Harry Potter: Years One-Five (Full Screen Edition)

Like many others, I too had been renting these movies so often that I figured I might as well splurge on a boxed set. Well, the prices were quite steep until this particular edition came out - all five Harry Potter movies for a value deal! It's just a simple, no-frills boxed collection of all five movies, i.e. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Each comes in a plastic case that is pretty flimsy, but for the price you get all five movies that one can conveniently play over and over, instead of renting the individual movies. I am saving up to purchase the entire HP collection [1-8] once Deathly Hallows Parts 1 & 2 are screened and eventually make it on to DVD which will probably be sometime in 2012[?]. As a HP fan, I don't mind splurging on a boxed set of the entire movie collection, and don't mind the wait either.The first 3 movies in this set are rated PG, and the remaining 2 are rated PG-13. The language and subtitles option for "HP and the Sorcerer's Stone" is English and Spanish, the languages option for "HP and the Chamber of Secrets" are English and Spanish [subtitles are in English, French, and Spanish], the languages option for "HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban" are English and French [subtitles are Eng, French, and Spanish], the languages option for "HP and the Goblet of Fire" are Eng and Spanish [subtitles are in Eng, French, and Spanish], and finally, the languages option for "HP and the Order of the Phoenix" are English, French, and Spanish [subtitles are in Eng, French, and Spanish]. Here's a brief recap of the 5 movies contained in this boxed set for those new to the HP world:"HP & the Sorcerer's Stone": 11-year-old orphan Harry Potter[Daniel Radcliffe], finds that he is actually a young wizard and goes off to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, run by Headmaster Albus Dumbledore [Richard Harris]. Harry is sorted into the House of Griffindor, where he makes friends with Ron Weasley [Ruper Grint], and brilliant Hermione Granger [Emma Watson], and discovers the joy of Quidditch [a wizard sport]. The trio find themselves embroiled in an adventure, having to do with the elusive and mysterious Philosopher's stone, owned by Nicholas Flamel. Harry also has to deal with the sad truth of his parents' death at the hands of the Dark Wizard Voldemort, who seems to have disappeared, after failing to kill Harry on the night his parents' were murdered. Harry bears the scar of the encounter on his forehead, and in this first instalment, begins his epic battle against evil."HP & the Chamber of Secrets" - Harry and his best friends Ron and Hermione return to Hogwarts for another amazing year. Harry has been warned by Dobby the house elf to stay away from Hogwarts but ignores the warning, and finds himself close to peril many times throughout the year. The trio discover a strange message that the chamber of secrets has been opened, and when Muggle-borns [i.e. students born to non-magic humans] are found petrified, Harry and his friends race against time to solve the mystery."HP & the Prisoner of Azkaban" - Harry discovers that Sirius Black, a notorious mass murderer has escaped from the wizard prison of Azkaban, and is out looking for Harry. Though Harry feels safe at Hogwarts, he is perturbed by his encounters with the Dementors, the guards of Azkaban, who seem to have a terrible effect on Harry. Under his new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Remus Lupin, Harry learns some new skills that may help him battle his adversaries, and in the course of the year, also discovers the truth about his parents' death, as well as the real identity of Sirius Black."HP & the Goblet of Fire" - Harry and his friends attend the Quidditch World Cup where disaster strikes and the Black Mark [of Voldemort] is seen in the sky signalling his forces are gathering strength. Harry and friends return to Hogwarts which is hosting the Triwizard Tournament, and though only students aged 17 and older are allowed to compete, Harry finds his name chosen, and thus together with the other chosen champions, i.e. Cedric Diggory [Robert Pattinson who went on to garner fame as Edward Cullen in Twilight], Fleur Delacouer and Viktor Krum, faces one peril after another in a bid for the championship. But as always, darkness follows Harry and he finds his greatest challenge yet in this 4th installment."HP & the Order of the Phoenix" - Harry and the rest of the Hogwarts students are in for a nasty suprise when a ministry official, Umbridge [Imelda Staunton in a wicked role] is sent to Hogwarts to keep an eye on Dumbledore and the rest of the faculty and students. Harry gets on Umbridge's bad side through no fault of his own, and the gang decide to rebel by forming their own group which teaches students to battle the dark arts. This installment is the darkest of the five here, and viewers will see how Harry and company have truly matured, the actors coming into their own in each of the roles.I hope this whets HP newbies' appetite for watching the movies. Though the movies do not capture all of what is contained in the books [that would take hours of screen time] - the sense of magic and wonder is quite amazing as portrayed on screen. Highly recommended [both the boxed set and the movies].

