Of course, it could be the direction rather than the actors themselves, and obviously it is a bit demanding to expect a whole cast of child actors to be perfect throughout a long feature film, but I can think of better examples, Lord of the Flies being one of them. Hermione is a star, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle are spot on, Harry is OK (probably quite a good portrayal of Harry, who is an OK sort of bloke, but the actor is bad at portraying nervousness or excitement), but Ron is too flat and mournful, Neville is extremely wooden, and Percy is frankly appalling! by pandering to children, all the dvd offers are 7 incredibly redundantr deleted scenes whcih take A LOT of finding, and a 20 minute featurette which while interesting, is slightly too kiss-assey.

Harry Potter and The Philosopher`s Stone (Widescreen) (UK) Harry Potter and The Philosopher`s Stone (Widescreen) (UK)

The transfer is extremely sharp and the (widescreen) disk is of course anamorphic, but I`m sorry to say there is something wrong with the gamma/contrast settings used in the mastering/encoding process. mod: i`ve now had the opportunity to watch this on a widescreen tv and i have 2 take down the video mark as itdoes actually look grainy, especially in the outdoor scenes like daigon alley. The Quidditch scene is a standout, but the poor effects let down a film that unfortunately has to rely on them.The Dursley family are excellent in the film, and the shot of all the identikit estate cars parked in Privet Drive was inspired, but there was just not enough of this building up period, and so the line `You`re a Wizard, Harry` lost most of its impact.

Harry Potter The Complete Collection: 20th Anniversary Harry Potter The Complete Collection: 20th Anniversary

Until he is rescued by a beetle eyed giant of a man, enrols at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, learns to play Quidditch and does battle in a deadly duel. Harry Potter finds out that he is a wizard and goes to Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry for the first time.

As I mentioned earlier, I didn`t get a chance to review the 2nd disk, thus I did not review the extras. I hate the features on disk 2, which are exceptionally irritating (for adults) - I particularly hated having to get the wand in Ollivanders, where there is no clue as to which one to pick and you get a cheesy explosion effect over and over again each time you get it wrong. As an adult, I find the real joy of the books is the satirical description of the `Muggles` world and the Dursleys in particular, and the creation of a whole parallel magical world, with its own Ministry of Magic, school rules and so on. Harry Potter is an ordinary boy who lives in a cupboard under the stairs at his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon`s house, which he thinks is normal for someone like him whose parents have been killed in a `car crash`.

If you know the story, it is only the visuals that you are left to wonder at, and even the composting is poor. but for the older harrypotter fan, and im only 17, WHERE THE HELL IS THE COMMENTARY, THE DECENT MAKING OF DOC, AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! Although my equipment isn`t the best in the world, the blacks in Phantom Menace were as black as the bars at the side of the screen, the blacks in this seemed more washed out. When I saw it in the cinema, I thought it was great and gave it 9/10 on IMDb: I was just pleased that for once the people making the `film of the book` hadn`t messed around too much with the plot.The extras kept me amused for an hour or so, but why didn`t they put the deleted scences into the main feature? The menu design was quite good, with some nice `family photos` of the Dursleys, but a bit slow to navigate.