Harry Potter is back for his best film yet

Rating: 7/10 (25 November 2004)

The start of Harry Potter's third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is threatened by the escape from Azkaban Prison of Sirius Black (Gary Oldman), Voldemort's murderous henchman who betrayed Harry's parents, getting them killed. Along with this pals Hermione and Ron Weasley, Harry must try to stay one step ahead of Black while dealing with the new school year and the horrifying Dementors, Azkaban's jail keepers that now surround the school.
After two sold entries in the Harry Potter franchise, the third film really kicks things up. It's a fantastic film with gorgeous special effects and lots of entertaining moments. There's a new switch behind the camera and I like Alfonso Cuarón more than Chris Columbus. Alfonso Cuarón put a lot more "magic" and soul into the project while Columbus made the first two films kind of bland. He is a very vanilla like director whereas Alfonso is more fast paced and exciting. This entry is a little more different since they leave out more parts from the book and it's more action. This didn't bother me because the film was more energetic but non readers of the book may be annoyed by this.
The acting was pretty good and it was a lot better than the first two entries. Daniel Radcliffe plays Harry Potter and he's improving. He's still lacking a little in the emotional scenes though. Emma Watson plays Hermione and she's probably the best of the three. Rupert Grint was okay as Ron though he is the weakest of the three. There is a new Dumbledore in this film as Michael Gambon replaces the late great Richard Harris. He doesn't play the role as well but it's still pretty good. Emma Thompson plays Professor Sybil Trelawney and she does a pretty good job. However, her character isn't in the film that much which is too bad. Gary Oldman as Sirius Black was okay, nothing really special.
The only problem I had with the movie was that it went by too fast. They could have added some more scenes so the story was told better. Besides for that, the book's magic seems to have been captured. The dialog is all sharp and funny. The direction is great and the acting is good. The special effects are amazing and the film is just beautiful to look at. People who are bashing this movie are most likely just bitter book nerds. Not all of them are but it seems to me that most are. In the end, the movie is great and it's worth checking out. Rating 9/10