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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
(June 2004)

The third Harry Potter film is a marked departure from it's predecessors. The new cinematic stylings brought by director Alfonso Cuaron are a breath of fresh air. Cuaron, with cinematographer Michael Seresin, have created intriguing and awe inspiring shots, sequences and scene transition that help draw you into the movie. Also, the overly bright, theme park colors of the first two movies has been replaced with a more muted and grainy palette which makes Harry's world feel real for the first time.

Now for the bad. The movie feels rushed and it's no wonder. Prisoner of Azkaban is shortest movie of the three made thus far but the longest book. It has been a continual complaint of mine throughout the Harry Potter series that character have not been given the time to develop. This movie goes a step further and loses the sense of some of the real emotion due to time constraints. My other real complaint about the movie is that the over acting of certain characters (wormtail in particular) is making the story seem to comical in nature. True, the Harry Potter movies are meant to appeal to a young audience but it's a same that the fail to convey the gravity and depth of the books.

The quality of the special effects on a whole have been improving steadily each film. However, whoever decided to make the Werewolf tall, gangly and with little hair should be strung up. This is one of the worst Werewolf's I have ever seen.

Rating: PG for frightening moments, creature violence and mild language.