A Roller-coaster Ride

Rating: Null/10 (16 July 2004)

Watching this installment was a roller-coaster ride in 2 ways: the quality of the various aspects e.g. acting, writing, balance (what got included / what was edited out) etc. was uneven; but the film itself was also an emotional roller-coaster ride.
Pardon my comments but has no one noticed how splendid this 3rd installment is? Alfonso Cuaron has done a great job, throwing in a much-needed magic touch (finally!) and giving us delightful moments and insights into film-making techniques. I have to admit I have not read all the comments here but I am surprised that of the 20-odd comments I ran through, none have said anything about his rich use of tone & colour; combining them with John William's music and long-neglected techniques (e.g. zeroing in / out from scenes) to effectively create a myriad tapestry of moods, nuances & emotions. In my opinion, this is the most important thing Mr. Cuaron has done for the series, and is what elevates the movie far above the 1st two installments. Admittedly I did not watch the Prisoner of Azkaban with too high expectations to begin with or with a critic's view to compare it with the books but I was very pleasantly surprised by the results. By setting up the lovely atmosphere, one gets sucked into HP's world (through the director's eyes) and is far more willing to forgive any shortcomings of the movie, of which there are many.
Which brings us to the second part of this comment - namely that yes, it could have been (and should have been) done better - as observed by most. The acting by the young leads has improved (though still a bit one-dimensional), the CGI was done beautifully, the older actors were superb as usual, the mood was suitably darker, yada, yada, yada... Unfortunately, the ending felt a bit rushed and was unclear. And this is my biggest grouse. Instead of ending with a bang (which I fully expected it to given its wonderful start), I was a tad disappointed that it softly ended with a plomp, without so much of an emotional / action climax. I had trouble figuring out what had just happened at the end of the movie (admittedly, I don't remember the book too well) and I imagine those who have not read the books would be even more confused. Here the movie does follow the book quite closely, but I would have preferred if the director had taken a more creative approach with the ending, making it more dramatic. Potter purists may disagree but I think upping the ante makes up for the shortcomings in the acting (though sometimes this deficiency is accentuated) and is better for the film.
In short, two thumbs up! Not for the purists, but for those with a willingness to have a good time and be enthralled by the abundance of magic on screen.