Darker, but better

Rating: 10/10 (12 June 2004)

The third movie is darker than the past two, but it is better. Director Alfonso Cuarón shows his talents in this film, but I can't say that I honestly mean that he is the most suited director for a movie like Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. My feel is that some of the books elements come out wrong, even though this is the best Harry Potter so far. Of course some of this can probably be blamed on scriptwriter Steve Kloves. Some parts of the film seems a bit long, but that's a bit like the book actually.
The cast performs good, and I can't say the lack of humor makes the movie worse, I would rather say that it actually cranks it up a notch instead. I read another comment commenting that the Americans don't understand the spoken word in this film and rather wants it dubbed(!). That's in my opinion the worst thing you can do to a movie. Even though Americans seem to like it, along with several European countries (they should all learn to read subtitles). I'm from Norway and we all learn English as a second tongue, how often do we run around shouting to get films dubbed? (just a little statement)
Back to the movie: The movie stands well on it's own feet, but if you have read the book the experience is a bit different (sadly, you also miss elements from the books, but when each book grows in size, things got to be cut from the script so the movie doesn't double in length from the previous one.
Alfonso is claimed to be a more "emotional director", and that's something that shows through the movie, and actually seems to go home with the audience.