Prisoner of Azkaban is a standout entry in the Harry Potter franchise – it establishes an effective tone under Alfonso Cuarón’s stellar direction.

| Original Score: 9/10 | Mar 3, 2025

This is far more enjoyable than the first two films. I'm still not a fan of Dumbledore.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 15, 2025

It's a tad too long but serves as the turning point for the series where filmmakers were actually doing something unique with each new film. The performances of the three leads demonstrate their continued growth as actors, which I appreciated.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 15, 2025

With a change in director and the replacement of an integral character actor, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban still manages to be one, if not the most impressive entry in this franchise.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Jul 5, 2024

Yes, the first two Columbus films were a success and introduced us to this universe in a fun way. But Cuarón gave it texture, verisimilitude and thematic depth, establishing a tone that was maintained until the eighth instalment. Full review in Spanish.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jun 5, 2024

[Alfonso Cuarón] attacked the Potter material with the instincts of an auteur. Everything darkened. Literally.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 31, 2024

This is the only Harry Potter movie that stands on its own as a good film, the best Harry Potter movie, and it’s not even close.

| Feb 20, 2024

Director Alfonso Cuaron breaks away from the literal translation to bring create a more intimate and stylistically complex movie...

| Jan 6, 2024

...a marked departure for the watchable yet thoroughly bland series...

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 8, 2021

Definitely not foolproof, like almost every time travel explanation, but this film nevertheless presents a new, creative angle.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Sep 29, 2020

Hogwarts is back in session! And not a moment too soon. And although I've said it before, I've got to say it again, a technical and visual masterpiece.

| Nov 13, 2019

Good film directed for a teenage audience in which not only is magic taught but also how stereotypes affect it while the film itself recreates some British stereotypes. [Review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 11, 2019

It is without a doubt the best made film of the series.

| Original Score: A | Apr 4, 2019

Prisoner of Azkaban baffled me and completely floored me...it shows that Harry Potter ages with people.

| Jan 26, 2018

This Potter is terse, swift, sad -- and welcome.

| Dec 14, 2017

demonstrates how wishy-washy Columbus was in many of his decisions

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jan 17, 2016

Cuarón brought to the Potter franchise a quality curiously missing from the two previous films: magic.

| Nov 16, 2014

OK, so the narrative may be a tad shaky, but what lends Azkaban its edge is the unabashedly creepy tone that Cuaron conjures.

| Nov 16, 2014

Turning 13 suits our intrepid Hogwarts students just fine in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Nov 16, 2014

It's the most moving and inventive live action children's film in years (and therefore, just as magical for adults, if not more).

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 16, 2014