Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (PG, 2004)

When his relatives the Dursleys get to be too much for 13-year old rebellious wizard Harry Potter, he packs up and leaves. Soon he is back at Hogwarts school for his second year. Scary creatures called Dementors, guards at the wizard prison of Azkaban, are lurking about the school grounds in search of the first-ever escaped prisoner, Sirius Black, who betrayed Harry's parents to Voldemort and may be on his way to Hogwarts to kill Harry. The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Lupin (David Thewlis), befriends Harry, while Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) is now teaching the Care of Magical Creatures class, introducing the students to a hippogriff (a sort of flying bird/horse). Meanwhile the fortune-telling Divination teacher, Sybil Trelawney (Emma Thompson), predicts danger is very near. When the hippogriff injures Harry's adversary, Draco Malfoy, it gives ammunition to those who oppose the headmaster, Professor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon). The hippogriff is sentenced to death. The Azkaban guards, called Dementors, have come to Hogwarts looking for Black, and every time Harry sees them, he faints. They dissolve any happy thoughts of people in their path, and Harry, who has known greater sadness than anyone else in his class, is the most vulnerable. Harry has to find a way to save the hippogriff and protect himself from Black, the Dementors, and even one of his teachers who has a dangerous secret. His friend Hermione has a secret, too -- how is she getting to all her extra classes? The answer is the extra help Harry needs to save lives.

Harry Potter is 13 in this third movie based on the globally popular series of books by J.K. Rowling, and the movie itself seems to be entering adolescence, with its darker themes, darker images, and darker emotions.

The first two movies were competently directed by Chris Columbus, with brilliant production design and meticulous attention to detail, making sure that the books' passionate fans were happy -- but playing it safe.

For the third, Columbus stayed on as a producer, but there is a new director, Alfonso Cuaron, whose previous work has demonstrated ferocious visual flair (Great Expectations) and great sensitivity in working with and portraying children (A Little Princess) and teens (Y Tu Mama Tambien). He has kept the best of the first Potter films and enriched it with his own splendid vision, meshing perfectly with the tone of the story and the increasing complexity of the themes and characters.