Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: June 4, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
82
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 40 Critic Reviews
Positive:
36
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
A different kind of Harry Potter movie, a better kind... It's where this fantasy series has wanted to go all along. Read full review
100
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
The Prisoner of Azkaban is to Harry Potter what that other No. 3, "Goldfinger," was to James Bond: the movie that takes the invention and gamesmanship of the series to a whole new giddy peak. Read full review
100
PremiereSusannah Gora
Soars gloriously into fluency and magic. Read full review
100
SalonStephanie Zacharek
One of the greatest fantasy films of all time. Read full review
100
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
The most powerfully entrancing children's film in years. Of course, a true kid's classic is just as magical for adults. Read full review
91
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Potter 3 is, in its heart of hearts, a teenage angst movie...Cuaron has done a masterful job of bringing off this shift in the Potter paradigm without disrupting any disruption in the established style of the series and without any pandering concessions to the teen-movie genre. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
A deeper, darker, visually arresting and more emotionally satisfying adaptation of the J.K. Rowling literary phenomenon, achieving the neat trick of remaining faithful to the spirit of the book while at the same time being true to its cinematic self. Read full review
90
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
The best of the Harry Potter films so far, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is also hands down the scariest, and the deepest. Read full review
90
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Like the first two movies, this is loaded with computer-generated imagery, but for the first time there's a sense of dramatic proportion balancing the spectacle and the story line. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
The right word for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is wondersful -- as in full of wonders, great and small.
88
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Not only is this dazzler by far the best and most thrilling of the three Harry Potter movies to date, it's a film that can stand on its own even if you never heard of author J.K. Rowling and her young wizard hero. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMark Caro
With Cuaron leading the way, Harry has burst from the printed page to soar on-screen. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
[Cuaron]'s a visionary and crafty storyteller who rewards your patience, not with twists in the plot, though the movie has its share, but with pure feeling. Deploying wit, grace, and artistry, he's whisked a kid flick into adolescence. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Is Prisoner of Azkaban as good as the first two films? Not quite. It doesn't have that sense of joyously leaping through a clockwork plot, and it needs to explain more than it should. But the world of Harry Potter remains delightful, amusing and sophisticated. Read full review
88
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Who would think Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban could be an art film? Thanks to director Alfonso Cuaron, a dazzling storyteller with a keen eye for whimsical detail, the third film in the Potter franchise is a visual delight. Read full review
88
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
An entrancing experience for Potter fans. It's a carefully crafted, dreamy immersion in a world that feels snugly familiar even when evil intrudes. Read full review
88
New York PostLou Lumenick
This movie belongs to its young stars, who have grown immensely as actors since they were first ideally cast by Chris Columbus, the hack who directed the first two movies. Read full review
88
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
In an era when most scripts are written by committees of monkeys, hearing one man's intelligent voice is an almost forgotten pleasure. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Shot in spooky gradations of silver and shadow, The Prisoner of Azkaban is the first movie in the series with fear and wonder in its bones, and genuine fun, too. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianKaren Karbo
Much has been made about the fact that the world's most popular fictional children are growing up and straight into that horror-filled no man's land of the human life span, puberty. Read full review
80
NewsweekSean Smith
The result is a film that's really moving--and really moves. Read full review
80
TimeRichard Corliss
Enjoy the savory witches' brew that Cuaron has cooked up in his Harry pot. For on its own terms, this one is truly wizard. Read full review
80
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
In the Harry Potter film series thus far, The Sorcerer's Stone remains the strongest, perhaps because the first look at any rich new world is almost always going to be more groundbreaking than its sequels. But Prisoner of Azkaban is a worthy and stylistically different follow-up, where Chamber of Secrets often felt like an unimaginative retread. Read full review
80
SlateDavid Edelstein
In Cuarón's hands, the world of Harry Potter doesn't feel like a synthetic movie theme park anymore. It's almost real, Hogwarts and all. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Azkaban breaks free of all these shackles in its final hour. Working with the persuasive Thewlis and Oldman, able to focus his gifts on what's distinctive, dramatic and surprising about the story, Cuarón creates on screen the heartfelt magic that has enthralled so many on the page. Read full review
80
The New York TimesDana Stevens
This film may disappoint some dogmatic Old Hogwartsians: a few plot points have been sacrificed, and Mr. Cuarón does not seem to care much for Quidditch. But it more than compensates for these lapses with its emotional force and visual panache. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarrit Ingman
It helps that J.K. Rowling’s third book in the series is full of spooky stuff that translates beautifully to screen. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Although Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban stands well enough on its own, it has a "middle chapter" feeling. In other words, there's no real beginning or ending. Little is resolved and the film's climax is low-key. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
From its restlessly moving camera work to its heartfelt acting by a splendid cast, "Azkaban" is a horror movie for mature kids. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Here, finally, is a Harry Potter picture that lives up to its potential -- that, plainly, LIVES. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
In the end, Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban offers what neither of its predecessors, for all their wand-waving and witch-brooms, had: real magic. Read full review
70
VarietyBrian Lowry
Visually dazzling and considerably darker than the prior incarnations, the story suffers from a slightly disjointed feel that will prove less accessible to those not intimately familiar with every corner of author J.K. Rowling's world. Read full review
70
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
A mild upkick in pacing and texture can be credited to director Alfonso Cuarón (more Little Princess than Y Tu Mamá), who avoids Chris Columbus's mastodon-like setups and knows a bit more about whipping up atmospherics. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
With shades of Carrie, Harry's magical powers and adolescent angst make a combustible fusion, taking on frightening, vengeful implications that Cuarón honors by refusing to airbrush the shadowy regions of fantasy. Read full review
70
Washington PostNicole Arthur
It's not perfect, or even close, but it delivers on the promise of J.K. Rowling's novels to a far greater extent. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
From my doddering perspective - rheumy with a view - Volume 3 puts plenty of cinema into the picture but leeches all the charm out of the tale. Read full review
60
EmpireColin Kennedy
Azkaban contains both the longest denouement and the most rousing finish of any of the books, and Cuarón wisely whips through the 'ah-hahs' so that the clever climax, complete with the series' best SFX, can enjoy its moment in the moonlight. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Cuaron lets his enthusiasms show. Read full review
50
Film ThreatRick Kisonak
If my moviegoing experience was magical in any way, it was only in that I once or twice nodded off for a spell. Read full review
40
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Put delicately, this is one long sit, made all the more so by a turgid story, a dour visual palette and uninspiring action. Read full review
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