Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Blu-Ray Steelbook

Like many of you who purchased the first two ultimate editions at a pretty penny, i was expecting extended editions of movies 3 and 4. What a disappointment! Were the big wigs at WB thinking that their fans would triple dip editions when they bring out all films in one super ultimate collection? I already owned all of the HP on Blu, but sold them when i started buying the Ultimate editions. I will NOT be purchasing 3 and 4. Very poor on WB's part to say its ultimate, and include 8 hours of bonus materials, but not the few extra scenes that regularly show on TV. Very poor indeed.

When Warner Bros. introduced this ultimate edition set last year my wife was thrilled. Naturally I ordered them for her as she is a huge Harry Potter fan, and I enjoy the movies as well. When we received the first 2 Ultimate Edition movies we were blow away by both the packaging and the amount of extra content included. For the first time in a long time we felt like we were really getting our money's worth and eagerly awaited the next two movies. Well the day the movies became available for pre-sale I slapped our order in and we anxiously awaited the release. Now a few weeks ago I did a little browsing online and realized that neither of the two Ultimate edition movies releasing this year contained extended editions of the movie, which was one of the main reasons we purchased the set last year. We've owned both the HD-DVD years 1-5 special box set, and then upgraded to the Blu-Ray version(still own these). After discussing it with my wife, she decided she still wanted the Ultimate Edition's this year (3 and 4) so I kept our preorder. Well today we received the products in the mail, and before I get into anything else I have to rant a little bit.

First thing I noticed with this years Ultimate Editions, the boxes are MUCH lower quality than last years. My wife unwrapped year 3 and the way they have it packaged is very flimsy and easy to tear, which she did. They added a holographic cover to both movies this year which looks great, but the way they have it packaged its going to rip and tear if you plan on watching your movies.

Gone is the magnetic snap that clasped the case shut in years 1 and 2.

Both of these "Ultimate" Edition movies seem to be cheapened and lesser in quality not to mention the lack of extended editions of hte movie which is why MOST people purchased them in the first place.

Warner Bros. knew that people were going to buy these, especially those that had already slapped down the money for Years 1 and 2. Late last week I wrote a letter to Warner Bros. asking them why they decided to not include the extra content from the movies that we know exists (it runs on the family channel).

I do NOT suggest picking up Years 3 and 4, even if you already own years 1 and 2. 1 and 2 are totally worth the money, and are great sets even if you own the first two movies because they add to them. These sets add nothing worth the cost, and ruin what could have been an excellent set to own..

:(

Buy Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Blu-Ray Steelbook Now

The third installment of the Harry Potter films was ready for a new director, and Alfonso Cuaron seemed a likely choice. Chris Columbus was admirable in his fidelity to the plot of the first two books, but as Harry becomes a teenager and faces a more complex life, Columbus's candy-coated style is no longer appropriate. So it was with great anticipation that I looked forward to the "darker" style that Cuaron promised.

In some respects I was not disappointed. Cuaron's interpretation of Harry's world is defined by inscrutable shadows and colored in misty greens and greys, rather than red-and-gold tapestry of movies one and two. This new palette is more natural, and in keeping with that, far more of the movie takes place out of doors. Cuaron gives Hogwarts a greater sense of age as well, making a crumbling courtyard and rickety bridge over a gorge central to many scenes. These locations, as well as the huge pendulum in the entry hall and clock face that Harry sits inside at one point, are a nicely subtle way to weave in the movie's (and book's) theme of time and how the past can't ever be completely undone.

Cuaron handles some scenes very well, especially brief, telling gestures or moments that provide character definition, such as the bit where Hermione grabs Ron's hand which made it into the trailer, and another where the two of them have an awkward conversation outside the Shrieking Shack. Other highlights include Harry and his dorm-mates up late eating candy that makes them impersonate animals (touchingly shows how very teenage they are); and a moment when Sirius, trying desperately to hold Lupin back from his change to werewolf, places his hand over Lupin's chest and says "You live in this heart!" which is made all the more poignant because we know he can't stop the transformation.

Some plot points have been sacrificed in order to keep the film to a manageable length. Most of the time this works, as when Harry meets with Snape and Lupin in a beautifully lit nighttime corridor, precipitating the handover of the Marauder's Map and Lupin's realization that Peter Pettigrew lives; or when Harry receives the Firebolt from Sirius at a different point in the movie than in the book. There were, however, two changes which seemed inexplicable to me. First, the patronus charm is made into a shield of light rather than an animal which charges down the dementors. This eliminates Harry's discovery of his father within himself through his stag patronus (he does see a stag of light when he rescues himself at the lakeside, but when we see him from the perspective of rescuer there is no stag, and this is never explained). Similarly, even though Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are named on the Marauder's Map, the nicknames and their relationship to Lupin, Pettigrew, Sirius, and James Potter is never explained. It would have taken only a few more minutes to add that explosition, which would have strengthened Harry's cinematic connections to his father tremendously.

All in all, I think it's possible that the viewers who enjoy this film the most will be those who haven't read the book. As someone who is very familiar with the Harry Potter book series, I kept finding myself hung up on the changes to the story (and just how much depth was lost) even as I enjoyed the beautiful cinemetography and deft handling of characters' relationships. My hope is that whoever directs film four is able to take some of Cuaron's artistic sensibilities and combine them with Columbus's sense of wonder and attention to plot detail. That would truly do Harry justice.

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I loved this particular movie when compared to the series as a whole, but this is not why i'm writing this review.

This review concerns the "bonus" content for people who pre-order the dvd here on amazon. The "screensaver" is not an animated screensaver of the marauders map as you might think, which actually would have been quite nice if it had been done in the style of the map in the movie. You will be instructed to download a seperate application which will take over your windows screensaver functionality. The application is not very intuitive to use and I've since deactivated it. The "Marauders Map Screensaver" itself is nothing more then 3 random images of indistinct parts of the in-movie Marauder's Map with giant "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" logos that splashed everywhere. Its not very visually appealing as a screensaver and the images in opinion aren't very well done.

Just want to make sure that other people are aware of what exactly this bonus content is, and aren't buying the dvd here purely because of this. There is no marauders map style animation occuring here, and all that will be displayed are static images. I pre-ordered it here purely based on getting this bonus content, and I was rather disapointed with what i received.

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They have ruined this box set by not including extended versions of the films. The first 2 had them so I expected that all the movies on ultimate edition were going to be extended. Will no longer be buying these! Rumor has it they have tons of footage that was removed especially from the later movies. I heard like 30 to 45 mins worth. I was expecting each release to get longer extended versions then the past. Only thing making this still tempting is the new documentary's they have on each one. I wanted to see all those.