Good, but not as good as the first two

Rating: 6/10 (27 June 2004)

What I thought was the highlight of the movie was the two scenes where Harry fights off all of the Dementors when they are attacking him and Sirius. Those scenes were incredible. The score in particular was amazing.

There is definitely more humor in Azkaban than the previous two movies, and while a lot of it is genuinely funny, I did not much like the shrunken heads.
I think that Cauron contributed some fine things, but he rushed a lot of plot scenes to focus on humor and stylistic changes. The character of Ron went backwards. He was a third wheel. In the first two movies there was more of a balance between all the elements. Radcliffe gave his best performances so far. Watson is clearly the best actor of the bunch. Grint was good. I am not sure why Malfoy was so hysterical and wimpy in this movie.

With the new supporting characters Emma Thompson was fun as Professor Trelawney even if her big scene was rushed. The way Julie Christie was introduced as Madame Rosmerta was one of my favorite moments of the movie. David Thewlis was excellent as the scarred Professor Lupin. The scene on the bridge was a highlight. Gary Oldman was good, especially in his brief one-on-one scenes with Radcliffe.
The whole scene in the shack was rushed. Oldman, Rickman, Thewlis are all good in the scene but I thought it was underdeveloped. I didn't like what they did with Pettigrew. I thought he would be more pathetic. Not pathetic so you laugh, but pathetic where you get angry. I thought Spall's performance as Pettigrew was off.
Visually the movie is very impressive. The changing of the seasons using the Whomping Willow was a great idea. The radiating light around the wands was nice. The Shrieking Shack with its moving walls, the hippogriff (it was like its own character, one of the most impressive CGI/puppet creations I've seen), and the frightening dementors were all impressive technological achievements.
Here I felt that the movie actually did seem longer than the previous two. I think that was largely because the time travel aspect of the plot. When Harry and Hermione sit down to wait, however briefly, the scene dragged.

Also the final credits are worth watching. They are really well designed.