The third Harry Potter movie is a slightly less faithful adaptation of the source material than the first two films, and is all the better for it. Mainly because that lack of fidelity makes it a bit shorter, which is generally a good thing as far as I’m concerned.
It’s close enough to the original novel that fans of the books shouldn’t have too much to grumble about, and one of the better novels in the series does translate to one of the better movies. But the more streamlined approach taken with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was definitely a template that would be replicated in further entries in the movie catalogue as Rowling’s novels became increasingly bloated affairs.
Score for Christmasishness
As with the first two movies (and all the books) Christmas is referenced in the context of the passing of a school year. Unlike the first two, we don’t explicitly have the Christmas holidays, but there are extended scenes in the build-up to Christmas, which feature many a snowy landscape. So as with the others, it’s really only a bit Christmas(ish) but sufficiently so for my list. I expect Mr Potter and friends will be back in next year’s list too.
James Proclaims! 