Plot: What’s it about?
I’ve never read a Harry Potter book. My kids have. Everybody in the world has from what I understand. According to one behind the scenes featurette I saw, the “Harry Potter” books have been translated into the Zulu language! I went into this movie expecting to see a high-tech emotionless piece of mass manipulation ALA “Hook.” Boy, was I ever surprised. From the lush production design, to the fine acting and the magical script, “Harry Potter and the SorcererÆs Stone” is enchanting family entertainment with a heart. My kids assure me that the movie is true in spirit to the book. If this is true, then I can see why the books are so popular.
Like Moses being sent down the Nile in a basket of reeds, Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) is delivered to the doorstep of his aunt and uncle when he is an infant. Headmaster Albus Dumbledore (Richard Harris), Professor Minerva McGonagall (Maggie Smith) and the nine foot tall Rubeus Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) make the delivery in the dead of night. They hint that there will be great things ahead for the infant. An ominous scar on the baby’s forehead teases the uninitiated with a mystery to be solved.
Flash forward 11 years. Harry lives in the cupboard under the stairs at his aunt and uncle’s house. The mistreated youth has a lot in common with Cinderella. His obese cousin takes pride in stomping down the stairs in the morning, dropping dust onto poor Harry. One day a letter, delivered by an owl comes addressed to Harry. His uncle destroys it. The letter continue to arrive and Harry’s horrid foster parents continue to prevent him from reading them. They go as far as to move to an island whose only structure is a lighthouse. Finally the family has a night visitor. It is the giant Hagrid. He delivers the letter which turns out to be an invitation to enroll at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry’s aunt was his mother’s sister. Harry discovers that his parents were a renowned witch and wizard. They were mysteriously killed. For those who (like me) haven’t read the book, I’ll reveal no more of the plot other than to say that Harry gets to Hogwarts and begins to discover just who he is and where he came from.
The three child stars of the film shine among a huge cast of classically trained British actors and actresses. Daniel Radcliffe was a perfect choice for the lead. He conveys wisdom beyond his years. The early scenes with his abusive aunt and uncle are very telling as to Mr. Radcliffe’s talent. He looks at his family with the eyes of God. He sees them for what they are. His helplessness comes across in cold stares of vulnerability and (surprise) pity.
Among the veteran actors Robbie Coltrane steals the show as Hagrid. The simple giant is a source of comfort, amusement and awe in the children of Hogwarts. No matter how old Maggie Smith gets, she never loses the ability to convey the youth of spirit. Richard Harris is so-so as Dumbledore.
The one fault I found with “Harry Potter” had to do with the special effects in three scenes. These goofs kept me from giving the movie 4 stars. There are a couple of CGI effects involving a giant troll on the prowl and Hagrid’s puppy, Fluffy. Fluffy is a 20 foot tall, 3 headed guard dog. The creatures look like nothing more than CGI effects. It is a shame because they came close to being on the money. My biggest disappointment involved the giant chess match. In teaser trailer Harry, Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) are shown trying to cross a giant chess board. As they approach a row of pawns, the gamepieces come to life and block the kid’s path with sabers drawn. I saw the teaser and looked forward to seeing the entire scene. Surely they wouldn’t put the only good part of the scene in the trailer! Well, they did. The rest of the chess match is unimaginative and poorly conceived. Where is Ray Harryhausen when you need him? The bottom line about my complaints is that the target audience won’t mind or notice these cinematic defects.
The bottom line is whether you see “Harry Potter” at a bargain matinee or pay full price in the evening, you will get your money’s worth. Coming home from the theater, my son tried to tell me the plots of the second and third books. I told him to hush. I want to be surprised when the sequels come out. If they are of the caliber and quality of this first film, we may have a new movie series to rival Indiana Jones and Star Wars.
Video: How does it look?
