The Series Starts To Grow Up

Rating: 8/10 (5 March 2017)

In the first two Harry Potter films, the plots/action are primarily geared towards a much younger audience than the medium. There are some "tense moments" and drama in those films, of course, but it isn't until "Prisoner of Azkaban" that the series really starts to grow up and deal with some more mature themes.
For a basic plot summary, this movie sees Sirius Black (Gary Oldman), an escaped prisoner from the terrible Azkaban prison, come to Hogwarts in search of Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) for reasons dealing with Potter's deceased parents. Hermoine (Emma Watson) & Ron (Rupert Grint) still play large roles in the action (Hermoine especially in this one), while new Professor Lupin (David Thewlis) brings a new dynamic to the Hogwarts third-year experience.
In terms of "growing up", this film does so more with themes than content. There isn't any objectionable content in this one, but the themes and some of the characters present are sophisticated enough that younger children might have difficulty following them. Basically, this is the type of movie that seeks to maintain a fanbase and not create new followers based on this effort alone.
As with the book, the ending portions of "Azkaban" really serve to change the entire tone of the series. I won't spoil it for you here, but suffice it to say that it feels as if the saga could go in any direction now and not be limited by the more child-friendly plots.
This is also the first movie of the series that has noticeable differences from the novel. Nothing too "gasp-worthy" or anything like that, but certain parts of the narrative this time are indeed re- arranged to better suit the cinematic experience.
Overall, "Azkaban" might be even better as a movie than as a book because it skips over some of the "fluff" found at the beginning of the book and gets right into the thick of things from the get- go. Despite a few key scenes that were explained a bit better by Rowling herself, this movie is the perfect complement to its literature twin.