Excellent

Rating: 9/10 (31 May 2004)

Darker and a lot more magical than the two previous movies, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban comes highly recommended. The three main actors have all aged but this works better with the heavier subject matter of the third installment of the Potter franchise. Michael Gambon is excellent as Richard Harris' replacement for Dumbeldore and after about half of the movie you fail to notice the actor has been changed. Emma Thompson and Dawn French are amusing in supporting roles. My only gripe is that the excellent Alan Rickman as Professor Snape was once again criminally unused, and overall it's astonishing how little screentime the A-list actors receive! Draco Malfoy is also totally useless in this movie - what happened to that boy? I figured by now he'd been inspiring fear, not laughs. Perhaps not suitable for very younger children - my 3 1/2 year old found the werewolf scenes a bit tense, to say the least. My eight-year old loved it, however. Overall, a strong 9/10.