Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 2004

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: Easily the most clever, emotionally affecting and involving of the adaptations so far. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: As good a movie as anyone will ever make out of J.K. Rowling's revered novels about the boy wizard. Read more

Mark Caro, Chicago Tribune: Until now Harry Potter has been a great book character and a functional movie hero. With Cuaron leading the way, Harry has burst from the printed page to soar on-screen. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: For the final hour of the two-hour- and-21-minute Azkaban is the closest any of the films has gotten to capturing the enormously pleasing essence of the Potter books. Read more

Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel: It's hard to imagine that any Harry Potter movie will ever top the enchanted achievement of Prisoner of Azkaban. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban offers what neither of its predecessors, for all their wand-waving and witch-brooms, had: real magic. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Harry Potter and the Wizard of Azkaban is precisely the kind of invention the franchise needed. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: The right word for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is wondersful -- as in full of wonders, great and small. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: A marvelous adventure. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: A different kind of Harry Potter movie, a better kind. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: [E]ven if you're never read a word of the Potter books and you haven't seen the first two films, Azkaban stands alone as a creative triumph. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: More magical than its cinematic predecessors. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: For the first time, the non-converted may actually see what all the fuss is about. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: A tremendous achievement in production design. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: It's far less self-conscious about how to please an audience and isn't as slavishly interactive with its source material. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Harry Potter is 13 now, an awkward age for anyone -- even a boy wizard armed with magical powers. But Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the third film in the series, couldn't be more self-assured. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Like the first two movies, this is loaded with computer-generated imagery, but for the first time there's a sense of dramatic proportion balancing the spectacle and the story line. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: This is a luminous movie -- luminous, imaginative and affecting. For Harry Potter, at least, the third time is the charm. Read more

Paul Clinton (CNN.com), CNN.com: An utter delight. Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post: Cuaron has done what few sequel caretakers ever manage, refreshing the characters and stories for a long potential run. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The first movie in the series with fear and wonder in its bones, and genuine fun, too. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: The film's disarming blend of freshness and darkness should please the Potter faithful and win new followers. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: A marvel of special effects seamlessly hitched to a powerful coming-of-age story. Read more

Glenn Lovell, San Jose Mercury News: It's much darker in mood and look than its predecessors, and it moves much faster, refusing to coddle or spoon-feed those who haven't seen the first two movies or read the books. This is both asset and detriment. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Prisoner of Azkaban sustains the good vibe of Harry Potter's previous screen appearances, while also being blessed with a wand's worth of Cuaron's movie magic. Read more

Bruce Diones, New Yorker: Just like the books that the films are based on, this franchise gets better with each installment. Read more

Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: The most powerfully entrancing children's film in years. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: The other films had magic brooms, but this is the first picture that flies. Read more

Jami Bernard, New York Daily News: An entrancing experience for Potter fans. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: The silliest, as well as the most contrived -- and confusing -- of them all. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: The third Harry Potter movie is the first one that actually looks and feels like a movie, rather than a staged reading with special effects. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban proves that a new director with a different perspective can freshen a series that could otherwise resort to stale repetition. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The world of Harry Potter remains delightful, amusing and sophisticated. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Not only is this dazzler by far the best and most thrilling of the three Harry Potter movies to date, it's a film that can stand on its own even if you never heard of author J.K. Rowling and her young wizard hero. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: The first true Harry Potter movie -- the first to capture not only the books' sense of longing, but their understanding of the way magic underlies the mundane, instead of just prancing fancifully at a far remove from it. Read more

David Edelstein, Slate: In Cuaron's hands, the world of Harry Potter doesn't feel like a synthetic movie theme park anymore. It's almost real, Hogwarts and all. Read more

Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Younger children might be put off by the darker tone of this movie, but the franchise's new direction holds promise. Read more

Christopher Orr, The Atlantic: Cuaron brought to the Potter franchise a quality curiously missing from the two previous films: magic. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: In a series that's episodic by definition, too many of these episodes lack any climax or payoff. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: While I confess to being almost utterly lost within the narrative within about 20 minutes, I couldn't take my eyes off the screen. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: Just about everything plays better this time. Read more

Wally Hammond, Time Out: Compared to its predecessors, this is a more wintry, thoughtful and rewarding movie. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Thanks to director Alfonso Cuaron, a dazzling storyteller with a keen eye for whimsical detail, the third film in the Potter franchise is a visual delight. Read more

Brian Lowry, Variety: Much like a child going through puberty, the maturation of the Harry Potter franchise has yielded awkward growing pains for the third film in the series. Read more

Michael Atkinson, Village Voice: A mild upkick in pacing and texture can be credited to director Alfonso Cuaron ... who avoids Chris Columbus's mastodon-like setups and knows a bit more about whipping up atmospherics. Read more

Nicole Arthur, Washington Post: The third installment in the Harry Potter series, is everything the first two films were not: complex, frightening, nuanced. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: This is one long sit, made all the more so by a turgid story, a dour visual palette and uninspiring action. Read more