LOTR-style atmosphere and no fake smiles! When's the next one coming?

Rating: 8/10 (13 June 2004)

I don't know what people are complaining about; the feeling of "kiddie movie", with the fake, wide grins etc, is almost completely gone!
I think that's just the reason why some of the previous reviewers were slightly disappointed with this one, because it's now become a "real" movie. As such, it's inevitably compared to for instance Lord of the Rings (which it is clearly influenced by; Galadriels polyvocal temptation speech, for instance, and some more, is reused here). And, of course, in that comparison, "..Azkaban" is bound to lose.
Still, the new style of filming and the darker storyline finally gives us a "Harry Potter"-movie with a real, eerie atmosphere. That's good. The use of magic feels far more "real" this time (less fairytale, if you get my meaning). It's good to see that the story-telling accomplishment of Peter Jackson has rubbed off on other directors!
In the adaption process, I think the director actually tried to do a "LOTR" (= to make the movie good on it's own, AND get as much action from the book as possible), but it doesn't have as many minutes to tell the story as the "LOTR"-films had. Because of that, this movie just gets going from the beginning, and from there on, there's almost no time for "daily life" descriptions, it's all action and plot, the story-pace at max all the time. Which, I understand, is quite different from the book.
Although this movie wasn't perfect, I'm a bit intrigued now. I haven't read the books - at "Harry Potter"-movies I've mostly come along with my girlfriend (who has read the books).. but now I've really got a feel of the characters, and I'm really beginning to look forward to seeing how the series turn out in the end.