List of Harry Potter DVD reviews starting with S

Product: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Widescreen Edition)
Rating: 3/5

A perfect chop job

Before you get my header wrong. I truly enjoy Harry Potter and I just returned home from the cinema.The movie is very good. You might wonder why I didn't give it a higher score, but I'll try to explain.All of the actors did their job exceedingly well, the scenes were stunning ... so what is my quarrel with the theatrical release? - I read the book. Pure and simple. When I compare the book to the movie I find a too many discrepancies for me to simply ignore.I will buy the DVD without regrets when it comes out and I will go to the next Harry Potter movie, but I now hold strong reservations against the films. It's sort of related to the content. I strongly feel that too much has been chopped out to fit the time frame of the movie. Okay the film runs a solid 150 minutes and that is a lot for a movie in today's cinema, but it makes me worry what will happen to book 4 when the film comes rolling around. They chopped some things out of book 1 and I still felt it was easily recognizable. Chamber of Secrets isn't in my opinion as easily recognizable as Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone.I wish there were a special edition that ran at least a solid 30 minutes longer. It would certainly lend me a bit more faith when I think of the movies to come.Is Harry Potter II: Chamber of Secrets a bad movie? - No way. The movie is certainly something, but I feel like they tampered a little too much with the storyboard and had too many things cut from it in order to fit it to the the big-screen.Go see the movie and decide for yourself if my judgment is unfair. I don't think so.

Product: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Widescreen Edition)
Rating: 3/5

No Magical

The Harry Potter franchise is so popular and such a box office powerhouse that critics must refuse to lambast it for fear of losing their license. If The Chamber of Secrets had been released as a movie before the books were ever written (indulge in my fantasy), it would not have received such glowing reviews.It is a dark, dull adventure too scarey for very young veiwers and too silly for adults. It is a preteen fantasy film, but that's all it is. Yes, it has great effects if you don't mind the type of CGI cartoon realism we now must endure thanks to Episodes 1-3, but there's nothing magical about the journey this film takes you on. It compares poorly to films like Willy Wonka, Wizard of Oz, The Lord of the Rings, and even the Goonies for that matter in it's utter lack of joy - tacking on a corny ending complete with wide grins and a standing ovation doesn't count (think Episode 6). All of the above mentioned movies, and there are many more, were capable of mixing whimsey with scarey moments and packaging the adventure in such a way that you feel you've just been on a dangerous but magical adventure.My suggestion for the next installment. First, get a new, younger Harry Potter. Doctor Who did it, you can too. Second, ask the editors to cut the extended denoument = here's a thought: end on a dramatic moment, we can fill in the after-gaps ourselves. Third, hire someone who understands humor - your attempts at humor/light moments miss the mark (she accidently temorarily turns herself into a cat - HILARIOUS! not). Fourth, what a lame sport - i'm sure it translates better in the book. Fifth, eliminate any cgi character that inverts its sentences or talks about itself using it's own name. Sixth, give the director/writers enough backbone NOT to be so faithful to the book. Lord of the Rings this is not. Seventh, enough with the "breaking the rules" schtick, we get it. Eigth, surely there are some adults in the story who can save the day every once in a while. Ninth, think 2 hours or less. Tenth, do whatever you want and laugh all the way to the bank.In the future, when all the hoopla is over, history will not judge these movies favorably.

Product: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2-Disc Widescreen Edition)
Rating: 3/5

