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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Widescreen Edition) Customer Reviews (82 - 84 of 100 Reviews)

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Harry Potter is an orphan who was adopted by his maternal aunt and who is unhappy at home. Then a giant shows up to take him away to a new school and promised happiness (the daydreams of many young teenagers?). This film shows 'Warthogs' as another English Public School, but one that trains wizards instead of future civil servants and management (a parody?). The special effects used here are more advanced than "Jurassic Park". Would this work be successful without these tricks? Do children benefit from this fantasy or other ersatz fairy tales? Are they a juvenile version of Romance novels?

The teacher of "Potions" promises the skill of changing people's minds. Is this a parody of Advertising or Public Relations? The Flying lesson shows interpersonality conflicts, and how disobedience creates a problem for one student. The appearance of the threatening troll creates a diversion (a symbol for "townies"?). The special effects are best in the game of quiddich, much better than in the much older "Star Wars". Harry captures the gold flying ball and wins the game. [Was the fix in?] The Cloak of Invisibility reminds me of "The Invisible Man" (which warned against experimenting with drugs). There is a magic mirror which shows people what they want; the old white-bearded wizard correctly warns against indulging in fantasy! When Harry is threatened in the Dark Forest, a centaur shows up to save him, and warns him to stay away (certain places are not safe for teenagers even if they have magic powers). Harry and his friends learn of a plot to steal the Sorcerer's Stone! This can change lead into gold, and give eternal life (not the same thing as eternal youth!).

The chess game with life-size figures is another diversion. Finally the real villain is found; Harry discovers you can't judge by appearances. The villain is killed by the unsuspected magic of Harry. The story ends with Harry celebrating with his friends, an obligatory happy ending for commercially successful films. [Why do the students wear dunce caps?] But what happens after they graduate? I haven't seen too many want-ads for "Wizards"; were these jobs all out-sourced to Romanian? There isn't much of a plot, just loosely connected scenes. But I shouldn't have told you that.

The Newest Halloween Classic!
If you've ever seen and loved the classic Halloween special "The Worst Witch," starring a young miss Fairuza Balk, Harry Potter should strike a familiar chord with you. Though I have yet to read the Harry Potter books, it's my love for fantasies like "The Wizard of Oz" and Halloween specials like "The Worst Witch" that drew me to this film, and I'm so glad! Harry Potter is the fantastic and fun-filled story of a young boy whose miserable life as an orphan living with cruel relatives is suddenly changed when he finds out he is destined to be the greatest Wizard that ever was! Living in a crawl space under his Aunt and Uncle's staircase in 20th century London, Harry has no idea that his parents were a famous Wizard and Witch, murdered by an evil Wizard when he was just a baby. But one day a mysterious letter comes for Harry, informing him that he is soon to be a student at Hogwart's School of Magic. His aunt and uncle do their best to keep him away, but goodness wins out when the towering, bearded, kindhearted and commanding Hagrid comes to the Human world to save the boy from his coldhearted keepers. Suddenly, Harry finds himself being introduced to a whole new world of magic! Hagrid takes the boy to Diagon Alley, a magical marketplace, to purchase a wand and other school supplies, then on to the train station, to board the Express to Hogwart's School. On the way to his new life, Harry meets up with his two soon-to-be best friends, the friendly and true, if a bit awkward, Ron Weasley, and the cute and clever bookworm Hermione Granger (who steals the movie, thanks to the adorable Emma Watson's performance).
From that first view of Diagon Alley onward, Harry takes in one jaw-dropping experience after another. But the greatest sights come when Harry gets off the train and enters the world of Hogwart's School of magic. Boats must be taken to reach the school grounds, and the view is stunning. The school itself is a sight to behold, right out of a fairytale. Within, we find several other children waiting to be sorted into their teams and dorms, from the sneaky Slitherins to the noble Gryffindors. Luckily, Harry, Ron, and Hermione are grouped together on the Gryffindor team. The students meet the teachers, formalities are taken care of, a feast fit for kings is served up, and their new lives begin. From here on out it is one adventure after another, as Harry, Ron, and Hermione battle a Mountain Troll, investigate the evil Voldemort, play a stunning broomstick ballgame called Quidditch, and learn about honor, friendship, bravery, and magic, not to mention the secret of the mysterious Sorcerer's Stone.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is not to be missed. It's good, clean, family fun, with great characters and lots and lots of magic. Some scenes may be a bit frightening for small children, and if you have a hang-up about movies about kids going to witchcraft schools, well, I suggest you just have a talk with your kids about fantasy versus reality, because that's what this is, a fantasy. And what a fantasy! The DVD is wonderful, but I don't claim to have been as blown away by the extras disc as others have. It was okay, but for the most part it seems to have been made for little kids. But the movie is great for any age! If you love fantasies like The Wizard of Oz, Return To Oz, The Worst Witch, The Black Cauldron, Lord of the Rings, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and The Sword In the Stone, you're gonna love this!

An entertaining movie for all ages!
I put off seeing this movie because I took to heart the People Magazine review which hinted that children would enjoy the movie more than the adults. I finally went only after I was disgusted by the hateful e-mails I received from the lacking-in-imagination, finger-shaking Christian fundamentalists. These e-mails suggested that I abide by their obviously bent and twisted moral visions to denouce this so called "harmful" movie. I went to see the movie to judge for myself.

As a Christian adult,(who is old enough to have a child older than Harry Potter's age!) I thought the movie was enchanting and well worth the full price of the ticket and would see it again. For someone who averages going to the theatres once or twice a year, a movie has to be exceptional to make me desire viewing the movie again at the theatres. I laughed out loud and had a delightful time watching the movie. This movie was escapism pure and simple. For the length of the movie, I was there with Harry Potter while he put up with his nasty relatives, got excited about the introduction of new friends and a new and magical world and my heart skipped a beat too when Harry met "Fluffy". And all the while, my real world problems were blissfully forgotten. This fun but harmless movie brought out the kid in me and would surely do so for any other adult whose mind is wider than the width of a number 2 pencil.

What it did not affect was my serious beliefs in what I hold to be true and right. A belief that can be changed by a child's obviously fictional movie wasn't that strong in the faith department to begin with and to blame this light movie for causing any harm to anything is laughable at best. Shame on those in the holier-than-thou camps who tried to discredit this movie by sending those nasty chain letters by e-mail. Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill. In this case, there wasn't even a molehill. In the past, I usually found a little fire where there was smoke but in this case, the smoke and the all the whining was completely unfounded. I am shocked and surprised that serious adults can make such an issue out of this when there are real issues that we Christians need to deal with. This cannot be one of them lest we Christians lose our credibility or at best, everything else we make an issue of be put in the same "they-are-blowing-smoke-about-nothing-again" light.

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