Harry Potter comes to us in what is becoming more and more standard…a full-screen version as well as a widesceen version of the film. We received the widescreen version for review, so here goes. The 2.35:1 anamorphic image is, for the most part, very good. It’s clean, relatively free of any artifacts, but the image does appear “smoky” from time to time. Granted, this is a rather physically dark movie, so it’s hard to differenciate if it’s the fault of the transfer or how it’s supposed to actually look. I’ll go with Warner’s track record here and say that the image is very good and the image looks “smoky” because its supposed to. Aside from some of the cheesy effects, the detail is incredible. A true testament as to how far motion pictures have come, this is. While I understand that most families out there will be buying the full-frame version (or face the question “Why are there black bars on the TV?”), I will say that if you do have a choice, this is the way to go.
Audio: How does it sound?
On the other hand, the sound is another story. Presented in a Dolby Digital EX mix, this is one of the most active tracks that I’ve heard in recent months (that is, unless, you count out my viewing of ‘Saving Private Ryan’ a few weeks ago). The dialogue is very clear, no distortion whatsoever. What impressed me the most is the almost dizzying, constant 360 sound stage that the movie had going from end to end. While the middle of the movie is mostly limited to the front channels, the split surrounds kick in at most any time just to give the track some added strength. I’m running out of adjectives here, but let’s just say that you won’t be disappointed in the soundtrack here. DTS eat your heart out!
Supplements: What are the extras?
Ok, ok…this just about drove me crazy, so I won’t do to you what I have done to myself! Please don’t think that I’m being scant, but there are so many nooks and crannies on the second disc of the DVD, that if I listed them all I’d either: A)Lose all the readers that had made it this far or B) Bore the pants off the ones who dared read it all. So as opposed to isolate or lose the readers, I’ll be rather brief. Besides, the fun part is finding all of the stuff for yourself, not having someone else do all the work for you. Or is it? On the first disc we’ll find some rather brief cast and crew bios. While not selectable, they are good to have, and it saves one from looking up the characters in the credits of the disc. Also, there are a few trailers as well. Now onto the second disc of the set. This is the one with all the goodies, by the way. I do want to preface this by saying that most of the supplements are navigated like a video game via your remote control. It’s a blatant attempt to get DVD’s to be more interactive, but that’s the whole point. I just don’t know what to think of all this stuff! As the main menu comes into focus, we have several choices. Seven actually. From the Great Hall main menu you can access eight different menu sections – “Diagon’s Alley,” “Sorting Hat,” “Tour,” “Interviews,” “Library,” “Hogwart’s Ground,” “Classroom,” and “Extra Credit”. I chose the Library first, but soon found that I was in for way more than I bargained for. Each book in the library can be selected and the features range from some sketches of a treasure chest to a clue about playing a flute. Clearly, this was the beginning of a very long night. As I promised, you’re not in for the same. I’ll try and just summarize what is on and leave it to you to find your way around. I will admit, though, that the Third Corridor (which you will be warned about) does contain some deleted scenes, so it’s well worth your time to creep through the supplements, because like a needle in a haystack–they’re there. But then again, before you get to the third corridor, there’s a lot of other little things that you have to do. There is a making of documentary that is of interest as well, it’s your standard fare that we’ve all become so accustomed to and while the kids might find it a bit dull, it is actually fairly entertaining. I suppose this is my time to rant a bit. I commend Warner on their effort, I really do. Without Warner, I believe that the format wouldn’t be at all close to where it is today, but to make us (and thier market–kids) search through the disc like this is kind of a pain. True, kids might like it and since I’ve none of my own, then I have no idea how they will react to the DVD. Still, I’m more a straight-forward kind of a guy, so maybe these would be best if the efforts were duplicated? Why not have the supplements listed out and then have an interactive way of presenting them on the disc (as has been done)? In any case, this isn’t that comprehensive about the features, but they are there and there’s plenty to choose from. Warner has set the bar at a new height and I’m wondering what they (or some other studio) will do to top it? Recommended.
