Barnes & Noble

A remarkably faithful adaptation of J. K. Rowling's bestselling children's novel, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone brings its characters vividly to life and presents their supernatural adventures with verve and imagination. Director Chris Columbus (Bicentennial Man) hews closely if not slavishly to Rowling's original, but his few embellishments enhance the yarn's cinematic effectiveness. Daniel Radcliffe is enormously appealing as Harry, the wistful and gifted orphan whose life changes radically when he is accepted into the Hogwarts School for aspiring young wizards. Accompanied by new friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), the bespectacled sorcerer-in-training makes a name for himself and figures prominently in the perilous search for a long-lost talisman. Fans of Rowling's books will be delighted with the film's visualizations of their favorite Potter people, including headmaster Dumbledore (Richard Harris), professor McGonagall (Maggie Smith), and gamekeeper Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane). The special effects are truly dazzling, but Columbus doesn't rely solely on virtuoso visuals to thrill his viewers; he takes time to flesh out the characters and imbue their surroundings with the proper mystical atmosphere. Ultimately, what he creates isn't just a rousing fantasy film -- it's a unique, magical little world that will envelop and entrance all who venture near. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

For all but the most nitpicking Potter-philes out there, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is nothing less than the perfect visual incarnation of J.K. Rowling's world of swooping owls and flying broomsticks. However, it's never precisely more than that, either; the very act of giving image and voice to these rich literary precepts places them in a realm inevitably less magical than the imagination. Still, it's hard to picture a more essentially faithful adaptation of Rowling's tone and story, which weighs in at a hefty two and a half hours despite streamlining some of the more vestigial elements of a quick 300-page read. Steve Kloves' adaptation of the wildly popular bestseller lingers less on some of the episodic Hogwarts' adventures, only briefly touching on such red herring plot points as the wise centaur and Hagrid's dragon. The eye-popping visuals have numerous other opportunities to shine, chief among them the grippingly rendered Quidditch match, in which players on broomsticks zoom and jockey like the speeder bikes of Endor in Return of the Jedi. It's no surprise that Harry Potter should occasionally invoke a Star Wars movie, since its hero is an orphaned boy who yearns for a destiny beyond what his aunt and uncle can provide, and who possesses unparalleled mystical powers that the dark side seeks to corrupt. The landscape Chris Columbus and cinematographer John Seale have created with its levitating banquet hall decorations, animated games of wizard chess, ominous trolls, and three-headed dogs is of equal vividness and complexity as that galaxy far, far away, and it should make just as much if not more money. Besides the film's many technical achievements, the actors really deliver, well beyond the who's who of British thespians who comprise the Hogwarts' teachers. Daniel Radcliffe has the look and reluctant heroism of Harry down perfectly, if a little too languidly; he's bested by Emma Watson's deliciously petulant and precocious Hermione, as well as the masterful line deliveries and comic timing of Rupert Grint as Ron. Derrick Armstrong

Entertainment Weekly

[Alan] Rickman is practically incandescent with purpose; he emits a high-voltage zap of electricity with every glare. Lisa Schwarzbaum

Chicago Sun-Times

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is a red-blooded adventure movie, dripping with atmosphere, filled with the gruesome and the sublime, and surprisingly faithful to the novel. Roger Ebert

Product Details

• UPC: 883929074877
• Source: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby AC-3 Surround Sound
• Editions: Subtitled, Dubbed
• Time: 2:22:00
• Sales Rank: 9,680

This DVD is also available as part of a box set:

• Harry Potter Years 1-3
• Harry Potter Limited Edition DVD Collection: Years 1-5
• Harry Potter Limited Edition DVD Collection: Years 1-5
• Harry Potter Years 1-6