Fantastic

Rating: 9/10 (25 June 2004)

Harry Potter and The prisoner of Azkaban ----- 9/10

From a film viewers perspective this film was extremely entertaining. Definately the best of the 3. The characters have grown and seem quite comfortably playing their alter egos, fingers crossed they don't change actors. It was a pleasent change having director Alfonso Cauron take over the ropes from Chris Columbus who did a great job but didn't make the films his own, he was faithful to the books in all persepctives, which don't get me wrong is not a bad thing, but cutting certain scenes out and picking up the pace a little would've made the films far more enjoyable than what they were, they were still great films at that though. Cauron definately saw this film as a chance to show us his creativity and spin on the potter universe, he probably cut too many scenes out especially involving the scene where Harry is caught under the Whomping Willow with Sirius Black, i don't need to say more for those who have not seen the film, but this could've been done so the audience of non-book readers could've picked up the story alot easier. As noted before the film had opened, this third outing is much more darker than the first two. It darker than the darkest parts of 1 & 2 combined and some scene may scare younger children, but made for a far more enjoyable experience for those older fans. The camera work is very stylish indeed and I was glad to see more artistic angles were taken during the production. Finally the quiddicth scene was so well done, you could actually belive this was a real game, shows how much CGI has advanced since 2001 when the first film was released.
Overall, Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban was a well rounded, stylish, entertaining yet dark film. Extremly Recommended - 9/10.