The magic that I have been waiting for...

Rating: 8/10 (14 November 2005)

Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) leaves early for Hogwarts after blowing up his aunt (literally) and quickly finds out that a man named Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) has escaped from a high-security prison called Azkaban and may attempt to kill Harry. Harry also learns that Sirius Black is partly responsible for the murdering of his parents and was a big supporter of Lord Voldemort.
Upon arrival Hogwarts, the students are greeted with a new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher (this makes 3 in the past 3 years) named Professor Lupin (David Thawlis) and Death Eaters (The creatures that guard Azkaban who feed on emotion) who are now guarding the school grounds in search of Sirius Black. Harry quickly finds himself in another adventure with his friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson).
This is the best Harry Potter movie yet. Alfonso Cuaron was exactly what the Harry Potter movies needed. He brought darkness that the others lacked and "Prisoner" had possessed throughout the book. The adaptation of the four hundred page book was outstanding. I wish the movie was a little longer, but the movie included everything that was important except for the story on how the map came into being but that isn't desperately important.
The acting was finally the caliber of acting that I wanted to see in the franchise. Daniel Radcliffe finally showed me the complexity that Harry showed throughout the novels and Gary Oldman was also incredible. I was really looking down to having a big name actor in the franchise, but he played it very well. I can't say that Michael Gambon did as good of a job as the late Richard Harris as Albus Dumbledore, but he did a fair job and you can't really do anything about that. Overall, "Prisoner" had everything that the others lacked but is still not the perfection that I need to see from the Harry Potter Franchise. I can only hope that The Goblet of Fire can satisfy my need for the perfect Harry Potter film. This film is great, but I want incredible.
I highly recommend this film.