Roll on the DVD with director's cut

Rating: Null/10 (4 June 2004)

This is by a distance the best of the Harry Potter films so far. The performances of the three young principals are maturing, especially Emma Watson, who marvellously conveys the essence of Hermione, although she looks nothing like the character, because, well, Hermione is a plain-looking girl with buck teeth. Perhaps Emma Watson could be "plained up" for the fourth film, because two key scenes involve Hermione's appearance, one where Malfoy makes her teeth even longer, and the scene where she arrives at the Champions' Ball as Viktor Krum's partner and her new appearance (closer to what Emma Watson looks like) turns heads.
As for the other performances, I was delighted that there were fewer examples of adult performers playing their parts as pantomime characters. Gary Oldman was perfect as Sirius Black, as was David Thewlis as Lupin. Emma Thompson provided a wonderful turn as Trelawney. Timothy Spall I felt was too big for the snivelling Pettigrew, and Michael Gambon suffers, since anyone playing Dumbledore was never going to match Richard Harris's sense of a calm, protective, authority figure.
Unlike the last two films, especially the Chamber of Secrets, this film did not drag. In fact the action moved very quickly, perhaps a little too quickly. I can understand how there can be loose ends for anyone who has not read the book (who were Moony - note the spelling - Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs; why was Lupin able to read the Marauder's Map, but Snape couldn't). I also noticed that Paul Whitehouse - who Americans may not know is a British comedian - was cast in the role of Sir Cadogan, bit you only saw a very brief glimpse of a suit of armour in a scene stolen by Dawn French as the Fat Lady (what happened to Elizabeth Spriggs, the original Fat Lady?).
If my comments seem a bit pernickety, that doesn't alter my view that Alfonso Cuaron has succeeded wher Chris Columbus failed, and I wish that he could have been retained for later films, where the story gets even darker. What I would say, however, is that I truly hope that the DVD release will have not just deleted scenes, but the chance of seeing a "director's cut", including scenes which perhaps could have been left in the final cut.