DVD Movie Rating for: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

DVD of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban rated 3 out 5 stars

Movie Plot of: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harrys life is in mortal danger yet again, this time more than ever. Firstly a killer named Sirus Black has escaped from azkaban prison and it seems that he broke out just to finish what his master wanted to do 13 years ago; to kill Harry Potter!. Also, for Harrys' protection, Azkaban has sent hundreds of Dementors to guard Hogwarts in an attempt to catch Black. But will they turn out to be a great help or a big mistake?...

DVD Production Details of: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint

Director: Alfonso Cuarón

Format: Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Full Screen

Aspect Ratio(s): 1.33:1

Audio Encoding: Dolby Digital 5.1

Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Release Date: November 23, 2004
Run Time: 142

The two-disc edition DVD of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban will include these spellbinding special features:
A selection of mystifying exclusive never-before-seen footage.
"Creating the Vision" -- a revealing interview with J.K. Rowling and the filmmakers.
Three great interactive challenges! Test your memory with "Magic You May Have Missed," help Crookshanks "Catch Scabbers," and go on an unexpected quest with Sir Cadogan.
Self-guided iPIX tours into Honeydukes and Professor Lupin's Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.
Raucous interviews with the cast lead by Johnny Vaughan and the Shrunken Head.
Meet the animal trainers from the movie in "Care of Magical Creatures."
"Choir Practice" -- sing-along with the Hogwarts choir.
"Hogwarts Portrait Gallery" -- get a closer look at the various portraits lining the walls of Hogwarts castle.
"Conjuring a Scene" -- an in-depth look at the making of key scenes from the film.
Theatrical trailers of all three "Harry Potter" films.
Electronic Arts game preview.
DVD-ROM PC capable features include:
Wizard Trading Cards.
Hogwarts Timeline.

DVD Easter Eggs

None

Cast of the movie: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

• Daniel Radcliffe .... Harry Potter
• Richard Griffiths .... Uncle Vernon
• Pam Ferris .... Aunt Marge
• Fiona Shaw .... Aunt Petunia
• Harry Melling .... Dudley Dursley
• Adrian Rawlins .... James Potter
• Geraldine Somerville .... Lily Potter
• Lee Ingleby .... Stan Shunpike
• Lenny Henry .... Shrunken Head
• Jimmy Gardner .... Ernie the Bus Driver
• Gary Oldman .... Sirius Black
• Jim Tavaré .... Tom the Innkeeper
• Robert Hardy .... Cornelius Fudge
• Abby Ford .... Young Witch Maid
• Rupert Grint .... Ron Weasley
• Emma Watson .... Hermione Granger
• Oliver Phelps .... George Weasley
• James Phelps .... Fred Weasley
• Chris Rankin .... Percy Weasley
• Julie Walters .... Mrs. Molly Weasley
• Bonnie Wright .... Ginny Weasley
• Mark Williams .... Mr. Arthur Weasley
• David Thewlis .... Professor Lupin
• Devon Murray .... Seamus Finnegan
• Warwick Davis .... Wizard
• David Bradley .... Argus Filch
• Michael Gambon .... Albus Dumbledore
• Alan Rickman .... Professor Severus Snape
• Maggie Smith .... Professor Minerva McGonagall
• Robbie Coltrane .... Rubeus Hagrid
• Matthew Lewis .... Neville Longbottom
• Sitara Shah .... Parvati Patel
• Jennifer Smith .... Lavender Brown
• Tom Felton .... Draco Malfoy
• Bronson Webb .... Slytherin Boy
• Joshua Herdman .... Gregory Goyle (as Josh Herdman)
• Genevieve Gaunt .... Pansy Parkinson
• Kandice Morris .... Girl 1
• Alfred Enoch .... Dean Thomas
• Dawn French .... Fat Lady in Painting
• Annalisa Bugliani .... Mother in Portrait
• Tess Bu Cuarón .... Baby in Portrait
• Violet Columbus .... Girl With Flowers
• Paul Whitehouse .... Sir Cadogan
• Emma Thompson .... Professor Sybil Trelawney
• Ekow Quartey .... Boy 1
• Rick Sahota .... Boy 2
• Jamie Waylett .... Vincent Crabbe
• Sharon Sandhu .... Girl 2
• Danielle Taylor .... Angelina Johnson (as Danielle Tabor)
• Julie Christie .... Madame Rosmerta
• Freddie Davies .... Old Man in Portrait (as Freddie Davis)
• Peter Best .... The Executioner
• Timothy Spall .... Peter Pettigrew

Photo Gallery of the movie: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Reviews of the movie: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Chris Columbus handed the directing reigns over to Alfonso Cuarón for Prisoner of Azkaban. Alfonso Cuarón's vision of the Potter universe is darker, faster paced and more intense than the world Columbus provided.

