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4K Ultra HD Review: “Harry Potter: Years 1 – 4”

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Harry Potter chronicles the life of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The main story arc concerns Harry’s struggle against Lord Voldemort, a dark wizard who intends to become immortal, overthrow the wizard governing body known as the Ministry of Magic, and subjugate all wizards and muggles, a reference term that means non-magical people.

I am a huge Harry Potter fan, not of the books, as an independent filmmaker and movie critic, I have very little time to do anything else but movies have been my passion since I was seven-years-old and the Harry Potter films are pure magic, pun intended. I enjoyed them more with each entry into the franchise and while I was entertained by “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” it didn’t hold a magic want to the Potter series. This review will cover years 1 through 4 and at a later date, I will cover the next, and last, four.

 

“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”

This is the movie that started it all. We are introduced to all of our favorite characters, Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione (Emma Watson), Ron (Rupert Grint), Dumbledore (Richard Harris), Snape (Alan Rickman) and many, many more. The great aspect about this film is the fact that we follow Harry, at eleven-years-old, as he begins to discover his ability for performing magic and being able to speak Parseltongue (the language of serpents), something that comes in handy in later movies. Harry meets Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley on his way to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a school of magic for students aged eleven to eighteen, and it is here that the trio become lifelong best friends. Along the way, they meet other students who become allies, Neville Longbottom (Matthew Lewis), Ron’s brothers Fred and George Weasley (James & Oliver Phelps) as well as his sister Ginny (Bonnie Wright), Seamus Finnigan (Devon Murray) but they also encounter those who are not friends, especially Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) and his gang, Vincent Crabbe (Jamie Waylett), Gregory Goyle (Josh Herdman), and Pansy Parkinson (Scarlett Byrne).

Once the students settle into Hogwarts, they quickly learn about wizardry and Harry finds out about his parents, and how they were killed by Lord Voldemort, a very powerful and dark wizard. Because Harry’s mother, Lily, loved her son so much, when Voldemort used the Killing Curse on her, her love for Harry created an invisible forcefield around the baby and protected him while the curse backfired on Voldemort, killing him instantly. But while his physical body was vaporized, his soul lived on and in “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” Harry realizes that Voldemort is trying to come back in human form and that Professor Quirrell (Ian Hart), is responsible. Now Harry, Ron, and Hermione must face Quirrell and prevent Voldemort from reaching human consciousness.


 

“Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”

Having defeated Professor Quirrell and prevented Voldemort from achieving true human form at the end of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” Harry, Ron, and Hermione have become famous at Hogwarts but as year two begins, they quickly surmise that even with their previous victory, Voldemort just won’t lie down and stay down. With Professor Quirrell having been the previous Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, the students find out that Gilderoy Lockhart (Kenneth Branagh), a celebrity wizard, will be their new teacher. While serving detention after class one day, Harry begins to hear strange voices and upon his investigation, discovers the school’s caretaker, Argus Filch’s (David Bradley) black cat, Mrs. Norris, petrified, with a warning scribbled on the wall in what appears to be blood. The message states that the “Chamber of Secrets has been opened.”

Harry, Ron, and Hermione do some digging and discover that the Chamber of Secrets, which lies deep beneath the school, was built for the sole purpose of eradicating the school of Muggle-born students, people born into non-magical families. After Harry finds an old enchanted diary by a student named Tom Riddle, he begins seeing visions from the past, when the Chamber was last opened but shortly thereafter, Hermione is found enchanted and the diary disappears and it is up to Harry to make his way into the Chamber alone, and face off against whatever lies within its walls.


 

“Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”

While both “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” and “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” introduced us to Harry Potter and the magical wizarding world, the dangers they faced were never too frightening or fearsome but with “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” our trio of wizards have grown up and the film takes a noticeably darker tone, something I really appreciated. While the first two movies were more light-hearted, it made sense that as the characters grew and matured, so would the dangers they would have to face with every new school year. This time around, while Harry, Ron, and Hermione are on their way to Hogwarts, the train comes to a sudden stop and they meet the dementors, soulless creatures who strip people of all happiness and intelligence. They are also the guards of the wizard prison, Azkaban. When one of the dementors takes an interest in Harry, Professor Lupin (David Thewlis), the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, uses a magical charm on it and drives it away.

