...a good, atmospheric stepping stone in the Potter chronology, with yet something wanting to make it an entirely satisfying movie on its own.
Expect the rest of the gang to show up as well, old friends by now, whether good or evil. There's the sniveling creep, Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton); the scary, ill-tempered Professor Snape (Alan Rickman); the maternal and sympathetic Professor McGonnagall (Maggie Smith); the odious Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and son Dudley (Richard Griffiths, Fiona Shaw, and Harry Melling); and, of course, there's the gentle, lovable giant, Rubeus Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane), now promoted at Hogwarts to a teacher of the care of magical creatures.
So, the interior "Potter" stories work. It's the more obvious exterior story that failed to grab me because it's practically not there. At best, "The Prisoner of Azkaban" is a good, atmospheric stepping stone in the "Potter" chronology, with yet something wanting to make it an entirely satisfying movie on its own.
Video:
The picture is presented in something close to its original theatrical exhibition size, about a 2.13:1 anamorphic ratio across my standard-screen HD television. Since the image is so dark most of the time, there is a tad more light grain in evidence than usual, giving darker scenes a grittier look. But it hardly interferes with one's enjoyment of the movie or the visuals. Blacks are very deep, nicely setting off the other colors, but shadowy scenes do not admit a lot of inner detail. The entire visual experience is pretty much as I remember it from the motion-picture theater, with cold, iron-grays and blues establishing the movie's tone.
Audio:
As always, the sound, too, is excellent, only this time the Dolby Digital 5.1 sonics are more subtly used. The frequency range is wide; the dynamics are strong; and the surround channels are used both for ambient noise reproduction and for specific, pinpoint sounds like those of birds winging overhead, winds whipping around corners, and sundry howls in the night.
Extras:
Even though this third installment is more mature in style and substance than the first two "Potter" movies, Warner Bros. continue to market their extras with mainly younger audiences in mind. Therefore, you will again not see an audio commentary or a full-length documentary among the bonuses. Disc one is fairly bare-bones, presenting the movie itself; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages and subtitles; a cast and crew listing; thirty-five scene selections; and three theatrical trailers, one for each of the movies thus far in the series.
Disc two includes a large number of miscellaneous bonus items, but like the movie itself, while there are a lot of activities, there isn't a lot of substance. Anyway, the disc contents are divided into five areas. The first is "Divination Class." This includes "Trelawney's Crystal Ball," five deleted scenes in various stages of completion; "Creating the Vision," eleven minutes of comments by the cast and crew; and "Head to Shrunken Head," individual cast interviews. The second section is "Defense Against the Dark Arts." Here you'll find "Magic You May Have Missed," a memory challenge game; and "Tour Lupin's Classroom," a self-guided, 360-degree look around the classroom, using one's remote. The third section is "Great Hall," which includes "Catch Scabbers," an interactive game where you try to capture Ron's rat; "Choir Practice," the "Double, Double, Toil and Trouble" song; and "The Quest of Sir Cadogan," another interactive challenge game, this one utilizing the moving portraits of Hogwarts. The fourth section is "Hogwarts Grounds," which contains "Care of Magical Creatures," a four-minute piece wherein we meet the animal trainers who worked on the film; "Conjuring a Scene," a fifteen-minute behind-the-scenes look at the creation of Buckbeak the hippogriff and the dementors; a preview of Electronic Arts' new "Harry Potter" computer game; and for those viewers with a DVD-ROM drive, a Hogwarts timeline and some magical trading cards. The final section is "Tour Honeydukes," a self-guided, 360-degree tour of the sweet shop.
Unlike the first two "Potter" releases, which came in foldout cases and slipcovers, this one comes packaged in a regular two-disc slim-line keep case, with an informational insert guide. English and French language choices are available for the second disc of extras.
Parting Thoughts:
After watching "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" twice now, once in the theater and once on DVD, I enjoyed it both times, but I also felt vaguely unsatisfied with it. It was as though I had just finished the third chapter in an old-time movie serial and was being told to come back next week for the next installment. If this "Potter" series is to continue for as long as the books hold out, I would imagine we're all going to have to get used to that idea. But reservations aside, "Azkaban" is another wonder for the eye, this time darker and more mature, appropriate to Harry's growing up.
Average user rating (1-5):
[release]12531[/release]