The Best of a Great Series

Rating: 9/10 (30 July 2004)

Harry Potter 3 is the best of the series as it, like the book before it, takes on a much more darker tone as Harry finds himself the target of one of Voldemort's loyal supporters, the evil Sirius Black.
This more than any in the series before it had the potential to go seriously wrong as this is the first of the Potter stories to really have more threads than the obvious ones of Harry's immediate quest. However Alfonso Cuaron has done a great job of making sure that these endings are ( mostly ) tied up while at the same time making sure that the main story is not slowed down or lagging.
The performances of all of the children actors are good, but it is the supporting cast of the adults that really makes this shine. Alan Rickman and Robbie Coltrane are great in their return as the vindictive Snape and the rough diamond Hagrid respectively, while Michael Gambon, while not having the same presence as the late Richard Harris in the role of Albus Dumbledore, adds something of a twinkle that Harris seemed to struggle with in number two, perhaps because of his illness. Out of the newbies, David Thewlis is fantastic as Remus J Lupin and Gary Oldman is also very good as the enigmatic Sirius Black.
Perhaps the last thing that lifts this movie over the others is the special effects, or rather the lack of them. Cuaron has made the use of magic in this one less like a laser show and it gives the whole thing a more intimate atmosphere instead of the slight heavy-handedness of the first two.
Prisoner of Azkaban is a movie that is inundated with great performances that, coupled with great, subtle directing lifts it above the other two. I just hope Goblet of Fire is just as good.