Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Brilliant form with beautiful production design (the school setting, mountains in the background), much more detailed, elaborate music by John Williams, and individual pearls in the form of specific scenes in general. Harry’s flight on Buckbeak, for example, reaches the emotional heights of the best moments from of The Lord of the Rings. However, as the minutes passed, the story itself somehow lost its appeal for me. If it wasn’t for the delightful last half-hour, the film would have slipped into being slightly boring. But that’s not a criticism of Alfonso Cuarón, since he literally performed a miracle with a questionable screenplay. (18/06/2004)

I won't damn Columbus and make a god out of Cuaron here anymore because the first half seems like a thematically precise continuation of the poetry of the first two parts, and a few camera tricks or zooms on a freezing flower (although they are formally perfect) don't change the atmosphere much. They may be beneficial for an unbiased viewer, but for me, as a staunch fan of the book, they are just a minimal decoration. The turning point comes when Harry and Hermione reach the Whomping Willow and an incredible massacre ensues, where the fascinating acting etude of the trio Thewlis-Oldman-Rickman is the least of it. And of course, the climax is in the long-lasting finale with time-playing and all the creatures that can only scare the viewer. The only criticism is aimed at the significant screenplay gap: an explanation of who the Scabbers are would probably help. Nevertheless, I've seen the third part probably the most and perhaps I understand its position as the favorite part. However, I prefer Yates' tricks by a hair. (24/02/2007)

In the third Harry Potter film, Alfonso Cuarón shed the fairytale guise and served us a pretty grim and audiovisually perfect piece of filmmaking, which proudly stands at the top of the entire wizarding series. Compared to the previous two instalments, The Prisoner of Azkaban has seen a number of innovations (the look of Hogwarts and the grounds, the entrance to Gryffindor, etc), none of which have harmed the film in any significant way. The fencing match was handled wonderfully, the dementors were truly terrifying, and the appearance of the werewolf was the icing on the cake for me. The final third of the film is as good as it could have been, and the best (and least logical) scene was the one with the willow beater. The music, cinematography and visual effects were once again good. Three is a lucky number, and that is also true for Harry Potter. (21/06/2011)

It must be excruciating to film a year-long story from the disjointed, ever-changing Harry Potter universe, no matter what the filmmakers prattle on about in the BluRay bonus features. Cuarón has thus proven himself a messiah, whose ability to maintain a unified storyline and focus on the details, particularly in individual scenes whose careful selection is the only saving grace keeping the entire adaptation from disintegrating into a series of clumsily pasted together visual sequences. It can be seen that script editing and pre-production played a significant role here. The individual episodes, then, not only make sense to readers of the book, who, in short, want to at least see some of the things they read, but are capable of assembly into a coherent story on their own. Each scene therefore has purpose and moves the plot forward. It was thanks to this meticulous preparation that it was even possible to focus particularly on the filmmaking aspects, and that's why the third installment of all the Potter films has the most interesting cinematography, mise-en-scene, and various small quirks and elements in the second and subsequent layers. (03/04/2016)

The third Harry Potter didn't charm me either... But it was close. From a filmmaking point of view, it is definitely the best contribution to the trilogy so far – Cuarón works very well with the characters, has less cheesy color compositions and is more attached to the suggestiveness and impressiveness of the environment. From my point of view, however, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is brought down by an overly sparse and flimsy plot that somewhat dissolves in a number of episodes and bon mots. From this point of view, I considered The Chamber of Secrets a much more impressive piece. On the other hand, it is necessary to praise the excellent and variable music of John Williams, the acting of everyone except Michael Gabon (Dumbledore) and to highlight the fact that Harry Potter has ceased to be a shaggy child apprentice and is becoming quite a solid and interesting character. The literal and pandering children's film is turning into something quite impressive and dark... Cuarón did excellent job, but for me, The Prisoner of Azkaban is just a "solid" fantasy film that I would give 70%. (13/06/2004)