It is announced by Dumbledore that a man by the name of Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) has escaped from Azkaban Prison and is on his way to Hogwarts. Nobody knows why but later, Harry discovers that Sirius is actually on his way to find him and kill him. When Harry finds out that Sirius gave up his parents to Voldemort, resulting in their deaths, he becomes enraged and wants the opportunity to face Sirius himself but when he gets the chance to do so, Lupin intervenes and sets the record straight, telling him that Sirius was actually one of his parents’ closest friends and that he was framed. With the rest of the magical world still under the assumption that he is guilty, he informs Harry that he is actually his godfather and then escapes. But in the shadows, something more sinister lurks, ready to return.


 

“Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”

With the fourth entry in the Harry Potter franchise, things become much more darker than its predecessor but we also get more humor between the characters as they hit puberty and try to get a handle on their raging hormones. As year four begins at Hogwarts, Dumbledore announces that the school will participate in the Triwizard Tournament, where three magical schools will compete in a deadly and perilous competition where they will face three dangerous challenges. The school is informed that anybody who wishes to participate must be over the age of seventeen but on the day that the representative for Hogwarts is announced, Cedric Diggory (Robert Pattinson), and the remaining two participants from the competing schools, a fourth participant is named, none other than Harry Potter. Enraged, Dumbledore demands to know why the underage Harry entered his name but he emphatically denies he did so.

The faculty reconvenes behind closed doors and it becomes apparent that a very powerful wizard is hiding somewhere within the walls of Hogwarts and entered Harry’s name into the goblet but the rules for the tournament are binding and Harry has no choice but to compete. With the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody (Brendan Gleeson), taking a keen interest in Harry, he helps him navigate the dangerous and treacherous waters of the tournament but when Harry enters the last challenge, a huge hedge maze, he and Cedric end up in an old graveyard, facing none other than Voldemort himself. When Cedric tries to attack Voldemort, the dark lord casts the Killing Curse and he dies immediately. Harry battles Voldemort briefly but when the spirits of his dead parents interject, they give him enough time to escape back to Hogwarts. The school is horrified upon hearing the news of Cedric’s death but when “Mad-Eye” takes Harry back to his office to console him, it quickly becomes apparent that “Mad-Eye” is not who he claims to be, rather, he is a very powerful wizard who works for Voldemort.


 

The Harry Potter franchise is one of the most successful in movie history and because of its charming and persuasive cast, throughout all eight films, it is hard to find fault in any one movie. Granted, everybody will undoubtedly have their favorite, my personal favorite is the next in the series, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” because I felt that the young actors really came into their own but technically, they are standalone marvels, each more fantastic than the last. Understandably, because of the size of author J.K. Rowling’s final book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” Warner Bros. decided to split the last movie into two parts, and in the process, created a new approach to wrapping up franchise pictures, see “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Parts 1 & 2” and “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Parts 1 & 2.”

With Warner Bros. releasing all eight Harry Potter movies on 4K, there is more reason to celebrate. For over ten years, Blu-ray has been the chosen format for film lovers wanting to see their favorite flicks at home in high definition but 4K literally blows Blu-ray out of the water. I know there are many who don’t care about 4K, as long as you can watch your films on Blu-ray or DVD, you’re fine, but 4K is for the HD connoisseurs, people who want to watch movies like Harry Potter or “Transformers” and when you upgrade to 4K, you will notice the difference. Without being too technical, the overall quality of 4K is four times better than Blu-ray, while Blu-ray is six times higher than DVD. Granted, the majority of films available on 4K right now are bigger-budgeted action, sci-fi, or animated films because let’s be honest, watching “Schindler’s List” or “Rain Man” won’t actually enhance your viewing experience of those particular movies. 4K works best for bigger movies and who bigger than Harry Potter?

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James McDonald

Originally from Dublin, Ireland, James is a Movie Critic with 40 years of experience in the film industry as an Award-Winning Filmmaker. He is also a member of the Critics Choice Association and the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association.