Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

All Critics (231) | Top Critics (45) | Fresh (217) | Rotten (22) | DVD (46)

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.

September 8, 2010 Full Review | Comment (1)

J. R. Jones

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

Compared to its predecessors, this is a more wintry, thoughtful and rewarding movie.

June 24, 2006 Full Review | Comment (1)

Wally Hammond

Time Out

Top Critic

This is a luminous movie -- luminous, imaginative and affecting. For Harry Potter, at least, the third time is the charm.

July 21, 2005 Full Review | Comments (2)

Amy Biancolli

Houston Chronicle

Top Critic

The most powerfully entrancing children's film in years.

August 7, 2004 Full Review

Peter Rainer

New York Magazine

Top Critic

[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.

June 7, 2004 Full Review

Richard Roeper

Ebert & Roeper

Top Critic

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.

June 5, 2004 Full Review

Stephanie Zacharek

Salon.com

Top Critic

Fantastic, but kids are older, themes are darker.

December 24, 2010 Full Review | Comments (2)

Nell Minow

Common Sense Media

Cuarón filigrees his film with brilliantly outsized projections of Harry's fears and underlying realities. [Blu-ray]

November 6, 2010 Full Review

Peter Canavese

Groucho Reviews

Potter's third year is his most inventive yet.

November 4, 2010 Full Review

R. L. Shaffer

IGN DVD

Ultimately the success of the film lies in the characters, and the emotions that they trigger in us.

October 18, 2008 Full Review

Urban Cinefile Critics

Urban Cinefile

...another wonder for the eye, especially in high definition, only this time darker and more mature, appropriate to Harry's growing up. (Ultimiate Edition, Blu-ray)

December 14, 2007 Full Review

John J. Puccio

Movie Metropolis

Regardless of its cinematic shortcomings, the Harry Potter film series still has a ton of life in it.

July 14, 2007 Full Review | Comments (2)

Joe Lozito

Big Picture Big Sound

Rather than a brand new sense of adventure, there's a sense in this sequel of a rerun, a tendency that even Harry's extreme magic can't seem to overcome.

May 31, 2007 Full Review

Prairie Miller

Long Island Press

Rather than a brand new sense of adventure, there's a sense in this sequel of a rerun, a tendency that even Harry's extreme magic can't seem to overcome.

May 30, 2007 Full Review

Prairie Miller

Long Island Press

A menagerie of menacing and morphing computer-generated special effects make the movie worthwhile.

May 2, 2007 Full Review

Kam Williams

Princeton Town Topics

Cuarón has produced the most terrifying and darkly humorous movie adaptation of Rowling's stories to date, giving it a visual flair sorely missing in the previous installments.

September 25, 2006

Peter T. Chattaway

Christianity Today

[Director] Cuarón's imagery delights again and again

August 26, 2006 Full Review | Comment (1)

Jay Antani

Cinema Writer

What we're treated to is less a story than a series of vignettes.

December 6, 2005 Full Review | Comments (6)

Rick Kisonak

Film Threat

Two and a half hours of neck-cramping semi-entertainment.

December 6, 2005 Full Review | Comments (7)

Jeremiah Lewis

Film Threat

The childlike whimsy of the previous Potters is dead, replaced by an encroaching loss of innocence and a foreboding sense of darkness. A new punch of life for the series.

November 17, 2005 Full Review

Christopher Smith

Bangor Daily News (Maine)

• 1. Remus Lupin: Everybody, Riddkulus! [class] Riddikulus!
  2. Draco Malfoy: This class is ridiculous!
  – Submitted by Baurushan J (4 months ago)
• 1. Harry Potter: Excuse me sir, where's Professor Lupin?
  – Submitted by Baurushan J (4 months ago)
• 1. Draco Malfoy: Is it true that you fainted?
  2. Ron Weasley: Shut up Malfoy.
  – Submitted by Baurushan J (4 months ago)
• 1. Ron Weasley: We thought you were having a fit or something.
  – Submitted by Baurushan J (4 months ago)
• 1. Harry Potter: Who's he?
  2. Stan Updike: Who is he? WHO IS HE? He's a murderer!
  3. Harry Potter: How did he escape?
  4. Stan Updike: That's the question. How did he escape?
  – Submitted by Baurushan J (4 months ago)
• 1. Professor Trelawney: You may be young in years, but the heart that beats beneath your bosom is as shriveled as an old maid's! Your soul as dry as the pages of the books to which you so desperately cleave.
  2. Hermione Granger: [Storms out]
  3. Professor Trelawney: Have I said something?
  – Submitted by Sean G (5 months ago)

There are no discussion threads for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban yet.