Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Synopsis: Google it. There are much better synopses out there on the interwebs than anything I could ever write. Below is just a personal opinion so please read it as such.

SPOILER ALERT!!!
If you haven't read the book or seen the film, please be aware that there are spoilers in this post.

Village Cinemas are currently screening the first 6 Harry Potter movies prior to the new movie, running one each weekend up until Deathly Hallows Pt1 (which will screen immediately before the last film).
I have been going to see each one so far and today I saw the third installment in the movie series.
I like the Harry Potter films, don't get me wrong, but I wouldn't call myself a HUGE fan. I don't relate particularly with the main character much and I'm not really a fan of Daniel Radcliffe. His performances in the first two films felt too forced. That might have been to do with the director though. I believe there was a change in director going from the second movie to the third movie and it can clearly be seen in the film. Suffice to say that Daniel Radcliffe's performance in this movie is much better, by a long shot. He seemed to have come out of his shell and emotions and intensity was conveyed much better. The third movie also saw the change to Michael Gambon as the actor portraying Dumbledore. This was due to the passing of Richard Harris.

For me, Prisoner of Azkaban is my favourite (pending seeing the last 2 films) of the series. It also happens to be my favourite book in the series too. I'm not sure if it was the opening scene where Mrs. Dursley Snr. gets inflated to a balloon, Sirius Black's wanted poster on the walls, or Hermione's straight jab to the face, but this film seems to draw me into the story much more so than any of the others.

The Good:
- Time Travel. Anything that involves time travel outside of the normal 'forward at regular speed' variety is awesome.

- Emotion: The main characters (Ron not so much) show a much wider range of emotions than the first two films.

- CGI. The CGI effects in this film are better than the first two although more so for the things you don't notice such as integrating the CGI in with the live action sequences.

- Gary Oldman. Anything that involves Gary Oldman is usually awesome. I suppose in some ways he is quite similar to Time Travel.

- Hogsmeade etc. . We get to see the widening landscape of the wizarding world and this is a precursor to the expansion that will be witnessed in later films.

- School attire. The school uniforms are ditched in favour of casual wear.

- Plot Twists. The major plot twist in this movie got me. I could see it coming but I felt I could really relate to the main characters' confusion.

- Hermione Granger. In the first two films Hermione was a nerd, and an annoying nerd at that. In this movie, Hermione is HOT! Her femininity also starts to come through. This is contrasted quite well when she punches Malfoy. This is extremely attractive and makes me wish I was Harry or Ron, or to a small extent Malfoy (but lets not get into my personal life now, shall we? :D )

The Bad:
- Kids. I had to sit next to two extremely young children who couldn't understand the film and one of them kept asking the older one what was happening. It took all of my willpower to stop myself from back-fisting that 5 year old in the face when he fumbled around with his bag of chips, making scrunching sounds and asking his brother if that was Dumbledore or not, through a mouthful of chips, when quite obviously it was Cornelius Fudge.

- Final shot. The very last scene was ripped right out of The Matrix. It worked equally well in both films. That is to say, I didn't like it. You're mileage may vary though.

- Plot holes. Not so much holes but rather missed opportunities. There is a scene in the later part of the movie where Harry and Hermione witness themselves in the past entering a secret entrance, and then waiting for themselves to emerge later, knowing full well that they will be entering a rather difficult situation. During that time, I'm sure they could have done some preparation that would have allowed them to capture Peter Pettigrew without their past selves knowing of the future selves involvement.

- Age disparity. The actors are older than the characters they portray. This isn't something new to the world of movies, but is noticeable when watching the movie, especially the male cast members like Malfoy, Ron, and Longbottom.

- Hermione. It completely sucks that Hermione is now hot and if she were a real person that there is no chance in hell that she would ever go out with me.

Not much Hagrid. I like Hagrid, but we don't see much of him this time around.

Conclusion:
A great film that loses out slightly because it's not meant to be viewed as a standalone and needs to be in context of the other films. Much better (from a production point of view) than the previous two films, but which loses a little of the 'magic' that seemed to be evident previously.

Score: 7.5/10 (an average film is a 5.0)