Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - June 2004

I enjoy the Harry Potter novels and I've enjoyed the movies. "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" is darker than the first two and pays less attention to the wonders of magic. From the get-go we see that Harry is not an opened eyed observer but a surly teenager who's been pushed around for the last time. The movie discards much of the detail in the novel and instead focuses on the life-and-death adventures. It's a wise choice and makes for a movie than moves much faster than its two hour running time would indicate. Not that that's a hint of how it ends.