Review HP: The Sorcerer’s Stone (Ultimate Edition)
BRILLIANT! This is the best version of this film out there. I am a big fan of Anjohan’s work and cannot recommend enough to check out all his contributions to HP cinematic universe. THANKS for your effort, talent and love for the wizarding world.
Strengths:
• Colour grading is perfect! Align with the visual tone of late entries in the franchise.
• Narrative: The excision of 20 min vastly enhances the pace of the movie and the viewer engagement.
• Music/score changes are seamlessly integrated. This helps again with the cohesion of the movie into the franchise.
• Fixed continuity errors: New shots to present Hogwarts architecture and grounds once again contribute to correct
the inconsistencies between the first two movies with the rest of the saga.
Weaknesses:
• Narrative flaws: Some missing info/parts could be restored to improve the viewer’s experience
o Voldemort coming out of nowhere: I find it important to establish who Lord Voldemort was and Hagrid’s
explanation about the old war and Voldemort’s followers.
o Sorting Hat scene: Given the zero-knowledge Harry has about the magical world, it seems weird he starts
muttering ‘’Slytherin not’’. There is no background footage here to justify this. Maybe reinserting Draco’s
introduction or any previous reference to Slytherin’s house might work well.
o Forbidden forest: I understand why you removed the centaur and the poor CGI. However, Harry’s conclusion that
the under the under-the-hood figure is Voldemort seems unjustified…
o Right after the magic chess trial, Harry advances on his own to the mirror. Here, the scene between him and
Hermione should be restored. I get you can infer Hermione stays with Ron but at the end of the day I feel it
works better if both discuss to achieve emotional resonance before Harry continues on his quest.