It's Harry's third year at Hogwarts, but a shadow hangs over Hogwart's. A dangerous mass murderer, Sirius Black, has escaped the Azkaban Fortress - the Wizards' Prison. While learning to cope with the Dementors sent to protect Hogwart's, Harry learns the disturbing story of Sirius Black and yet more of his own history. [TRAILER]

STEVEN SNYDER'S REVIEW

A few colors have been added to "Harry Potter's" palate in "The Prisoner of Azkaban," and they are not likely shades that will appeal to fans of the first two films.

This is a darker world, a world of more complications and uncertainties both physically and emotionally. Characters find themselves scared and unsure more often, and the story doubles back on itself in a breathtaking third act that adds an additional layer of meaning to everything that has come before.

I have already heard from fans of the books who were disappointed with "Azkaban," who wanted more specific explanations and detailed analyses. Unfamiliar with the books, however, I loved this movie. I thought it was a shining improvement over the first two "Potter" installments and, in a comment I never thought I'd say, I would actually love to see "Azkaban" again.

The story itself is far darker from the first films. A prisoner (Gary Oldman) has been released from the notorious prison of Azkaban, and he has his sights set on killing Potter (Daniel Radcliffe). As precautions intensify around Hogwarts, Potter's school of wizardry, Professor Lupin (David Thewlis), a new teacher at the school, starts to befriend Potter and teach him how to fight back.

While investigating just why his life is in danger, Potter make a series of discoveries about his family, and it is revealed that the same prisoner hunting him now also killed his parents when he was young. His fear and trepidation now replaced with fury and a quest for vengeance, Potter awaits the famed prisoner of Azkaban – the hunted becoming the hunter.

The day that the infamous prisoner arrives is then lived out not once but twice, as Potter and his friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) deal with a an intense and scary situation from two completely different perspectives. As the audience, we experience the same shift in perspective, and find ourselves seeing the same series of events through similarly changed eyes.

Directed by Alfonso Cuaron (“Y Tu Mama Tambien”), this is not the rosy, idealized world of Chris Columbus. Characters have fears and neurosis. The story has shifts in tone and mood. Like all great films, we get a "feel" for this movie that is almost indescribable, which is in itself a drastic change from the first, whitewashed films in this series.

To put it another way, I feel as if I could describe a scene from "The Sorcerer’s Stone" or "The Chamber of Secrets" perfectly. I could describe the words, the mannerisms, the camera angles and convey precisely what happened on screen. These films were literal, objective and concrete experiences. But they were also ruthlessly faithful to the novels, and this made fans of the novels incredibly happy.

But there must be more than a rehearsal of the printed word for a movie to be successful. The tone of the book must make its way to the screen, and for this to happen a director must be willing to convey something with the images that transcends what’s apparent in the story or the words. In "The Prisoner of Azkaban," this is exactly what Cuaron has brought to the franchise

A few examples are in order: On Harry's trip out to Hogwarts, an attack on a train is extended and drawn-out. We not only witness his near-fatal encounter with a soul-sucking spirit known as a Dementor, but have time to first feel the confusion, isolation and then fear of a lost, scared child in the dark. Or take the films' turning point - an explosion of life-saving light at the edge of a pond. Not only is the story constructed so that we can witness it twice from vastly different perspectives, but Cuaron intentionally prolongs the dire situation so that the burst of hopeful light deviates that much more in style, presentation, tone and tempo.

These are small changes, but meaningful ones. They result in something visual, aural and cinematic - not literal.

His cou de gras, however, may be an infusing of sexual tension that, at times, almost drips off the screen. I saw this movie with someone who scoffed at the notion, but as these kids become teenagers and hormones start racing, I think it is only natural to assume that some unusual sexual tension will start to pulsate beneath the surface story. Whether it is Harry practicing "wizardry" under his bed sheets, Hermione hugging Ron after a scary moment instead of Harry, or Harry’s ultimate triumph - getting a bigger broomstick - I smirked more than once at the sexual subtleties that have started creeping into this fairy tale.

A perverted Harry Potter? Now things are starting to get interesting!

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