Best and Worst of the Trilogy so far

The problem with movie adaptations of well-loved books is that, for some, they will never fully capture the essence of the novel that spawned them. For many of us, this isn't necessarily a problem - 'adaptation' being the key word - but in the case of 'Azkaban', the screenplay writers have sacrificed much atmosphere and coherence at the end of the movie in favour of keeping it to 2 hours 19 minutes.First, the good stuff - Alfonso Cuaron should be awarded a Nobel Prize for Greatness (if such a thing exists!) becuase of the visual motif he has created with this movie. Darker and more menacing, with noir-esque shadows and some genuinely scary moments (the Dementors are magnificent, absolutely perfect renditions of Rowling's original creatures, ditto Buckbeak the Hippogriff), the mood of the film suits the escaped Murderer plotline perfectly well.Excellent, too, are Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Eatson in their respective roles as Harry and Hermione - the kids ar ematuring into actors capable of depth and sensitivity, and now we see for the first time that they weren't just chosen for looks alone. Rupert Grint as Ron, hwoever, is rubber-faced as ever, and is allowed too much 'comedy' time. Michael Gambon makes for a very interesting Dumbledore, and, now that I see him in the role, I have to say he's perhaps better as Dumbledore, retaining more of the jocular wisdom and essential vitality than his predecessor.Other cast nods go to David Thewlis as Prof. Remus Lupin and Dawn French as the Fat Lady. Emma Thompson makes an excellent Professor Trelawney, though we can't help but wish there was more of her.For all this, though, even when I try to forget that the book ever existed and judge the mvie in its own right, there's a rushed, unfinished feel to the end of the picture that just doesn't tally with the excellent beginning. Not enough is made of Hermione's use of the Time-Turner, with a rather wishy-washy attempt at seeing her in multiple places. The Buckbeak trial, too, is very unwisely underdeveloped, and the whole sub-plot with Scabbers and Crookshanks is just silly, when you take into account that, unlike the book, it does not exist to further the Peter Pettigrew plot.While the look of the movie, the new cvast members and the performances by the leads are indeed worth the price of admission, for us Potter Purists, the third Harry Potter Experience as anticlimactic as the disjointed end of the movie. One to rent.

Product: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2-Disc Widescreen Edition)
Rating: 5/5

A Beautiful Movie That Fails The Book In Many Ways

It always seemed to me that the other Harry Potter movies were very good, but nothing really special. But of course all of us fans are honor bound to love them and watch them a ridiculous amount of times. But this movie really threw that way of thinking out the window. If you ask me, the third book in the series is where the story truly begins. It seems fitting that that one is the best film so far. With great charactors like Lupin and Serius, you just know that this movie is definatly going to be a landmark in the box offices.
I think the new director did an extremely good job picking up where Chris Columbus left off. I really think this movie is the funniest one yet. And tho it's really sad that the man who played Dumbledor has died, the new Dumbledor did a very good job as well.
When I went to see this movie, I knew that they would have to cut parts out. Even though i wish it could have been exactly like the book, I really like what they did with it, it was really good.
After seeing how good this movie was, I just can't wait untill the fourth one comes out. It'll be awhile of course, but I'll be ready!!

Product: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Special Widescreen Edition)
Rating: 3/5

Not a very original movie(Star Wars saga rip-off)!

Valdemort(let's call him Darth Vader), killed Harry's father(let's call him Anakin). Now, Harry's father failed to stop "the dark side" led by Valdemort(Darth Vader). And then, Hagrid(let's call him Obi Wan) gives away Harry(let's call him Luke) to his uncle and aunt(let's call them Uncle Owen and Aunt Berru) to protect him from Valdemort(Vader). And just like the Star Wars movies, his uncle and aunt doesn't wanna give him away. Hagrid(Obi Wan) then comes back later in Harry's life to teach him about wizardry(the force), and help him defeat "the dark side". Then, Harry(Luke) manages to defeat Valdemort at the end of the movie(.ala. Luke and Vader .ala. ROTJ).This movie may be ok for children and people who doesn't want more than some entertainment, but for me as a movie fan, this movie is a rip-off!Excuse me for not spelling the names right.

List of Harry Potter DVD reviews starting with S

TopSellers at Amazon - Action and Adventure movie DVD disks

TopSellers at Amazon - Comedy movie DVD disks

TopSellers at Amazon - Sci-Fi and Fantasy movie DVD disks

Top 10 yahoo news about Harry Potter

Valid XHTML and CSS

Most popular searches about Potter Harry