Very little to add to my first review. There are still problems in this movie, but it nevertheless becomes so much better with every viewing that those problems become easier and easier to overlook. The opening is perfect; the ending is perfect; the final act is perfectly executed; the emotions are all there. Goblet of Fire has a lot to live up to.

31st May 2004:

In Ron’s words… “Not good… BRILLIANT!” With a change of director, they’ve finally made a real movie from a Harry Potter book rather than the pleasant passers of time that were the first two.

This is a movie I’ll definitely be watching a few more times as there’s so much to take in so I’ll keep this review short and just for the record, it’s a long time since I read the book so I can’t comment on the adaptation really, only to say that, like the first two movies, it certainly left me with the exact same feeling I had when I read the book. So emotionally, nothing has been removed. But I’m sure there are sequences that fans will miss…

John Williams’ score is typically brilliant, highlighted by a piece that plays over Harry riding Buckbeak, but also great in the quieter scenes, of which there are many, Lupin and Harry or Harry and Sirius talking. And here’s why I really love this movie – while Alfonso Cuaron thinks nothing of rushing through a gripping action scene, he’s completely willing to slow things down and the dialogue-heavy musings on Harry’s past etc are never dull. Even though Daniel Radcliffe’s acting talent hasn’t increased a great deal since the last movie, I felt for his character a lot more in Azkaban than in Philosopher’s Stone or Chamber of Secrets.

As I said, the acting by the younger cast members hasn’t really changed a lot – in the case of the smaller characters, in fact, it seems to have got a little worse, so it’s a good thing they have little screentime, and an even better thing that one of the film’s most dramatic scenes (big confrontation and revelation in the Shrieking Shack) is left to the adults – David Thewlis, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, and Gary Oldman sharing the screen is a sight to behold.

Finally, the visual effects, and the benchmark Quidditch scene – if they can get the Quidditch right, everything else falls into place. This time it’s Quidditch with rain, and the effects are completely transparent. The Boggart morphs are mind-bogglingly seamless, and Buckbeak is a beauty.

The whole style of the series has changed with the director and I think with this movie, the Harry Potter movies will begin to be taken a lot more seriously, not just popcorn entertainment (but it works that way too, of course). Things are steadily getting darker and the real overarching story is emerging. If it were up to me I’d have Cuaron direct all the remaining movies, but I hope that the seeming decision to change director now each time will bring even more improvements and refinements to a series that has leapt in quality from installment to installment by leaps and bounds.

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