Not the Harry I remember!!!

Rating: Null/10 (30 June 2004)

Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and his close wizard friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) are starting their third year at Hogwarts. When the audience finds Harry he is at his Aunts home in England practicing magic and avoiding his ever watchful Uncle, when his Uncles sister arrives and sends all into chaos. Obviously she has a great disliking of Harry as she continually insults him and his parents. Harry, in an adolescent fit ends up blowing her up like a balloon and running away from the house. And now the turmoil begins as Harry starts to see spectres of the grim, as an escaped madman hunt him. As if this wasn't enough the ministry for magic has sent Dementors to guard the school (Hogwarts).
Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) is just an adolescent boy trying to live out a wizards life. As Harry goes through this 'Harry Potter' series it seems that he is growing considerably, and I don't just mean physically. Daniel's acting career has become much better since the almost inconceivably bad acting of 'Harry Potter and the philosophers stone'. It's predicted that he can only get better.
Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) was definitely the humorous aspect of the third Harry Potter movie. Rupert certainly provided the comic relief that the 'prisoner of Azkaban' needed. Ruperts acting has also gotten better as the series has gone on. Unfortunately it didn't seem as if Rupert put enough emotion into his part. Eg. When his rat was supposedly dead he was very upset. But none the less he can only get better.
Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) is the smartest wizard of her age. Emma simply blew me away with her outstanding performance as Hermione out of all the actors in this movie Emma was definitely the best. One can only imagine what 'The Goblet of Fire and 'The order of the Phoenix' will be like with her in it.
Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) was the seemingly evil madman, hell bent on killing Harry Potter. Unfortunately the role of Sirius Black didn't do Gary the credit it should have. Out of all the 2 ½ hours that this movie went for Sirius (one of the main characters in this movie) was seen for about 15 minutes and the he was gone again. One can only hope that the remaining 'Harry Potter' movies give him more credit.
Professor Lupin (David Thewlis) plays the Defence against the dark arts teacher who takes Harry Potter and teaches him about defending himself against Dementors. David was great and his role couldn't have been played by anyone else. Unfortunately the movie didn't really delve into the true Lupin as it should have.
Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) is the ever knowing Principal of Hogwarts. Michael did well to fit into this role when Richard died, and it was pleasing to see that he didn't try and imitate him in the role of Albus Dumbledore. Overall his performance was fair to good as he stars in his first 'Harry Potter' movie.
This movie incorporates themes such as: 'reputations are just that, reputations', 'Looks can be deceiving', and a well known 'GOOD VS EVIL' ratio which make this movie what it is.
The visual effects of this movie are excellent and the Dementors look perfect. They are exactly what people imagine them to be, which is exactly what they should be. Also, but not as good, the hippogriff was well made and moved (coincidently) much like a horse does. Which made it seem more life like. The whoomping willow was also good for a chuckle, there's nothing quite like seeing birds explode. But in everything there must be a fault and here it is. There are no-where near enough grizzly dark and utterly evil creatures lurching in the forbidden forest. This setting had the potential to have many sickly looking creatures popping out and attacking students. It would have been good to see that the movie didn't focus so much around the visual effects and more around the story of 'Harry Potter'.
In many scenes in 'Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban' the music seemed just a little .. wrong. For example when Harry flies the hippogriff over the Hogwarts and through the towers a soft opera sort of music played when it would have been far better to have action music as he weaved through the towers. But other than that the Music was fairly good. The SFX were excellent in this movie and just made it seem like it was actually happening. The Whomping Willows creaking just seemed like what a tree would sound like if it were to move. All up The sound effects were quite good.
Tch! Tch! Tch! Tch! Michael Seresin I'm terribly sorry, but that was the worst cinematography I've ever seen. When I think of Harry Potter's cinematography I think of one scene in particular where Hagrid throws a rock into the water, you can here the splash but it makes no ripples (Amazing). Not to mention the blatant 'Titanic' rip-off. Try a little harder next time Michael.
This Harry potter proved to be very dark, It would have looked so much better if in a couple of scenes they could have put a clear sky in. But a dark storyline calls for a dark movie so it was forgiven, Just.
Many people would have you think that the Movie rivals 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy! But no need to fear, for I'm not one of them. Although this third Harry Potter was the best of the three I couldn't bring myself to say it was one of the best movies this millennia. But I predict that the series can only get better.
Overall I give this a 3 out of 5 because the cinematography and the lack of comparison to the book were disgraceful.