Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: Almighty Edit

I really enjoyed reading the HP books as they came out but gave up with the films after the first three - although the design work was superb I didn’t enjoy some of the characterisations and lost/curtailed plot points in the transfer from page to screen (and I found a lot of the children’s acting to be flat and wooden, which didn’t help). My daughter however adores the films so we ended up owning the entire series anyway!

As I’m currently rereading the series I thought I’d give the movies another chance after hearing about the extended editions, but then I saw almightcutie’s fan edit entries - after watching The Sorcerer’s Stone I wouldn’t say I’m a convert to the films, but they *have* done an excellent job in trimming a lot of the bits I wasn’t keen on and making some characters (namely Ron & Hagrid) more like their literary counterparts.. All the edits are expertly done and without the Changes list in the fan edit entry I don’t think I could point out specific changes; they really are seamless. The film flows along nicely without any hiccoughs.

There is only one very minor issue I can highlight: the sound levels are a bit low - while my normal volume level is around 50% I had to increase it to around 85% while watching this cut to achieve the same listening experience. I’ve not docked a point for this as I have functional volume controls and the audio was fine once I’d turned it up :)

I’d definitely recommend this edit, and I’ll be introducing my daughter to it as an alternative to the Blu-rays.

(Watched on a virtual cinema screen via Quest 3 VR headset using Skybox media app)

I can Finally say that this is by far my favorite way to enjoy the harry potter films. Completely adore these edits.

I've never been a huge fan of either the books or the movies with the sole exception of Cuaron's Prisoner of Azkaban, and last time I had a hankering to watch Azkaban a few years it was during the pandemic, so with little else to do I decided to rewatch all 8 movies. They are ROUGH--especially these first two, which are sodden with overlong, clunky, leaden dialog and acting.

Well, I wanted to watch Azkaban again, and figured there HAD to be good fanedits of them. There are, of course, and they're almightycutie's. This edit is strictly superior in every way; tighter, smarter, and quicker. One of the best and purely editorial edits is Hagrid; I never understood why these movies seemed determined to make him seem like a complete idiot--not comic so much as just "haha look at the stupid outcast guy"--weirdly mean-spirited, and it's gone here. Beautifully done.

The first movie, a classic! The atmosphere and tone are great, cutting away for pacing and awkwardness makes this a really enjoyable watch!

Couple things I especially liked:
Making Hagrid smarter
Mirror of erised edit gives Ron's character more weight
The Fluffy cuts are brilliant

Things I liked a bit less:
The cuts to Voldemort in the forest seemed a little abrupt, but I don't recall how awkward the original was ;). It does get the job done!

An edit, that preserves perfectly the tone of original movie, and yet gives the characters more "weight".

It focuses mainly on Hagrid and Ron, not attempting to make them so serious as to wrap the character, but trimming and re-shuffling. just enough to equate them to other characters through out the story, and be on the same level with them, without being a butt of a joke.

The visual quality is just a little-bit more "blurry" to my liking, but the sound, quality of cuts, mixes, transitions are superb. (I guess we all just got spoiled by now, with crystal-sharp imagery)

Some of my most enjoyed moments were:

- The conflict with Draco, before the sorting hat ceremony, keeps the tone of "children can be cruel", but makes it much less "on the nose". You can argue, that the original version suits kids viewing the movie better, but for an adult re-watching, it is definitely the way to go.

- The mirror subplot, re-edit, hits so much harder, and really shapes Ron character. Just a little trim, but the whole sequence feels different.

- Albeit non-canon, but surprisingly extremely enjoyable, the apparate sound effect when Hagrid leaves in the train station. It just fits the expression of Harry's face perfectly. And it's little nod, that first time viewers might not realize, which is the whole premise of extended cuts - re-watching to find that there is more that slipped our attention the first time.

And I guess the last example can really define this whole edit by itself.

The collection of little trims and cuts, lovingly made, to not damage the material. but to make it bloom an breathe more.

It is still an extended version, it still hits all the points, it doesn't try to reframe stuff in a different light, all it tries to do, is to make you go through the journey of the first film with their characters and their personal growth, so that at no point you are pulled out of this world, thinking "C'mon, this is too much, people do not talk/behave that way".

You can call it, an "Immersion edit".