Not as good as the first two but still very imaginative and dark!

Rating: 9/10 (4 July 2006)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban/2004/***1/2
Main Stars: Daniel Radcliffe Rupert Grint Emma Watson David Thewlis Gary Oldman
Once again the magic of J.K. Rowling and the magic of film combine together to make another amazing Harry Potter film to be released in the theaters. The first two are still the best to let human eyes set upon. But, as usual, we wait for another Harry Potter film to beat the first two; yet still it has not come but it can still be possible because I've read all the Potter books and the fifth and sixth seem to be tied with impressiveness. The sixth has the best beginning. The fifth and sixth have the best middles. And the fifth has the best end. I would have to say all of Rowling's books are impressive and deeply interesting in, at least, most of the parts. So the third movie is finally released in theaters. I'm excited to see this one because it looked like the best one from what the previews showed. It wasn't the best but I was deeply immersed in the story. As usual, this Potter film had another major storyline behind it. The evil and crazy Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban prison and is the first to do it. This causes tensions and worries throughout not only Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry but throughout all of London. Everyone's on the lookout for the supposed lunatic. Harry has a discussion with Mr. Weasley (Ron's dad) about Sirius Black and that Harry should keep a look out for the man. He tells Harry very firmly to not go looking for Black because he wants to kill him and Harry answers, "Why would I go after a man who wants to kill me?" You could see that Harry did not solemnly swear to not go looking for him. He actually wanted to after what information he overheard Professor McGonagall, Madam Rosmerta and Cornelius Fudge talking about in an upstairs room of Rosmerta's pub. But before this Professor Dumbledore (replaced by the gruff Michael Gambon) had warned each and every one of the Hogwarts students to be very cautious and said that dementors would be guarding the school. He said not to go near these creatures. They're very dangerous. And it turns out they were. School matters were mixed in with Sirius/dementor matters like the Quidditch Final. This turned out not to be like it was planned. However, school matters seem to wane when the film gets closer and closer to the dramatic ending which reveals many answers that refer to people's suspicious questions. Professor Remus Lupin caused a bit of uneasiness. As did Scabbers, Ron's rat. Harry, Ron and Hermione were the first to investigate. During the intense and adventurous scenes, John Williams was really going crazy with his orchestra to try to catch the moment. I have to say, he succeeded in doing it because William's music was definitely the most pronounced in this film especially during the parts with Sirius and Lupin and the rest of the gang and, of course, Quidditch. So if you haven't seen this very well done, dark and intense film yet, which I highly doubt, buy it (DO NOT RENT IT BUT BUY IT!) on DVD or VHS. But you should think of getting it on DVD. I enjoy it better at home because I saw it in the theaters the first day it came out. It wasn't very fun. We were supposed to go to an early showing. However, there was an idiotic woman in front of us in the ticket line fiddling with her purse. So it was SOLD OUT after five minutes. So, an hour and a half later, we see a later showing and we went inside the theater passing by two security guards with real guns in their pockets. I know the Potter films are popular but securing a theater so no one comes in without a ticket which only cost a maximum of ten dollars is pretty pathetic to me. And I just hope that purse woman had a bad dinner that evening if she had dinner at all. Movie directed by Alfonso Cuarón.