Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

WARNING: This review is hidden because it reveals the content of the film.
Click here to show this review. Third year in Hogwart and Dementors are scanning the surrounding in search of Sirius Black, a murderer and a traitor, who has escaped from the prison of Azkaban, he is now looking for Harry Potter. This is the film that finally made the young wizards interesting. They are growing up, hormones are invading their body, but they are also facing more adult responsibilities. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azakaban was directed by Alfonso Cuaron, who had made A Little Princess proving he could play in that field of pseudo-fantasy movies, and his previos effort was Y tu mama tmabien a film about two teenagers becoming adults. This film is a logical fllow-up in some ways, cause the kids are becoming teenagers, and Cuaron knows how to handle that with subtlety without getting away from the fantasy world of the first films. Prisoner of Azakaban is also darker, not just visually, but story-wise as well, but more interesting themes like betrayal, forgiveness but also sexual desire and fear of the unknown. Cuaron doesnt shy away from bringing his own style to the film, claiming publicly that he had never seen the first two films before getting the offer for the directing job. He takes advantage of his big budgets, introduces special effects to serve the story and moves the camera infinitely well. But when it gets more serious, Cuaron uses hand-held camera, dealing with the film as a serious drama which is much more engaging. A few actors join the cast, David Thewlis as a teacher with whom Harry connects because he knew his parent, Emma Thompson as a teacher as well, but giving a quirky and fun performance. Gary Oldman round up the great cast as Sirius Black, who may not be what he seems. Michael Gambon replaces Richard Harris who unfortunately passed away after the second film, and a notable appearance from Timothy Spall, a very underrated actor. The acting is getting better for the younger ones as well. Daniel Radcliffe is finally showing some talents, Rupert Grint keeps doing what he did well in the previous films and Emma Watson might be the only who could possibly have a real career outside of the Potter films. Voldemort is nowhere to be seen in this one, but everything is cleverly setting the events that'll go on in the following movies. There is werewolf, an ingenius time travel plot and some unexpected twists and turns. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the best entry of the series, even after five films. Its entertaining, done in the right tone and the jokes dont seem so lame anymore. Good.