Customer Reviews
EXCELLENT - By: Mr. Francis Mc Kernan, 22 Nov 2007 
I think this item is excellent value for money & the postage & value is very good.
The boy who lived brought to life - By: KM, 19 Nov 2007 Adapted from JK Rowling's amazing magical novels, this DVD boxset features the first five films in the Harry Potter series.
Year 1 - Harry Potter & the Philosophers Stone:
Harry Potter learns on his 11th birthday that he is the orphaned son of two powerful wizards & possesses magical powers of his own.
Harry then begins his first year at Hogwarts & with the help of his new friends Ron & Hermoine, takes on Lord Voldemort for the first time to stop him from using the mysterious Philosopher's Stone.
Year 2 - Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets:
Cars fly, trees fight back & a mysterious house-elf comes to warn Harry Potter at the start of his second year of a danger that may threaten his life. The Chamber of Secrets reopens & the heir of Slitherin returns to Hogwarts.
Year 3: Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban:
With the escaped criminal, Sirius Black on the loose & terrifying Dementors on guard everywhere, this begins Harry's darkest & most dangerous year at Hogwarts.
Year 4: Harry Potter & the Goblet Of Fire:
When Harry Potter's name emerges from the Goblet of Fire, he becomes a competitor in a grueling battle for glory among three wizarding schools - the Triwizard Tournament.
Year 5: Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix:
Harry returns for his fifth year of study at Hogwarts & discovers that much of the wizarding community has been denied the truth about his recent encounter with the evil Lord Voldemort. Fearing that Hogwarts' venerable Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, is lying about Voldemort's return in order to undermine his power & take his job, the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, appoints a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher to keep watch over Dumbledore & the Hogwarts students. But Professor Dolores Umbridge's Ministry-approved course of defensive magic leaves the young wizards woefully unprepared to defend themselves against the dark forces threatening them & the entire wizarding community, so at the prompting of his friends Hermione & Ron, Harry takes matters into his own hands. Meeting secretly with a smalll group of students who name themselves "Dumbledore's Army," Harry teaches them how to defend themselves against the Dark Arts, preparing the courageous young wizards for the extraordinary battle that lies ahead.
The scripts stick very close to the books' storylines, with only a smalll few scenes missing in the first three films. Anyone who has read The Goblet of Fire though will find huge chunks of the story missing, such as the whole lead-up to the Quidditch World Cup & the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare (S.P.E.W) storyline. To be fair though, it is a massive book so I suppose some of the minor storylines had to be cut. The Order of the Phoenix is very similar to the book up to a point & then massive cuts & changes are made, which if you are a big fan of the books, will spoil the movie for you a little.
When I watched the first Harry Potter film I had already read the first four books & had created visions in my mind of what the characters & places alll looked like & I could not believe how spot-on the cast & locations were, with only minor differences to the books.
The acting from the younger cast members does get progressively better as the films go on, mainly due to age & experience, although the three leads (Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint & Emma Watson) do perform excellently from the start, providing fascinating entertainment. Older cast members include top well-known actors like Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid), Alan Rickman (Snape), Maggie Smith (McGonagalll), Richard Harris (Dumbledore in years 1 & 2), Richard Griffiths (Vernon Dursley), Gary Oldman (Sirius Black), Michael Gambon (Dumbledore in years 3, 4 & 5) & Ralph Fiennes (Voldermort in years 4 & 5), to just name a few.
This boxset is one that every fan of Harry Potter should own & although the films are aimed more at children than the books are, they are still great fun to watch with lots of exciting action & are also full of laughs that the whole family can enjoy. The new slim DVD cases also save a lot of room on your shelves!
It will be great when it comes out - By: Football crazy, 15 Oct 2007 Harry Potter is my favoroute film series of alll time, & when I heard about the fith film coming out, I wasn't sure if it would be as good, but it scored high marks with great acting, great action, & definitly the best summer movie of the year.
The other four films that will be with the 5th film in this boxset I think are definitly brilliant, & if you buy this, watch them in order & you will see how much better they get each time. That is from my point of view so I don't know if you will agree.
When this comes out I do recommend you should buy it, because it is a great series to watch, & even if you don't know the story of the series, just buy this & watch alll 5. You will know why I think this is such a good series.
What the hell happened guys, it was going so well?! - By: J. Smith, 11 Oct 2007 
OK...first things first...the first three films are excellent. Most of the scenes are stolen by the more experienced actors such as Timothy Spalll, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith & Gary Oldman.
These films are packed full of great actors...but...and this is a big but...the three main characters...what on earth is going on? Rupert Grint is the only good actor between them...Emma Watson is over-the-top & totallly boring...try smiling once in a while...and every time I see Daniel Radcliffe act I actuallly cringe. He is AWFUL. How on earth does such a crap actor make his name acting a major role so badly.And then he won the 'Best Performance: Male actor'...what the hell? Do people actuallly know what good acting is anymore? How on earth did he win over Johnny Depp...and how did Emma Watson win over Judi Dench. OK...Judi Dench wins almost every single year...but that's because she's an awesome actress...Emma Watson is crap...what on earth is going on here people?
Anyway...the music is great & the action is satisfying...a great buy if you can see past the awful acting from the films 'stars' (not Rupert Grint). Look out for David Tennant as Barty Crouch in the 4th film. In his ten minutes on screen he puts on a better performance than alll of Daniel Radcliffe's screen time from alll five films put together. I know I stress this point...but it is a major one. There are so many great young actors out there who'd give anything to play a role like Harry Potter, & they'd alll be able to out-act Radcliffe. A very, very bad decision casting him. Very bad indeed.
