Indeed, many classic children's movies, like 'The Wizard of Oz' and 'Mary Poppins,' are so successful partly because they're so different from the books that inspired them. Critics talk about how incredibly faithful the movie is to the book, and perhaps I'd have had an easier time detaching the two in my mind had the movie set off on its own course. As I watched the movie, my continuing thought was 'How well will the next part of the story be translated to the screen?' rather than 'How entertaining is this film overall?' I have trouble answering the latter question because I was already entertained by watching a wonderful story dramatized, so I'll never know how I'd have reacted had I seen this movie without having read the books.

Having read all four books in the series a few times each, I am overly familiar with the events in the story. There was so much anticipation leading up to its release, I simply enjoyed the experience of being there. But, like 'The Phantom Menace,' I've had a very hard time viewing it objectively.

Harry's Meditation: Harry and Ron discuss the Mirror of Erised.

Finding Flamel: Harry, Ron, and Hermione discover Nicholas Flamel's name in a wizard card while looking for a counter curse for Neville's leg locker curse.

Snape's Class: An extended version of Snape's potions class.

On the train: Hagrid and Harry take the train to London, and Hagrid reveals his love for dragons.

Cracking Eggs: Aunt Petunia opens egg cartons and cracks them, discovering rolled up letters from Hogwarts addressed to Harry.

Dudley's Uniform: Aunt Petunia dyes Dudley's old uniform gray so Harry could use it as his school uniform (before Harry receives the letter from Hogwarts.).The deleted scenes added back into the movie are: The 2009 Ultimate Edition DVD/Blu-ray release includes this cut as well. It was first shown on TV networks (ABC in the US, several international broadcasts had the same extended showing) in 2004. There is an extended cut of the film running about 159 minutes vs the theatrical version runs 152 minutes.

Harry potter complete 8 film collection