The third edition to the Harry Potter series is a good one, but certainly not my favorite. It surrounds the absolute breaking point to Harry’s lonely life. Abused by his uncle and aunt and feeling a bit shutout at school, Harry must find a resolution to his lonely feeling one way or another. It also doesn’t help that a murderer is on the loose and everyone firmly believes Sirius Black is coming after Harry. Lots of heavy stuff for a kid to handle.
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a dark tale about a framed man and the need for a family to get back together. Probably resembling more of a film noir type movie than a traditional fantasy, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban creates a very dark, dreary atmosphere that separates itself from the Chris Columbus kiddy films that were produced twice before. I think this is probably the main appeal to the third, as many grownups probably felt more comfortable diving into this one and enjoying it than in previous (lord knows we don’t want a Twilight awkward situation on our hands — right Steve Schardein?). It’s a change of pace and a welcomed one at that, but what it picks up in maturity it lacks in good continuity onscreen. Cuarón’s constant disruption of the film seems to break it up a bit and causes sort of a ‘restart’ for the viewers. I know that I didn’t particularly like the breaks when Harry passes out and wakes up because it just didn’t feel like it fit correctly (though, I’m positive the book read this way). I did enjoy the action and suspense in the film, and I loved the dementors. In the end I think that Cuarón did what he thought was best for the film, but didn’t produce as much continual flow as it should have.
Does this make the film bad? No, but it does put it firmly in fifth place in comparison to the other films released in the series.
If you’re in need of another redeeming plus in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban you can look at the improved acting. The three freshmen are now juniors in terms of films they’ve done for the series and their acting ability is definitely getting better as the overall series goes on. This film was a big leap for them, as they all seem to finally be comfortable with their characters, which is always a huge plus. Radcliffe, Watson and Grint seem to finally have a firm grasp of who their characters are becoming and it shows onscreen.
With all of this said, let’s talk about what makes this edition of the third film ‘ultimate’.
The crowning achievement of the ‘ultimate edition’ is broken down into several categories. The first is the Blu-ray that you’re getting with the huge edition. The transfer from film to HD is nothing short of stunning. Despite that the film is one of the dreariest of the bunch (not a lot of colors, but that’s really Alfonso Cuarón’s style — see Children of Men for details), the moments where colors shine through really do stand out. For example, the inside of the triple-stacked bus at the beginning of the film is breathtaking from an HD standpoint. Need another example? When the trio of heroes is staring at the shrieking shack in the snow you’ll find it breathtaking, if not slightly chilling because of how good the video really does look. The video is not grainy one bit in this movie. I’m really impressed overall with the video quality.
Next to that is the audio that shines in at a DTS-HD standard. While I think that the next review you’ll be reading (maybe the first, depending on what you like) for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is better equipped for ‘action’ like sounds in a fantasy film, this Harry Potter did take good advantage of the sound mix. When you have Harry passing out from the dementor’s kiss, and you hear the shrieking as the scene fades out, you’ll appreciate the sound. You’ll also particularly love it when the boy is protecting his godfather from death, as the sounds pours through with the spell he casts quite beautifully. You’ll enjoy what Warner Home Video did with this one and appreciate it just as much as the video.
Now for the reason you’re purchasing the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Ultimate Edition — the goodies! It’s packed with a ton of goodies, ranging from a hardback ‘creature’ book that details all the creatures (or at least most) in the film series. You’ll also get a DVD dedicated to special features, which has additional scenes (you might have seen before), a ton of nice special features that give you a bit more insight on how the film was made. You also get a could of nice games that the kids will really like on this DVD and some additional fun to make the ‘ultimate edition’ truly worth the money.
You’ll also get a Blu-ray disc packed with more information about the creatures in the film and some HD additional scenes. Other things include a so-so interview with director Alfonso Cuarón and also some neat things like a complete tour of Nick Dudman’s creature shop (creatures are the theme here, of course).
Finally, outside of that you get some more cards with characters and pictures on them from the film (my wife stole the Sirius Black one and I have no idea where it went, but you ge that one) and a really big beefy case for all of this to stay comfortably bound inside.
Is this all worth the potential $49.99 you will be paying for it? I think so, especially if you don’t have the film on Blu-ray. I think the jump from DVD quality to Blu-ray is worth the extra $10 and the other stuff that comes with it is just a bonus. I particularly like that Warner Home Video pretty much packed it all into one package (especially the special features). Instead of having two to three different versions of the movies you can just come to this one source and you’ll be happy. I think it’s worth the purchase.