Although I’ve read the book three times and thoroughly enjoyed it, I had never seen the film.

Good points – the three main cast are superb. Particularly Rupert Grint as Ron, but they really do carry this story forward, with superb on-screen chemistry as they begin to mature. Hagrid is great too, and Snape spookily nasty. Professor Lupin was a bit of a surprise – not really how I had imagined him – but I liked him very much by the end. Professor Trelawney, played in an over-the-top way by Emma Thompson, is suitably dramatic and unbelievable.

The special effects are excellent too. The hippogriff seemed particularly realistic, and the various flights and other effects were very well done. The dementors were suitably unpleasant, but thankfully not quite the nightmares I had imagined.

So it was worth watching, certainly as part of the series as a whole.

But… it was a much more visual film than the first two. There seemed to be huge swathes of the book left out, and very little dialogue. Yet there were over-long scenes of (for instance) Harry flying on the hippogriff, or Quidditch games, which added nothing to the storyline. Had I not been familiar with the plot, I’m not sure I’d have followed it.

Three and a half stars would be fairer.

After six parts, this one is still the best because I feel that the director could put the simple plot (yeah, when compares to another films/books, this one is kind of ordinary, not very fancy) into the very interesting actions. I love the flow of the story and how naturally characters are.

Not a bad movie. I’m just not into the whole Harry Potter business.

Watched it because I know David wants to watch the rest.

Turns out I had seen the whole thing at different times, so watching it this time was simply piecing it together properly :p

I never wrote a review of the first movie, but I loved it, certainly compared to the second one (see review of that one here). Though I do like Christopher Columbus, Alfonso Cuarón took the Hogwarts series in a different direction.

Yes, I’m still re-reading the book, but what I loved about Azkaban is the fact that most of the story was told through the amazing cinematography; imagery. Notice all of the clockworks, clocks, the pendulum in front of the huge oak doors that lead out of the castle, none of which were in the other movies, or if they were, none of which were emphasized. Cuarón skillfully uses falling leaves and flight (of birds and/or the hippogriff) to smoothly change from one scene or season to another, a unique way to signify time changes within the movie.

Absolutely brilliant.

I actually watched this one a bit too much – I even went from Québec City to Montreal to see it on IMAX – and got a bit tired of it, but the first time I saw it, WOW! What a revelation! Nothing against Chris Columbus, but the first two movies were not much above average. But Cuaron really shaked things up and Daniel Radcliffe actually decided he could act in that one! My only problem with this movie is how they left out the whole “who are the marauders” part, but oh well, I guess some sacrifices must be made. It’s still an awesome movie, and the credits look great ;)

I think this is the best Harry Potter film— I just wasn’t prepared for such a radical change from the first two movies. When I saw this on June 4th, I ABSOLUTELYLOATHED it. I found fault with everything—literally nearly every aspect of the film. The music, the acting, the Dumbledore, the Harry-wouldn’t-cry, the relocation of Hogwarts (of which I am now quite glad), the way Hermione disliked the way her hair looked, the apparent rushed-through feel, etc. I felt so strongly about all of this that my entire feeling towards the Harry Potter series was changed—this had been my favorite book. About a year later I saw the movie again and I thought, this isn’t that bad. I wish they had kept Cuaron for the fourth film, which I thought was barely passable. I really love the music for this film as well (once again, greatly better than that of GOF). My opinion towards a thing has never before changed so drastically. I really love the sense of humor evident throughout the films… not to mention that big clock thing. This film, to me, is second only to Amélie.

By far the best Harry Potter film.

This is probably my favorite of the four Harry Potter films so far.

Finally saw this. While I’ve enjoyed the others, this one may be my favorite. Only read the first book, but I followed the story just fine, even though it did leave me with a couple questions.

I didn’t get it. I was horribly confused. About half of the story was amputated, and the movie was still too long. Seriously— there was no dramatic tension, and absolutely no love developed between the audience and the characters. They raped Draco’s character with the sniveling moment— it made absolutely no sense and would have been fine if he’d sneered at her and called her an ugly Mud-blood before she punched him. Would have made more sense and you wouldn’t have had to change any thing else in the scene.