Did you read my review of the Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone: Ultimate Edition Blu-ray Disc set last week? Well, simply replace a few of the details, add some special features and ramp up the praise by a factor of ten and suddenly you’ve got my review for the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: Ultimate Edition Blu-ray Disc set! Could these things possibly get any better?!
I don’t want to beat a dead horse here, but I think Warner has knocked it out of the park with these Harry Potter Ultimate Editions. They include all the special features from previous editions and add a boatload of new stuff. Like I said in the previous review, the most compelling feature of these new collections is that each set includes one segment of the 8-Part documentary, Creating the World of Harry Potter. ‘Part 2: Characters‘ is wonderful, insightful and a full half-hour longer than Part 1! It focuses, obviously, on the characters of the series and charts their evolution (and in the case of the kids, their growth) from the first film in 2001 right up to the most recent films. Watch a preview below:
Also, much like the previous set, the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: Ultimate Edition box contains a hardcover book that complements the episode of the doc. In addition to the book, 2 Blu-ray discs and a DVD, the magnetically closed, book-style packaging also contains a disc with a digital copy of the film and 2 trading cards.
The disc set is rounded out by another ‘In-Movie Experience’ – a wonderful picture-in-picture sit down with director Chris Columbus over the theatrical cut of the film. The extended cut runs 13-minutes longer and features footage not seen in theatres.
And don’t miss the never-before-seen screen tests of Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson! Though the docs feature clips from the tests, you’ll want to watch them in full to see just how incredible these kids were right out of the gate. It really illustrates the point that casting is everything.
Harry Potter is awesome in every book every movie every thing he is in.