Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Finally a summer film that doesn't disappoint! Harry Potter's latest adventure lives up to the high standards that the previous two films have set and faithfully (for the most part) recreates the book from which it was based.

Fitting with the spirit of the substantially darker novel, the series' new director Alfonso Cuarón brings us to a Hogwarts that is much more tangible (and frightening) than the fairytale place we have seen in prior films. Perhaps one of the ways he accomplishes this is by not focusing on all the oddities that make Hogwarts so fantastical, but instead taking them for granted and leaving them to the background.

The script itself move along a breakneck pace, perhaps even a little too fast in some instances (even though the film's 136 minute runtime is nothing to scoff at). The story is simple enough, so it's not as though people unfamiliar with the novels are in danger of being left behind, but some scenes of emotional significance seem rushed instead of savored. On the flipside, little time is wasted with the "cutesy" sequences that dotted the first two films and tended to make them drag a bit...

My single biggest complaint about the film, is the same one I have had about all the previous Potter films: the FX are inconsistant at best... With the exception of the Dementors (which are generally fantastic), a creature (like Buckbeak) might look convincing in one shot and jarringly CG in the next.

Overall Potter is well worth a trip to the theatre and is a welcome escape from the (so far) dreadful summer 2004 movie season...

Interesting comparisons to the book:
The last ~1/2 of the movie is basically *everything* from the last 1/4 of the book.
One *very* strange omission is that we never learn who the authors of the Marauder's Map really are...

RATING: HR
- posted by Stephen @ 3:01 AM