Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

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:
Understand, this third installment in the "Potter" series looks much darker than the first two movie adventures, with their brighter, more vivid colors. This one has any number of scenes in it that are practically black-and-white. Each director created a different "look" for the films, this one much more subdued in appearance, leaning heavily toward shades of gray, blue, and brown.

Warners present the picture in its original 2.40:1 aspect ratio (showing up at about 2.25:1 across my screen, given a small amount of overscan), and they use a 1080-resolution, VC-1 codec for the transfer. Interestingly, while there is a fair degree of softness in some medium and long shots, the close-ups are as stunningly good as anything in any of the films. I would guess that any softness about the image in some shots is inherent to the original print. Object definition in most other cases is unusually good, excellent, in fact, and although there is a degree of glassiness on occasion, there is very little grain, something that was more apparent in the standard-def version. What's more, the black levels are just as good as or better than those in the SD version, and they admit more inner detail.

"The Prisoner of Azkaban" contains some of the most beautiful scenery in the "Potter" movie series, and the HD reproduction displays it splendidly. The order of magnitude between the video quality on this HD DVD and the standard-definition disc is as great as any comparison I've made.

Audio:
WB offer two audio choices--Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 and Dolby TrueHD 5.1. Choose TrueHD if you can for its greater impact, tauter bass, and smoother midrange. As before, the frequency range is wide, the dynamics strong, and the surround channels more subtle than usual, 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. This soundtrack doesn't have the visceral force of that for "Chamber of Secrets" nor as broad a use of the rear channels, but it makes its presence known, nevertheless.

Extras:
The extras on the HD DVD come from the standard-definition two-disc set (although there are fewer of them), and again they are in standard def. The first item is an eleven-minute featurette, "Creating the Vision," wherein the author, the director, the producer, and the screenwriter reflect upon the book's screen adaptation. Next is a lengthy, forty-two-minute segment, "Shrunken Head Interviews," with British broadcast personality Johnny Vaughn interviewing the actors and filmmakers: The young heroes, the Gryffindors, the Slytherins, Professor Lupin and Sirius Black, Professor Dumbledore and Rubeus Hagrid, the Dursleys, the director, and others. Then there are several shorter bits: "Choir Practice," a minute and a half with on-screen lyrics to "Double, Double, Toil and Trouble"; "Care of Magical Creatures," four-and-a-half minutes with the film's animal trainers; and "Conjuring a Scene," about fifteen minutes on production design. The major bonuses conclude with some five minutes of "Additional Footage," five deleted scenes in all.

Finally, we get thirty-five scene selections but no chapter insert; a widescreen theatrical trailer for each of the first three "Potter" films; English, French, Spanish, and Japanese spoken languages; English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Portuguese subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired. As always, WB also include their usual HD DVD items: pop-up menus, bookmarks, a guide to elapsed time, a zoom-and-pan feature, and an Elite Red HD case.

Parting Thoughts:
After watching "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" four or five times now, once in the theater, several times on regular DVD, and now on HD DVD, I admit I enjoyed it each time, even though I also felt vaguely dissatisfied with it. It was as though I had just finished the third chapter in an old-time movie serial, and the filmmakers told me to come back next week for another installment. But reservations aside, "Azkaban" is another wonder for the eye, especially in HD DVD, only this time darker and more mature, appropriate to Harry's growing up.

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