CuarÃ³n really knows how to do a Potter movie

Rating: Null/10 (20 June 2004)

Finally a Harry Potter film that seems like a real film. The two first movies, directed by Chris Columbus, weren't bad, but seeing them without having read the books was a confusing, and sometimes boring experience.
This new installment is superior to its predecessors in many aspects: the plot is better explained from the first moment, and the script (by Steve Kloves, who also wrote "Philosopher's stone" and "Chamber of secrets") condenses better the story without missing capital points from the book. The CGI, which improved a lot from first to second movie, are even more polished, with astonishing new creatures as Buckbeak the hippogriff and things less sensational: the moving stairways are, to give an example, much more credible. The three principal actors have grown "a little", as their characters (or a little more), but this is always interesting. New themes are starting to develop that will transform those "kid's movies" into something more. Correct performance of Sirius black by Gary Oldman, and hilarious new teacher played by Emma Thompson. All the rest of the original cast are in this one too (excepting Richard Harris, of course, greatly replaced by Michael Gambon), but is a pity for a fan like me to have so few scenes with Maggie Smith. The atmosphere in the film is very creepy, so the younger audiences can be scared with it...a price we have to pay for a more adult, more complex, and a better Harry Potter film. P.S.: The Spanish dubbing is horrible! (almost as much as my written English...)