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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Customer Reviews (88 - 90 of 104 Reviews)

Disappointing!!!!
I have read all 5 Harry Potter books more than once (most of them at least 3 times). J. K. Rowling has developed an outstanding series for children and adults alike with great plots, rich characters and details. Christopher Columbus directed the first two movies which stayed true to the books and were excellent. Maybe because he answered to his 12 yr old daughter at the time who was an avid fan. I have seen the third movie and I left extremely disappointed. They left out a lot of very important details like who made the map and the story about the four friends, Sirius sending the new broom at xmas and then it being taken away; just to give an example. This left the viewer (especially if you didn't read the book first) trying to fill in the gaps and to figure out what was going on. It also skipped around a lot, did not follow the order of the book. I will say that I truly enjoyed the development of the three main characters Harry, Hermione and Ron and I will go onto the further say that they need to hurry and make the other films because they won't be the same without the original actors. Daniel Radcliffe is Harry Potter. Overall, I would advise Harry Potter fans to wait for the DVD release of this movie instead of spending a lot of money at the theatre.

Harry Potter's back, better, and stronger than ever!!
I finally managed to see "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" at the theater a couple of weeks ago, and I thought that this highly anticipated third installment of the "Harry Potter" cinematic franchise largely based on J.K. Rowling's bestselling "Harry Potter" books was, by far, the most thrilling and spellbinding "Potter" film that I've seen since 2001's "The Sorcerer's Stone" and 2002's "The Chamber of Secrets"! The direction of Alfonso Cuaron ("Y Tu Mama Tambien", "A Little Princess"), who took over for Chris Columbus (who directed the first two blockbusters), was extraordinary! The performance of young Daniel Radcliffe ("The Tailor of Panama") just couldn't be better! In fact, this is a Harry Potter like you've never seen him before, and Radcliffe's performance in "Azkaban" was just as powerful and intense as his "Chamber of Secrets" performance! The performances of Rupert Grint (as Ron Weasley) and Emma Watson (as Hermione Granger) were funny and flawless! Especially the performance of Watson, who managed to surprise me with her role in this third film. Well done, Emma! Joining the young stars are Gary Oldman ("Leon: The Professional"), Michael Gambon ("Gosford Park"), David Thewlis ("The Island of Dr. Moreau"), Emma Thompson ("Love Actually"), Robbie Coltrane (007: "The World is Not Enough"), Alan Rickman ("Die Hard"), Maggie Smith ("Gosford Park"), Julie Walters ("Calendar Girls"), Julie Christie ("Troy"), Timothy Spall ("Nicholas Nickleby"), Richard Griffiths ("Blame It On the Bellboy"), and Fiona Shaw ("Super Mario Bros.), in which they gave excellent performances as well.

"The Prisoner of Azkaban" focuses once again on Harry Potter (Radcliffe) deciding to return for his third year to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry after not only having a miserable summer with Uncle Vernon (Griffiths) and Aunt Petunia (Shaw), but also blowing up, like a balloon, a tyrannical Aunt Marge (Pam Ferris, "Matilda") for badmouthing Harry's parents. On his way back to Hogwarts, Harry boards a triple-decker bus for a ride so speedy it's nutzoid, as a shrunken head chatters like a refugee from "Beetlejuice". After meeting up with best friends Ron (Grint) and Hermione (Watson) at the Leaky Cauldron, Harry makes the annual train ride back to Hogwarts. But the train ride is interrupted by the Dementors, the Azkaban Prison's forbidding guards, who are on the lookout for escaped convict Sirius Black (Oldman). During the film, we get to see a couple of new faces at Hogwarts, including Remus Lupin (Thewlis), Hogwarts' newest Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and Prof. Sybil Trelawney (Thompson), a divination teacher who guides her students into exploring their sixth senses. But the worst is yet to come, though. Year three is jeopardized by Sirius Black, who has mysteriously made his way into Hogwarts, presumably to kill Harry. Yet only the professors at Hogwarts know the link between their prize pupil and Black. It's up to Harry, Hermione, and Ron to solve the mystery in a race against (and with) time. Not only that, but Harry also prepares himself to confront the man whom Harry believes has betrayed his parents.

There has been a lot of change going on throughout the making of "The Prisoner of Azkaban", especially for the young actors (Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint) to show some age and maturity. Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint are getting older. Fifteenish, in fact. Yet, nevertheless, it's a unique pleasure to watch these children grow up on screen, and they are doing so into fine actors along the way. On that note, actor Michael Gambon (as Prof. Albus Dumbledore) takes over for the late Richard Harris, who portrayed Prof. Dumbledore in the first two "Potter" films. While Harris was regal in a way that Gambon cannot replace, the life is back in Dumbledore's cheeks and we gain a greater sense of playfulness at that. At 2 hours and 21 minutes (141 mins.), "Azkaban" is the shortest "Harry Potter" flick yet, despite springing from the first longest book of the three. But I really didn't care how long "Azkaban" was, as long as I was expecting a great "Harry Potter" film, I'll be just fine.

In conclusion, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" has exactly what a "Harry Potter" film should have: great characters, riveting storytelling, laugh-out-loud humor, a splendid cast, and astonishing special effects! Like "The Chamber of Secrets", "The Prisoner of Azkaban" will leave me with a feeling of going back and watching the first two films all over again! Bottom line, I cannot wait for the next "Harry Potter" film, "The Goblet of Fire", to be released next year, nor can I wait for the inevitable DVD release of "The Prisoner of Azkaban"!

Harry Potter 3
I can't express to you the happiness I felt when I heard that Harry Potter 3- The Prisoner of Azkaban was to be directed by anyone else but Chris Columbus. As much as I love the twisted story lines and excited events of the Harry Potter books, Chris just didn't cut it. Harry Potter 2 had an unstructured series of events that at the end of the movie left me thinking "I watched 161 minutes of a movie, but what the hell did it include?". Such a difficult plot line for children- the target audience- to understand.

It must be difficult to create a movie from a book which has so much detail and which had people around the world anticipating the movie release but hey, directing should be left to capable candidates. Also adding to my disappointment, Columbus allowed the young actors in HP2 much more time on screen, leaving the engaging and experienced actors (such as Julie Walters, Alan Rickman and Maggie Smith) little time to shine in the seconds of meaningless scenes they participated in. Alfonso, please do us proud!

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