A refreshing yet not altogether welcome change.

Rating: Null/10 (27 July 2004)

I think Harry potter and the prisoner of Azkaban (the latest installment of the Harry Potter trilogy if you will) Is if nothing more a refreshing change for older audiences which makes sense considering that the actors are getting older along with the whole concept.
Some of the die hard/ hardcore fans of the book will be disappointed in all they left out from the book. It was also noticed that the movie characters act much more mature or just hormonally crazed. There was more then one time I noticed that there were uncalled for hugging when something moderately scary or surprising that happened to them I don't mind that kind of acting because it makes the characters more true to they're ages. Although a lot of the places in the hogwarts castle were changed quite a bit it added more fantasy to the tale. With the giant pumpkins and what not.
I think some of those changes in the setting make it more appealing to younger children(especially with buck beak) and the actions and clothes of the characters make it more it more appealing to older audiences.
The movie had a lot of good special effects such as the dementors and buck beak but I must note the worth less scenes that they could've replaced with scenes from the book. Like the birds that exploded when showing the womping willow it was just for good laughs (which it got from the audience i watched it with)Over all I cannot say this movie was a disappointment because I do like the way Harry, Ron and Draco are shall we say maturing. I would say that my over all idea about the movie is that it was pretty good except for the plot being derailed a lot. Yet it remained good and I would see it a second time.