Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (PG, 141 mins) Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Gary Oldman, Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane, Alan Rickman, David Thewlis, Emma Thompson, Richard Griffiths, Fiona Shaw, Harry Melling, Pam Ferris, David Bradley, Julie Walters. Director: Alfonso Cuarón
IT'S third time lucky for Harry Potter.
Under the tutelage of Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón (Y Tu Mama Tambien), the boy wizard comes magically to life on the big screen.
For the first time, we have a filmmaker who understands the dark, foreboding undercurrents in JK Rowling's writing.
Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban begins, like the book, in the leafy surroundings of Privet Drive.
Following an altercation with Uncle Vernon (Griffiths) and his bullying sister Aunt Marge (Ferris), Harry heads back to Hogwarts with best friends Hermione (Watson) and Ron (Grint).
The entire school is abuzz with news of Sirius Black (Oldman), a convicted killer who has escaped from Azkaban and is making his way to Hogwarts to kill the boy wizard.
Thankfully, Professor Dumbledore (Gambon) has permitted the prison's guards, the hideous Dementors, to be stationed around the school grounds.
Should Black attempt to gain access to the school, he will be set upon by the Dementors and his soul sucked from his body.
Harry soon learns the truth about the convicted killer and Black's links with the new Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher, Professor Lupin (Thewlis).
More shocking secrets are revealed, culminating in a life-or-death encounter between Harry and the Dementors.
Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban is the most compelling and thrilling adventure in the series to date, stripped bare of the gloss and sentimentality which blighted the first two films.
You actually feel that Harry's life is in jeopardy as he comes face-to-snout with a slavering werewolf, then tries to conjure the Patronus charm to banish the Dementors.
Cuarón sets the ominous tone early on with the showdown between Harry and Aunt Marge that plays even more like a scene from Roald Dahl on film, laced with delicious black humour.
