'Potter' DVD magical

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone -- PG
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson
Directed by: Chris Columbus If you're like most of the world, chances are you\'ve read at least one book in the famed "Harry Potter" series. Assuming you\'re a fan of the series, you\'re most likely aware that Warner Bros. has started to translate the voluminous tomes of the "Harry Potter" series into movies, starting with "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." Set in modern times, the movie centers around a young wizard named, oddly enough, Harry Potter. The film follows the adventures of Harry, his friend Ron Weasley and the young Hermione Granger. The movie itself is a joy to watch, and also features a number of impressive visual effects, including a stunning scene involving Quidditch, a Rugby-esque game played on flying broomsticks. The DVD adds a lot to the experience of the movie. It includes seven deleted scenes that shed a little more light on the characters, though why they were cut is obvious. In addition to the standard, deleted scenes, the DVD also features a somewhat interesting 3-D tour of the school Hogwarts -- though the navigation of the 3-D world is a little difficult -- and a series of small games, such as sneaking past the giant three-headed dog known as "Fluffy." The games are amusing but don't really add much to the experience and are obviously skewed to a younger audience than college students. As a note, be sure to purchase the widescreen version of the DVD, as there are two flavors, widescreen (with the bars on the top and bottom of the movie) and fullscreen (with the movie picture taking up the whole TV screen). The widescreen edition catches a number of small background tricks and subtleties that wind up cropped out of the fullscreen edition. All in all, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" is an excellent addition to your DVD collection.