OK, but could have been outstanding.

Rating: 7/10 (6 June 2004)

The film version of The Prisoner of Azkaban is not that bad. Acceptable, in fact. What upsets me is it could have been so much more.
This is the first novel in JK Rowling's series that really delves in to who Harry Potter's parents are. It's the big mystery up to this point. Who were they? What was their life like, and why did they meet their end? These are the questions answered by this novel.
Sadly, the movie does a terrible job answering these questions. There is so much rich dialogue between Harry and the adult characters in this book, yet the filmmakers have shortened it to such an extent the message is lost. There are such great scenes between Lupin, Sirius, Snape, Harry and other key characters in the novels that would have been stunning between these fine actors, but they don't get their chance. And those bits of dialogue that are included are not sold in their proper way, just not played as they should have been so their meaning is lost.
The filmmakers did an outstanding job with the three young characters. Their respective actors are definitely improving, and they have been given some very good dialogue and good direction from Alfonso Cuaron. They are indeed the stars of the show.
Not overly impressed with Gambon as the new Dumbledore. The stupid pajamas they had him wearing for the duration of the film took away his authority and power, the costume department did him a major injustice.
The effects are excellent, but I'm not thrilled with the cinematography. The colors are washed out, it's very brown. I think that's part of the statement: the message of the film is darker. But they can have a dark film and still make it stunning as well. It's almost as if they stopped watering the grass at Hogwarts over the summer.
Overall, I think the desire to go darker was wise, but they only did it in a visual sense. Dialogue-wise, they are still talking to children. They need to ramp it up in subsequent novels, and stop shooting for that PG rating.
7 out of 10