Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone user review

  • A belting upgrade for those with DTS:X capabilities

    I don't think I've heard a more aggressive overhead track in the over 100 discs of object-based sound I've got. In the opening few minutes you've got Dudley jumping on the stairs overhead, you've got the swirling of letters, you've got the thunderous storm prior to Hagrid's arrival.....all front and centre and, er, overhead for your listening pleasure. And it continues - the chase of the flying keys, Quidditch, You Know Who in the Dark Forest, all packed with discrete overhead effects, guaranteed to slap a smile on the face. The fact that the rest of the soundtrack is just as good is just as pleasing. Power and heft to the requisite moments (wizards chess, Fluffy and more Quidditch), the rich musicality of the wonderful William's score, its a fantastic object-based remix, slightly edging Jurassic Park's recent DTS:X remix for me in terms of its brilliance.

    PQ is not as much of an upgrade for me - sure, I can see bags of detail in the shots where there are no digital shenanigans going on, but with so much VFX, all those shots do soften up noticeably. But, I'm not viewing on a 4K panel or with HDR so I'm pretty sure I'm getting nowhere near the benefit of the UHD upgrade visually as I have aurally, so I'm not going to try to comment. It looked very good, but nowhere near as smile inducing as the soundtrack upgrade.

    On this umpteenth re-watch, I was trying to pin down what the Potter series got right to make it the warm, fuzzy feeling set of movies they are. There have been hundreds of teen witch/wizard books and films that never got under the skin of the public like this series has, but I think what this series got right was a comment I made to the Mrs and Jnr as we watched - it was Christmas morning and Harry gets up for his first Christmas with presents. The snow is falling, the fire is roaring and Hogwarts looks like the best place on earth and I turned to the Mrs and said "I wish I could spend Christmas at Hogwarts"...…..the films (and the books but I don't have anywhere near the affinity for those as I do the movies) get the excited feelings of being young, at the best school ever (which got everything right), with your best friends ever and its that very strange beast of being nostalgic for something you've never experienced.

    I never went to a boarding school, much less been a wizard, but goddamn, I would give anything to be an 11 year old at Hogwarts! Throw in the budget to do it right for once (the design is utterly sumptuous and for once, its all there on the screen, not looking cheap and nasty in the slightest), a cast of pretty much every great British actor you can think of and a darkness to the overarching mythos akin to those recent 80's Disney kids films I've been watching like Dragonslayer and The Black Hole (Unicorns? In this world the bad guy not only kills them but drinks their blood...…) that means the whole film and series are elevated to that of a very adult, non-adult story. Oh and wizards are just cool.

    Junior watch - this was the third attempt at getting 8 year old Jnr to watch this as each previous watch, by the time we got to Diagon Alley she was bored. But making it to Hogwarts and she was transfixed. I asked her why this time and she said because the school was so cool and she wishes she could go there. See? Its not just me...….

    Summary - the film is still a fantastic romp that invokes the feeling of a bygone era of kids films that were nicely dark and actually scary. The UHD upgrade for me is massive thanks to that utterly superb DTS:X remix and I can't wait for the next 7 weeks when we get to immerse ourselves in all the later films. Although I do still wish I was at Hogwarts instead...….:(
    This item was purchased for £79.99 (for the whol from HMV in 2018 . The reviewer still owns this product.
    Likes: Nayfne

    Pros

    • A stunning DTS:X remix.......
    • ........for a wonderful beginning to a wonderful franchise.......

    Cons

    • Not including the regular BD seems very stingy.......
    • .......especially when there are no extras to speak of.........

    Scores

    9
    9
    8
    10
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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Comments
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Author
Mark Costello
Review score
9 / 10
Average score
9.0 / 10
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