This review is based on the Blu-Ray version of the film. The only difference between the two versions are the PCM audio track on the Blu-Ray and the Dolby TrueHD on the HD-DVD.
The Harry Potter series is the greatest selling children's book series ever. The 7th and final book in the series alone sold 12 million copies in the US in its first printing. The first book alone has been translated into over 65 languages, including Welsh, Latin and Ancient Greek. The success of the books transformed author J.K. Rowling from a single mother living on welfare into one of the world's richest people. And it has reignited the joy of reading into an entire generation of children.
However, J.K. Rowling never meant for the series to be a children's series, but rather to be a story set place at a magical school involving children. The Sorcerer's Stone is probably the lightest of all the books, and is reflected as such in the movie, but even still, there is that feeling throughout that something dark is looming on the horizon. The story gets darker throughout the books, until we see our first death in book four (sorry to spoil anything). As all of this evil surrounds our main characters, they still have to deal with the challenges of growing up, everything from making friends to dating and serious relationships.
The Sorcerer's Stone starts off ten years in the past (fans have placed this anywhere from 1980-1991, depending on if you set dates from the day Rowling originally started writing the book, the day from which the first book was published, or the day from which the first movie came out). Lord Voldermort is the cruelest and most evil dark wizard of all time, and he and his followers are terrorizing the world, both wizards and muggles (non-magic folk), but the later do not know what is going on. Lord Voldermort is hunting down those who oppose him, and comes to the home of Lily and James Potter (this story gets expanded upon greatly in later books, but we need not go into that here). First James sacrifices himself to try to save his wife and one-year old baby, but is struck down immediately. Lilly, shielding baby Harry, is killed second. Then Voldermort turns his wand on Harry - and mysteriously disappears. Dead? Maybe, no one knows, but the whole wizarding world celebrates, and all is good.
Harry is taken to live with his aunt and uncle, Vernon and Petunia Dursley, who have a young boy of their own, roughly the same age as Harry. We then flash forward ten years, and see that Harry is abused, mentally and physically, by his aunt and uncle. He lives in a small closet underneath the stairs, wears hand-me-down clothes from his cousin (who has become extremely fat), and has been all but starved to death. Why no one has reported this to protective services is beyond me. One day, a mysterious letter arrives for Harry, which his uncle seizes and destroys. Letters keep arriving, which his aunt and uncle intercept, driving them mad and finally into hiding. Finally, the letter is delivered to Harry in person by Hagrid, a ten-foot tall man (reasons why he is that tall appear later in the series), who is gamekeeper at Hogwarts, a school in northern Britain designed to train up young witches and wizards.
Most of the first movie is used to reveal to us this magical world, introduction of characters, and plot elements that are built upon in later installments in the series. As such, the movie remains very true to the book, and includes practically every single element, with only a few extremely minor changes to make the movie flow better (a scene may be moved to follow after another scene, where a conversation takes place may be moved, or who is in a certain scene may be slightly tweaked). Don't get too liking this loyalty to the book too much, as only the first two movies incorporate this level of loyalty.
The story to this particular movie involves an object called a sorcerer's stone (also known as a philosopher's stone). The movie basically entitles the three main characters, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, learning of its existence, and then swearing to protect it, because obviously a group of 11-year-olds know so much more than all their teachers combined. The humor of this scenario climaxes at the end of the movie, when, convinced that the stone is in danger, our trio somehow manages to overcome several obstacles set in place to keep out the most evil and smartest of all adult wizards.
That being said, this is an absolutely delightful movie, one that can easily be enjoyed by the entire family, by several children having a sleep over, viewed with your significant other, or viewed on a guy night or girl night, as the magic of Harry Potter ascends all age barriers.
Video quality
The quality of this transfer is absolutely outstanding, and one of the few films I will give a perfect score to. The original film grain can be seen, however it does not take away from the quality at all. Colors are rich and true, flesh tones are real, and the details are absolutely amazing. Check out the Dursley's sitting room while Uncle Vernon is talking about how much he loves Sundays. You can see the pattern on the wallpaper clearly, see the texture of the books on the bookshelf, and even make out details in the pictures hung on the walls and sitting on shelves. You can make out every single detail in Dumbledore's and Haggrid's beard. Diagon Alley is a feast, and you may want to go back and watch this scene in slow motion to appreciate all the detail that appears here. On the high table, we can clearly make out the Hogwart's crest on the glasses. Even backgrounds in the castle are richly detailed and stand out in this transfer, such as stained-glass windows, and even graffiti carved into the walls in the courtyards. Then there is the detail in the woodwork and the paintings that surround the Hogwart's staircases.
The movie is very dark in places, so probably something you may wish to watch at night rather than during the day, as you might miss details. Darker colors become almost black in places - more so as the movie progresses. However, as I saw this movie in the theaters, I know that this is director's intention.
The bitrate is surprisingly low for a high-def movie release, however it does not seem to affect quality in the least. There are absolutely zero motion or compression artifacts, details remain crisp, even during motion, there is no color bleeding, and black levels are absolutely awesome. There seems to be absolutely no dirt on the film, or film spots. In other words, this is as good of a transfer as you can hope to get, and i see no reason to not give this movie a perfect score.
Sound quality
Both the Dolby Digital EX and the PCM audio delivers excellent sound reproduction. I watched this movie for months using the Dolby Digital track, because I could only get the PS3 to export PCM in two channels. Quite a bit has changed in my setup since I first got this disc, so I cannot tell you whether this was fixed via a hardware upgrade or via a firmware update from Sony. All I know is, sticking in the movie today, I was able to enjoy the movie with 5.1 channel PCM audio.
There does not feel to be a great amount of difference between the two, with the exception that the PCM tends to have a bit more depth and richness to the feel. The annoyance here is like a lot of WB movies, the film starts automatically with the Dolby Digital soundtrack, and you have to pop up a menu or hit the audio button on the remote while watching the movie to change the sound options.
My one annoyance with the audio itself is the fact that the music so overpowers everything else in the movie. Here you are with your sound system cranked up to hear dialog at a decent level, then suddenly John Williams comes in and you are left almost covering your ears as the music is so loud. There is quite a bit of difference between the soft places and the loud portions of the movie in terms of volume level.
This movie makes very good use of all the channels. Music is shot out of all five channels, giving you the feeling that you are sitting in a concert hall in the middle of the orchestra. Sound effects are well directionalized. While the sub does get used, you will not hear any of those low rumbles that are so popular in movies now days, which is actually a good thing in this movie, as sounds are more natural.
Bonus features
When the movie was released on DVD back in 2002, a whole second disc was added that had a wealth of Bonus features on it. However, to get to these, you were forced to play games, in which the rewards for doing well was to watch the deleted scenes, or see an interview, or something. On the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray releases of this movie, the game is gone, and all the bonus features are available from the menu. Sadly, this movie comes with one of the most craptacular menus I have ever seen in a movie - a real eye-sore. None of the features were upgraded, and all bonus materials are presented in their original 480i/p MPEG-2 encodings.
Final Word
The movie is one of the most popular stories ever written, and the movie is loved by children and adults alike around the world. The only thing that would have made this movie better is if Warner had put both the theatrical and extended versions of this on the disc. I bet we will have to wait for this until all seven movies have been released, and then Warner Bros will release an ultimate movie collection. This is a highly recommended movie.