Seemed to be a little cut short (mild spoilers)

Rating: 7/10 (9 August 2004)

Warning: Review includes some mild spoilers.
As before, I have never read any Harry Potter book. Thus I didn't have the faintest idea what "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" would be about until I saw the movie. Perhaps this way is better, as I can focus on following the story and not complaining about details such as the wrong number of hairs on Hagrid's head.
As with the previous movies, I went to see this movie with my sister and my brother. My brother had read the book at school and had told me in advance that Sirius Black was related to Harry Potter, but I didn't know any more than that. I didn't even know what it should mean in regard to the plot.
The movie felt overall less like an effects show and more character-developing than the previous movies. Of course, there were some excellent special effects, such as the dementors, or flying with the hippogriff, but they seemed to be fewer and less focused-on than in the previous movies.
In contrast to that, we got to hear what had happened in Harry Potter's past, and how Sirius Black was supposed to have murdered his parents and wanted revenge on him. The plot didn't develop much until we actually got to meet Sirius Black.
When R.J.Lupin arrived in Sirius Black's hideout, I thought he was a villain in disguise, just like professor Quirrel in the first movie. But then when we found out that Sirius Black was on "our side", that meant R.J.Lupin was, too. When they pointed out the real criminal, I think I knew who it was several minutes in advance. Stupid Ron Weasley couldn't have realised it even if it bit him (quite literally).
The most clever part of the plot, in my opinion, was the time travel. Overuse of time travel can spoil a series but this was the first time it was used in Harry Potter, and so far it worked out well.
My biggest gripe about the movie was that it seemed to be cut short in the middle of the plot. The real killer was still on the loose, but then the movie ended as soon as Harry, Ron and Hermione got back to Hogwarts. I would have wanted to seem him hunted down and brought to justice.
Overall, I don't think this movie was much better than the previous one. It is still an excellent movie but I think "The Chamber of Secrets" is the best one so far.
PS. Much kudos to the Finnish translators, who went to the trouble of inventing new Finnish-sounding words for the Harry Potter -specific names and terms instead of just using the English versions.