at heart visioned in their minds and brought it to the screen exactly as it should have looked. He absolutely nailed it, Everything was perfect, from Hogwarts, to the Dark Forest, to Diagon Alley, to the Weasley's & Dursley's houses, to the Great Hall, The Howart's Express and to the characters, especially Dumbeldore (Gambon's Dumbeldore is downright awful - they should of hired Christopher Plummer to take over). The first film was magical and took you directly into the Potter world.

For me, the changes made in the look of film, of the set up of the grounds at Hogwarts and of Dumbledore especially, were awful. Dumbeldore has looked like an overaged hippie since the third film with that stupid hat and the tie thing in his beard. In the first two films, Dumbledore looked like a wizard....majestic, wise and knowing, and powerful. None of the changes made in the third film made sense to me. The location of the Dark Forest, Hagrid's hut, the Weeping Willow, etc., were all out of place to me.

I know I will be flamed for this, but I hope they bring Columbus back to do the last episode and finish off the series. Columbus had the least to work with, as far as story was concerned, of all the books - Jo really didn't begin to find her range until the third book. So I say thank you to Chris Columbus for doing justice to these wonderful and imaginative first two books.

[Liqwid]

Originally Posted by HDGator

I know I will be flamed for this, but I hope they bring Columbus back to do the last episode and finish off the series. Columbus had the least to work with, as far as story was concerned, of all the books - Jo really didn't begin to find her range until the third book. So I say thank you to Chris Columbus for doing justice to these wonderful and imaginative first two books.

No, you won't be flamed for that. The first two films were more like the books than the rest of them. I can't stand to watch 3,4 & 5, because they're so horrible. I keep, involuntarily, pointing things out that are wrong and don't relate to the books. They've turned it into a teen drama, with a teensy bit of action tossed in.

The funniest thing is that the first two have been the longest films so far!

[Collector]

Have the XA2 and didn't get anything on the TrueHD track. I guess I could have waited to see if it synced up.... But its disgraceful to have to wait that long to sync... I smell a firmware upgrade perhaps...

[khwiggins2]

Anyone know why the DD+ track is 6.1, but the TrueHD track is 5.1? They both say Dolby EX in the menus. I just keep hoping to see a TrueHD 6.1 or 7.1 soundtrack.

[norvabear]

Originally Posted by mosman22

I posted this on another thread but i am posting it here as well since i want feedback:

Hey guys i just popped in the first Harry Potter into my A35. For some reason the true hd track takes over a minute and sometimes doesn't sync and handshake with my onkyo 705. For some reason a couple warner discs have this same problem. The Happy Feet true hd track also took forever to bitstream. I know this is a disc issue since i just watched the Bourne Utilmatum and HPOOTP and both true hd tracks synced in seconds. Has anyone else that is bitstreaming the codecs noticed that the first hp true hd takes forever to sync up?
__________________

I'm having the same problem with Sorcerer's Stone. The track takes over a minute to synch up. The same thing happens on Chamber of Secrets.

[double l]

Originally Posted by HDGator

I know I will be flamed for this, but I hope they bring Columbus back to do the last episode and finish off the series.

Please no, that would ruin the last movie. Who they should bring back to finish it is, Cuaron, he made the best overall movie, and really changed the look and feel of the movies, which was a good thing.

[Liqwid]

I just picked up Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets last night. The deleted scenes looked like they were in HD (same exact level of detail as the film), not SD.

[Filler]

Originally Posted by ben1080p

3/5 for movie quality? He must be comparing it to the more mature films. The first one was a great interpretation of the book... IMO at least a 3.5..
otherwise awesome review,, can't wait to get my box set...

IMO, the first two movies suffered because of Columbus' devotion to the books, it made them feel bloated and poorly paced.