Cuaron and company rise this to the level of near pop-art; Harry Potter moving on up in style and substance

Rating: 9/10 (15 July 2007)

After the first two Harry Potter movies, Chris Columbus waived his director's seat and after some searing Alfonso Cuaron stepped in. It's an interesting choice, as he had only done one 'family-friendly' film before (A Little Princess), and had just finished an NC-17 film the excellent Y Tu Mama Tambien. Although I've yet to read 'Azkaban' or any of the books, from what I've heard from those that have it's a book that doesn't seem to be really progressing too much in terms of a 100% engaging 'plot'. We're only learning so much about Potter's lineage, and mostly through the element of Sirius Black, who has escaped from Azkaban prison and has his sights set after Potter to avenge the "dark lord."
But through this set-up, Cuaron does the most extraordinary things, surpassing Columbus's big-epic aspirations and making it...still epic, yes, but with a more ambitious scop in directorial style. Even when things get at their most conventional, there's a full sense of balancing whimsy and true dark intonations. I loved how he and the visual effects crew dealt with the Dementors, the shape shifters who act as a double-edged sword with Hogwarts and Potter. I haven't seen the film in a while, but I still remember so clearly many scenes and shots, and how the filmmaker this time really brings on a strong presence that actually, if anything, enriches the material of the book.
There's other small pleasures as well: Emma Thompson wonderfully plays a scatter-shot professor who looks like she could get lost in a grocery store; the beginning scenes, where the pig-headed family that's taken in Harry all this time getting their just desserts; the Quiddich battle, which ends up being a little unexpected in some ways, and is actually much ahead in suspense than in even the first film, which introduced the whole bloody concept; the acting by David Thewlis, usually known for more idiosyncratic character roles in movies indie and mainstream, who despite all appearances is also ambiguous.
Best of all is Oldman as Sirius Black, and for the brief moments he's on screen (and, to be sure, how sentimental the dialog veers towards when he and Potter sit down for a talk on the roof), the screen does the clichéd move of "lighting up". Just the poster image alone, with "have you seen this man" is ominous, even as there is almost the feeling that he isn't quite as evil as might be let on. The levels of darkness in the film are upped a bit- this is the first time that the Harry Potter series has to get a little more mature, even still on "family-friendly" terms- and cast and crew are up completely to the challenge.
In fact, this might still be my favorite of the Potter films (Order of Phoenix close second), as it does capture the levels of wonder at such a concept that a wizard school offers, and expands further into the crevices of the psychologies of the characters and the possibilities of the identity of evil or good or what might be mixed around. 8.5/10