Alfonso Cuarón has figured out how to successfully bring a Harry Potter book to the silver screen without losing the magic that made the series an international phenomenon. Rather than creating a Cliff Notes version of the novel, Cuarón provides a distinctly cinematic take on the series. The only time his rapid-fire approach to directing takes away from the book is in his all too brief look at Hogsmeade. In the novel, this is a magical place with the gooiest, tastiest candies available to the young witches and wizards (who have obviously never heard of the muggles' Atkins' Diet). The movie never properly shows how much it hurts Harry not to be able to go with his friends to the mystical village of Hogsmeade.

Cuarón makes up for this deficiency with his excellent realization of the werewolf, which goes above and beyond the beast described in the book. He also makes the Dementors as scary as they ever were in the books. The scene of Harry's flight into the sky during a Quidditch match, only to meet up with a wicked Dementor, is chilling. The triple-decker bus is as fast and frantic as you imagined it would be when reading the book. And not many directors could pull off the complex scenes involving Hermione's Time-Turner.

The directing isn't the only thing that's improved. The effects in this film prove that three times really is a charm! I wondered if they'd ever be able to get Buckbeak the Hippogriff or the Dementors right. Surprisingly, they exceeded my expectations. The Dementors give Lord of the Rings' Ring Wraiths a run for their money in the creepy department. The darkly cloaked figures casually floating around Hogwarts, supposedly guarding the premises from Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) -- the only prisoner to ever escape the confines of Azkaban -- is as frightening imagery as you're bound to see in a PG rated film.

The adolescent actors have improved along with the special effects. You can feel the hurt and betrayal in Daniel Radcliffe's Harry. Emma Watson, still the best of the three actors, does an excellent job transforming from the bookish type to a girl able to hold her own against the bullying Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton). Rupert Grint, while not reinventing the wheel (or even Ron, for that matter) is doing better than ever at portraying Ron as the ultimate Hogwarts' slacker.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban closes on just the right note. Cuarón leaves the audience wanting more, not wanting to leave the theater. I pray future directors in the series have the talent and nerve to make Harry Potter their own, in the same way Cuarón dared to reinvent the series with The Prisoner of Azkaban.

Harry Potter ( Daniel Redcliff) has returned to Hogwart's on his third year but there is an escaped convict from Azkaban prison named " Sirius Black" ( Gary Oldman) who was a former friend of Voldermort. Black's job is to eliminate Harry Potter but Harry with his friends Hermonine ( Emma Watson) and " Ron Weasley" ( Rupert Grint) especially a new school teacher of Dark Arts named Professor Lupin ( Dacud Twelis) to put a stop to him including on the dreaded ghost-like beings called "Dementors".

A well done and excellent addition to a quality fantasy cinema series, Alfonso Cauron ( Director of " A Little Princess" and " Yu Mama Ta Bien") replaces Chris Columbus on the director's chair in this installment making it more darker, mature and braver than the last two movies. I would say, good thing it had to come to this summer instead of last winter to avoid competing against AOL-Time Warner's other fantasy franchise " Lord of the Rings".

The acting is great even from Gary Oldman who is wickedly good as Sirius just like he was in " The Fifth Element", " Leon", and " Dracula". It's a little macabre for a PG rated family flick just like "Return to Oz" and "The Dark Crystal".

This is one of the best movies of the year in my opinion! Bring on " Goblet of Fire" Warner due next year in 2-parts ( ala, Kill Bill) and will be made by the director of " Four Weddings and a Funeral".

The now-famous child stars of the ridiculously profitable "Harry Potter" films are literally growing before audiences' eyes as each new film in the series is released and fans of the series should take heart that Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson (playing Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, respectively) have yet again improved their skills in front of the camera as Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban certainly highlights their increasing talents. As physical looks probably had much to do with the casting of the three young stars (each seems to resemble the physical description author Rowling offered in her books), fans of the series should find comfort in this sleek adaptation of the third book in series of multi-hundred page tomes, since the actors seem to be getting better at what they do.

