Not that great

Rating: 4/10 (7 January 2006)

My wife & I REALLY wanted to like this movie. We really did. We tried as open-mindedly as possible. We finally managed to stay awake for the entire run on our fourth try. The plot is vague, the pace is slow, and the film wanders about in a floundering sort of way. Characters are thrown in at the last minute (eg: Peter Pettigrew) who are immensely important to Harry Potter's life, but about whom the movie manages to make us care just about zero. "Azkaban" touches on much but delves into little, including feeble and fleeting flirtations with Hermioine's maturing sense of sexuality (Who's hand is she holding now? Is that HIS neck she's hugging? Why is she wearing that undersized sweatshirt instead of the Hogwarts robe?).
The truth is the movie does have some fairish moments. The special effects are fine, especially the bit with the hippogriff, but not exactly breathtaking. Some plot developments are never really explained and, worse, some are utterly unnecessary (to wit a certain professor's alter ego). "Azkaban" is unfortunately too sluggish, uninteresting, and globally incoherent to be much fun. We'll probably see "Goblet of Fire" but not because of this regrettably forgettable movie.