THE third time certainly does prove to be the charm for young Mr Potter in this cracking sequel.
Darker, scarier, funnier and much more exciting than the first two movies, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is everything its predecessors sh
ould have been and then some.
Novice wizard Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) is now 13 and beginning his third year at Hogwarts, but ominous shadows of menace are creeping into the cosy confines of the school.
Dangerous and ambiguous wizard Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) has escaped from Azkaban Fortress. Black is believed to have led Lord Voldemort to Harry’s parents and is implicated in their murder. Many believe Black is now out to kill Harry.
In a somewhat heavy-handed attempt at protection, Azkaban has sent hundreds of Dementors (skeletal flying wraiths) to guard Hogwarts.
But will these unnerving grim reapers cause Harry and ever-present chums Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) more problems than they could hope to prevent?
The Dementors make little distinction between those they pursue and those they are supposed to protect - and have a particularly chilling effect on Harry.
Helping Harry guard himself against the Dementors’ paralysing threat is Professor Lupin (David Thewlis) the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher who just might know more about black magic - and Harry’s parents - than he lets on.
Appropriately for a story concerning children becoming adolescents, Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón has trimmed back the puppy fat that bloated Harry’s first adventures.
While former director Chris Columbus took a stagey - even panto-like - approach, Cuarón, appropriately given his Latin background, goes for a magical realist treatment, shading the fantasy with natural light and pitch blackness.
At a comparatively lean two hours and 20 minutes, this is a much more compelling, plot-driven movie. Diehard fans may bemoan the dropping of certain plot strands from the novel but the story is tighter as a result.
Steve Cloves’ screenplay ditches the endless introductions and tiresome scene setting that were the bane of the Philosophers’ Stone and Chamber of Secrets.
Finally, the characters look - and act - like real kids rather than idealised portraits of childhood. There’s even a hint of hormonally charged young love (Hermione and Ron, who would have thought it?).
Consequently, for the first time you really will believe a boy can fly - albeit with the aid of a broomstick.
Rowling’s fantastic universe has finally flowered into convincing cinematic life.
Radcliffe who was stiffly functional in the first two has now grown comfortably into the part. Harry is showing definite signs of teenage bolshiness.
Watson has shrugged off the last of her stage school mannerisms, but it’s still Rupert Grint who gets the most laughs.
Michael Gambon proves an able successor to Richard Harris as Dumbledore . However, it’s the new characters who really shine. Gary Oldman admirably underplays his role as Black. Emma Thompson is a comedic treat as Professor Sybil Trelawney but Thewlis gives the film its heart.
While a couple of moments may prove a little too scary for young children who were spellbound by the clunky unreality of previous instalments, older kids will be delighted.
By opening the door to the big bad world outside Cuarón has let in a breath of fresh air to a franchise that was beginning to smell decidedly stale.
In fact, this so effortlessly transcends its predecessors that even the doubters may well now fall under Harry’s spell. Now that’s magical.
