Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban [2004] - DVD (Daniel Radcliffe, Julie Christie, David Bradley, Warwick Davis, Tom Felton - Dir: Alfonso Cuaron)

Adapted from JK Rowling's third novel, this installment of the family fantasy adventure story finds trainee wizard Harry Potter (played by Daniel Radcliffe) and his best friends Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint), facing the dangerous convict Sirius Black (played by Gary Oldman). Black has escaped from Azkaban Prison and is on his way to Hogwarts, so the school calls in supernatural assistance in the form of Dementors -- but will they turn out to be a great help or a further threat?

The first of the Harry Potter films to be directed by acclaimed Mexican film director Alfonso Cuarón, Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban is generally regarded as the most stylised and darkest entry in the series thus far. It stars the actors from the preceding films in the series, except for the role of Albus Dumbledore, which sees Michael Gambon take over from the late Richard Harris. Much of the original crew also returned, including screenwriter Steve Kloves.

The film broke several opening records around the world upon its release, including the top opening film in UK film history, and made approximately £20m in its first three days, totaling £90.3m in ten days.

Customer Reviews of Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban [2004]

Norman Cheeseworthy

27th November 2008

A magical journey
The third film in the series, this is by far the darkest up to this point. Whilst the imagery is stunning, and the clever twist at the end is well executed, for many hardcore Potter fans, the changes to some of the story lines and the character traits don't go down very well. This is still a good effort though, and you can always read the book if you want to fill in some of the gaps (recommeneded, as it actually enhances your enjoyment of the film if you do). A great addition to the first two Harry Potter films.

Beaker
Hull, England
18th August 2008

Another decent film in the franchise.
Another Harry Potter film and just like the first 2 films this is an enjoyable film whilst being nothing special. In fact this is a little better than the its two prequels which is a reason I enjoyed it more. The story is getting darker, the young actors are getting better and this movie sucked me in more than the other two did. However, I have given it 3/5 just like I did for the other films although I was tempted to give it 4 instead. I have never read the books, so Im not one of these that bores people by saying "its not as good as the book". Enjoy it for what it is .... an enjoyable childrens films that you can happly watch with your kids.

Mr Nostalgia
Manchester, UK
10th March 2008

Excellent
The Philosopher's Stone was ok and The Chamber of Secrets bored me to tears....so I just have to say that this movie was excellent. I'm 31 and don't normally like stuff like this but The Prisoner of Azkaban is an exception to the rule. Entertaining, atmospheric and great cinematography. I will definately buy this one but not the rest.

Film Junkie
St Helens
12th August 2007

And here's where it all starts to go wrong...
This was the start of the slippery slope for me when it came to the HP films. If I'm rating it as a stand alone film I would maybe stretch to four stars but it's not for younger children (despite me telling my mum not to let my then five year old watch it, she let him anyway and he had nightmares about the werewolf for weeks).

If I'm to compare it to how well it's been adapted from book to screen - for me there are things that needed to be touched on; The house elves at Hogwarts for instance who show up in the last book; Harry's patronous and why it's the form it is. These are just two of the things I can think of because I think they're really important to the WHOLE story but I'm sure there are more.

It disappoints me as a major fan of the books how the films have turned out from this point onwards and it's not that I don't appreciate they can only put in so much - but it wouldn't have taken a lot of time to add these two things in.

Bahlob

26th July 2007

The best of the first three movies
This movie is the best of the first three movies. This book is the best of the first three books aswell and the movie is not even half as good as the book.

The three main actors are still not great but they have improved. The script is still really bad and the charcters are completely intense.

I reccomend this movie if you have not read the book but if you have you will almost definitely be dissapointed.