With a different director, Azkaban can lay claim to a darker, more intense story and tone that makes more use of the actors than of the special effects. While the special effects are certainly impressive, the difficulties Harry has regarding his family and his feelings about never having known his parents, come center stage in the film. Screenwriter Steven Kloves, having been charged with writing each of the adaptations, has further refined his skill as well, taking a large novel (each novel apparently increases in length as Rowling becomes a more liberal with the word-count) and compressing it into a very respectable and full story. Though there are probably events and personalities left on the cutting room floor (if they were ever included in the screenplay to begin with), there are still several new characters from which the audience should receive bundles of entertainment value.

Most impressively, Emma Thompson, playing the large-haired and noodle-brained "Professor Sybil Trelawney," makes a hilarious entrance in the film and it's a shame her character wasn't more heavily featured as her performance as the professor of divinity (telling the future) for students at "Hogwarts," the wizardry school Harry Potter and his friends attend. As the mysterious prison escapee, "Sirius Black," Gary Oldman is entirely engrossing in the role and fans can only wonder why this incredible actor has had so few roles in the past few years. He's certainly one of the best actors residing on English soil.

The film though is truly littered with great English performers and with Michael Gambon stepping into the shoes of "Albus Dumbledore," taking over the part from the late, great Richard Harris, viewers should be pleased with the experience and wisdom Gambon brings to the character. Maggie Smith is yet another powerhouse of an actor whose performance as "Professor Minerva McGonagall," the transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts, is formed of precious few minutes. Indeed perhaps the only reason each of these esteemed actors (and there are about ten more quite famous types in the film who all deserved more screen time) wasn't on the screen for additional scenes was because the production would have been more the length of a miniseries. Alan Rickman's enthusiastic characterization of the "Is he evil or is he not" Professor Severus Snape could certainly fill an entire movie alone.

The myriad lot of impressive performances are made all the more rewarding by a set of seamless special effects. The fantastic vistas (like flying over a castle, for example) and computer generated characters (the dementors are CGI during some scenes) blend in expertly with the dark and shadowy production design. The now familiar main theme (the piano diddle heard before the opening of all the theatrical trailers), composed by John Williams, is again an excellent compliment to the film as is the cinematography in which director of photography Michael Seresin (a new crewmember on the Potter series) takes full advantage of Stuart Craig's production design.

Parents of small children might want to be warned about letting their tykes see the black robed "dementors" (evil, flying guardians of Azkaban prison) in the film as the characters can certainly lay claim to being the creepiest personalities the film has to offer. Bearing a strong resemblance to the "Ring Wraiths" in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, the dementors come complete with flowing black robes, eerie sound effects, and some downright terrifying decaying and long boned fingers. Scary even for adults! But they are well crafted creatures and are the most thrilling opponents Harry has to face in the film.

It's safe to say that if the current trend regarding the improvement of the films continues until the seventh planned film, the Harry Potter series could be destined for a plethora of film awards and accolades, as the stories seem to be getting better and better. What began as a slowly creeping and thunderous beast in The Sorcerer's Stone has tightened into a well-oiled machine with Azkaban and even the two plus hour length seems less of an issue in this episode. The movie really does fly by, showing off its excellent production values, improving teenage stars, and venerable supporting cast. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a more than worthy entry into this franchise and should make it all the more difficult for fans to wait until November 2005 for installment number four

Director Alfonso Cuaron takes the boy wizard into much darker territory with the third installment in the film series. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermoine (Emma Watson) are back for another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and they're on the run from Sirius Black (Gary Oldman), who escaped from Azkaban prison. Legend has it that he led Lord Voldemart to kill Harry's parents and the belief now is that he's going to finish the boy wizard off, too. Then there are the Dementors; a terrifying set of Azkaban prison guards sent to stand guard over Hogwarts.

Like the previous "Potter" films, "Azkaban's" filled with great special effects and most importantly, a mesmerizing story - and it's sure to please fans of the J.K. Rowling novels. Led by the strong presences of Radcliffe, Grint and Watson, the acting is once again terrific with "Azkaban."

There's a slate of wonderful supporting turns, too, including Oldman, Emma Thompson as the goggly-eyed professor Trelawney and David Thewlis as the mysterious Professor Lupin and Michael Gambon more than ably fills the shoes of the late Richard Harris as Professor Dumbledore.

DVD bonuses include deleted scenes, production featurettes; three interactive challenge games; iPIX tours into Honeydukes and Professor Lupin's classroom; fun interviews with the cast and crew conducted by Johnny Vaughn and the Shrunken Head; an informative interview with Rowling, and more. (Warner Home Entertainment)