Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: Revisited

My Harry Potter collection is very dusty. That means I have not touched those in a long time. I cannot remember when I even saw this movie. I watched the latest edit that was released. I am unable to compare to my prior experience, but it definitely feels so much better based on the little I do remember.

The movie also felt visually superior and I liked the revised musical score matching the rest of the franchise. I intend to go through the rest of the revisited series when released. This one was excellent (as was Chamber of Secrets where I effectively will provide this exact review because I only have a very hazy memory).

For those who have the movies gathering dust, this is a highly recommended and excellent way to revive the Harry Potter experience.

The amount of continuity errors unfortunately took me out of the movie but not entirely though as to the continuity errors themselves.

The first occurred When Ron was attempting to turn Scabbers in one scene the sweet box comes of his head but in the next scene that shows him with Hermione standing outside the door the sweet box is back on his head.

When McGonagall says your house will be like your family it should have cut to the Great Hall doors opening to make for a smoother transition and to quicken the narrative pacing.

During the scene where the Troll takes a second swing of its club at Harry the sudden cut to Ron casting the spell felt a bit jarring to quick as another scene could have been added before he casts the spell.

Well I thought the scene with the Mirror was done pretty well the use of Jame’s actor from Sorcerer’s Stone contradicts the flashbacks as his appearance is different between those scenes, digitally removing Jame’s Sorcerer’s Stone actor from the Mirror and digitally placing his actor from the later films would be a good way to fix this continuity error.

When Hermione reads the book on Nicholas Flamel the various text in that book reads PHILOSOPHER’S STONE creating some plotholes the first being why everyone keeps calling it the Sorcerer’s Stone when Nicholas Flamel refers to it as the Philosopher’s Stone and it also makes it seem like Hermione can’t read properly and that she and everyone else in the Wizarding World are trying to discredit the author and call the stone by a name that they prefer, these plotholes could be fixed by either digitally altering the text in Nicholas Flamel’s book to read SORCERER’S STONE or through burning and editing a DVD of Philosopher’s Stone.

The scene where Malfoy appears outside should have played until he leaves with Harry than stating his name as it than cuts to Hagrid saying oh dear instead of him going over to the table as it would have made for a smoother and quicker transition.

During the Devil’s Snare scene the immediate cut to Hermione’s face after she tells Harry and Ron to relax felt way to fast and jarring as another scene could have been placed after she told them to relax before transitioning to the scene where the Devil’s Snare swallows her up.

As for the flashbacks well they certainly are an interesting element you decided to incorporate into the edit I felt that there was to many of them as it would have been better if the flashbacks were used more sparingly such as the scene where Hagrid is explaining to Harry about his parents and when Harry meets Voldemort for the final time in this edit.

As to what I enjoyed your choice of music really gave a lot of emotional power and resonance to the scenes that accompanied them as I was completely blown away and the darker filter gave the film a more consistent and mature feel that the films from Azkaban onwards while preserving the magic that made Philosopher’s Stone or for those outside the UK Sorcerer’s Stone so great in the first place.

I hadn’t seen the original for probably a decade, and besides the flashback sequences, it was hard for me to tell what Andreas had changed. Yes, it looked darker (tonewise) but actually there were still a lot of lighter, little kid elements to it. This was great for me, since I think the films should grow up with the main characters. I was worried it would be TOO dark, but I’d say all the small trims and music changes simply accomplish the goal of making it fit better with the rest of the series.

I actually couldn’t remember any scenes that were missing while watching it, and at over 2 hours, it’s probably the best length now. Upon reflection, I realized we'd missed the candy-eating (which I DID quite like), some stuff with Hagrid (which I was thankful to trim), and the ending points ceremony (which honestly was kind of necessary for me as an American that was completely unfamiliar with this school tradition. However, it actually probably doesn't fit well with the overarching tone of the films.) I read as well that many people lamented the loss of Snape's class, but I think he is set up as enough of an ambiguous, threatening presence here to fit his role in the series. It always seemed too telegraphed to me that he just instantly is a jerk to this child... it's a pretty childish way of portraying him, whatever excuses you make for his backstory. Making this a bit of a more mature film, I think the current portrayal fits just right.

I do have to echo other reviewers in saying that my fondness for the flashback sequence wore thin after the 2nd or 3rd repetition. It is a nice way to start the film, and I'm not opposed to the idea of repeated flashes, but only if they were alternate shots/angles/variations. It's just too much repetition, imho. However, overall, this is a fantastic fanedit, and my preferred way to watch the film now.

When I first heard you were attempting to bring the tone of the film more in line with the others in the series I had mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, Philosopher’s Stone is my 2nd least favorite movie, but I was worried that you might possibly go too far in the attempt to darken the movie. I’m glad to say that my fears were completely unfounded. This is quite a brilliant edit, and though it has it’s problems, it’s so well done that those complaints don’t amount to much. Reworking the first few scenes of the film was an inspired choice and it works really well in changing the tone of the film. I also really loved the insertion of exterior shots from later movies in order to help make the changes between the 2nd and 3rd film less jarring. The musical score changes and additions are welcome. Most of the time it’s done seamlessly enough that if I hadn’t seen the movie over a hundred times (not exaggerating here) I wouldn’t have noticed.

That being said there were a few sections where I could hear the original track underneath the new music, and several times the new music would only play for a few seconds before disappearing which left me confused as to why the soundtrack changed there. The only music choice that I felt was bad was when they see Hogwarts from the boats. Mostly because the tone of the music doesn’t gel with the visuals at all. The school is lit up all nice and warm and you can see the smiles of joy and wonder on the kid's faces as they approach the school. If you were going to change it I think using a less foreboding theme would have been best.

I thought the removal of Norbert was an interesting choice. I’ve never even thought of removing that scene, but it works really well. There were also a few narrative decisions that didn’t quite work. The last act suffers a bit from the removals that were made. Removing the scene of Hagrid telling them how to get past Fluffy makes the pace moves a bit to fast and makes the trio look like complete idiots for trying to get past Fluffy with no idea how to do so, but the removal of Norbert, as well as the fact that Hagrid’s hut is in a different location from later films, necessitates this. Also, the flashback was used a bit too often.

The only other complaint I have is really minor and doesn’t affect my rating at all but I just thought I’d mention it. I wish you had used the Philosopher’s Stone edit instead of Sorcerer’s Stone but again that’s more of a personal preference than anything else. I still prefer the extended cut of the original movie, and this is mostly because a few important scenes for both the pacing and narrative structure were removed, making the film feel a bit too fast. That being said I’d still give this edit an 8/10 and would highly recommend it to anyone who’d like a different take on the film. I can’t wait to watch Chamber of Secrets Revisited and take a look at both Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix Revisited.

HP and the Sorcerer's Stone: Revisited has to be one of the best fanedits I've ever come across, and that's how I discovered the man behind the magic, Andreas!

The visual editing is seamless, the A/V quality is spot on, the reworked narrative is solid, and the new score fits the scenes like a glove! Plus, the new colour grade is a step up from the oversaturated pinkishness of the theatrical cut. Now admittedly, some of John Williams' original score is still somewhat present under the newly selected tracks, but all in all, this is a very minor complaint.

If you Potterheads are looking for a more mature take on the Columbus era of the Harry Potter films, this fanedit is for you!