Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: Almighty Edit

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".

This is a flawless edit, that was done by someone who really loves the source material the movie is based on. In my opinion, the first two Harry Potter films are the best, because they feel like the books brought to life. Almighty's edit removes the few moments of bad acting, and unnecessary character buffoonery (Ron and Hagrid), while inserting a deleted scene or two to enrich character motivations. Watching this kept my brain from doing it's usual thing of lingering on flaws. I was finally able to watch the movie and just get completely immersed in the experience. Thank you AlmightyCutie. I can't wait to watch the rest of your, what looks to be, brilliant edits. If things stay this way, my blu ray copies are going to be retired thanks to you.