An interesting take on the third installment in the Harry Potter saga

Rating: Null/10 (24 June 2005)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is my favourite of the books so far but right off the bat, I have some mixed feelings about the movie. There are some huge differences between this film and the previous installments and that's not necessarily for the best. Let's begin...
Azkaban is considerably darker and more mature than the other two films. Every scene in this film is morbid and dreary with little or no humour. Rupurt Grint, normally the oddball comedian in the films, rarely gives the audience a chuckle. Not even the Great Hall gives off that warm light that normally shines during Harry, Ron, and Hermione's dinners. And judging from this, I think the box office numbers reflect that. The target audience for the Potter books is getting to that weird gangly age where they begin to lose interest in things (thankfully, I was well off the puberty train many moons ago). If the the HP crew want to keep the boulder moving, they need less talking and more action.
But there are also some good things here. All the actor's voices have cracked (thank God) after passing that hunch of 13. There are fewer childish moments than in the previous films (that damn shrunken head still bothered me) but the maturity of the plot and cast keep this film afloat. The FX are not spectacular but are still quite good.
But probably the best and least celebrated element of this film is the music. John William's goose-bump infused score, to me at least, is gorgeous. The music in the final scene with Sirius was actually quite beautiful. In some other thoughtful moments between Lupin and Harry, the film provides some lovely Celtic music. With myself having quite a strong Welsh background, the music actually made my day more enjoyable.
All in all, if I had to compare, I'd be forced to say that "Chamber of Secrets" is the best so far out of the series. Azkaban tries hard to be good but the slow pace and morbid tone keep the score at a worthy 7. It's still worth checking out but probably not worth buying.