Watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban night before last. What a movie! I liked it much better than the previous two. Alfonso Cuaron has done a wonderful job, and while in various interviews he has called it darker than the first two movies, I would not characterize it so.

For the first time, we get a sense of the landscape around Hogwarts and the path leading to Hagrid's house. For the first time, we get a true sense of how big Hagrid is - he towers over the children and other teachers alike. Daniel Radcliffe has turned in a much more mature performance, with very good support from Grint and Watson. Dumbledore has a great voice finally, with Michael Gambon replacing Richard Harris. Both Lupin (played by David Thewlis) and Sirius (played by Gary Oldman) were good. The conversation between Harry and Lupin on the bridge is especially good. Harry's ride on the Knight Bus, while a bit slapsticky, was a lot of fun. But where Cuaron really excelled was in the little touches - one of them is when Harry goes out at night roaming the corridors of Hogwarts with his wand lit up to show the way, a man in a painting tells him to put it off as he is trying to sleep. The Quidditch scenes too were very well done - they were more realistic than the ones in Chamber of Secrets.

The only disappointing portrayal was that of the Dementors. They looked more like jellyfish than anything else, though the kiss of death was nicely done. One would have thought the Dementors would be more terrifying - rather on the lines of the Nazgul a la LOTR.

With the change in director making such a big difference, I am looking forward to Mike Newell's interpretation of the Goblet of Fire.