First off, let me say the actual HD DVDs are excellent, considering they're the theatrical cuts of the movies. They look great, have some nice extras, and remind me why I wish HD DVD had survived instead of Blu-ray Disc.However, HD DVD is dead, and that's why I picked these up. In a word: Inexpensive. You won't get five Harry Potter movies in Blu-ray Disc format for the current going price of this gift set. This was an excellent buy. I still have my HD DVD player, and this is a good way to use it. HD is HD, and in 1080p, the Harry Potter movies look brilliant.Now, as to the rest of the package, I'm impressed. It's got a lot of neat little toys and things. The whole thing is meant to look like Harry's chest, and the HD DVDs are packaged in little cases that look like Harry's school books.While I appreciate what they were trying to do there, I have to say: I really wish they'd given me standard HD DVD cases instead. The little flip-open jewel cases are in two different sizes, and are definitely not shelf-friendly. I guess the designers of this gift set couldn't fathom anyone wanting to keep their discs anywhere but in the included chest-shaped box. It's really kind of a bummer, because now I'll have to dig up some HD DVD cases and print some cover art so I can store these with the rest of the collection which has to be on Blu-ray Disc (since they're not making HD DVD versions to finish out the collection).The bookmarks are rather nice. Too nice, in fact. I hate to take them out of the case!The Interactive DVD game is a nice bonus. While it's standard fare for this type of thing (kind of a "choose your own adventure" book in DVD format), it's fun and was essentially a freebie in this gift set.The bonus features for all movies are on one disc. This is both good and bad. Good, because you're not swapping, but bad because when I do put these in their own HD DVD cases, I'll have to have one case for the special features for all the movies, which is kind of odd. Most movies come with their own special features disc.The other negative to this Limited Edition Gift Set is the fact that Warner Bros didn't give us extended editions of the movies, like the ones they televise on Disney Channel and ABC Family. Instead, these are all straightforward theatrical cuts, flaws and all.While I enjoy the theatrical cuts, there's just so much missing once you've seen the extended editions, and I don't understand why WB didn't sell them in "limited edition" sets like this. This would be the ideal set in which to include those editions, don't you think? I guess we'll have to wait until the whole eight-movie set is available before they offer the extended editions in a set like this.These are minor quibbles though. Really, this is a brilliant set of HD DVDs, a bonus interactive game DVD, some nice toys and collectibles, and a cool box. The price is right, and I highly recommend it to any Harry Potter fan who still has an HD DVD player.AND A NOTE TO WOULD-BE BUYERS:The HD DVD version you see here DOES require a special player. You can't play these in your DVD player, even if you think it's a DVD player that plays HD (it doesn't). You can't play these in your Blu-ray Disc player, either. You need an "HD DVD" player, which is a discontinued format.You can get HD DVD players here, or elsewhere. The XBox 360 can play HD DVDs if you purchase an add-on drive (you CANNOT play HD DVDs on the XBox 360's built-in DVD drive). Just please, please, please understand that HD DVD is not meant for DVD players. It's a separate technology, and frankly, I'm sick of seeing poor reviews of this EXCELLENT product because some people are too technologically-impaired to understand the difference between DVD and HD DVD, or HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc.Once again: YOUR DVD PLAYER CAN NOT PLAY "HD DVD" DISCS!Now that we've sorted all that out, I'll summarize the review by saying this: If you want Harry Potter films 1-5 in HD, this is the best, least expensive way to get them if you don't mind a lack of HD DVD cases.

I am almost 65 years old and this is the first time I have watched anything to do with H.P. I considered just for children, whether I'm reaching second childhood not sure. Thoroughly enjoyable and exciting and according to my own children I have much to look forward to. Even my wife thought it was good.

I think I may have gone for the set a little early as there are two to go but the price and the fact that they're Blu Ray clinched it for me. A good box set well presented and well priced.

Having been an avid watcher of the Harry Potter series of films and watching the original DVDs frequently it was great to see the detail and quality of the Blue Ray version. I didn't think the film quality could be better but it is an amazing improvement on quality and watchability.

Brilliant boxset and perfect for all harry potter fans but be warned the storie get dark as the series goes on so small children may get a little,scared,as the story's go on

please be aware that SE stands for spanish edition (I think) this was not made clear in the item description. I ordered it for my grandson for Christmas - he was a bit puzzled on Christmas Day!!! it then cost me £11.10 to return it to the seller in Italy