ALMOST BETTER THAN THE BOOK

Oh, worship Alfonso Cuarón. Prisoner of Azkaban was so cinematically gorgeous, and so different from the first movie... it was like the enchantment of stepping into the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley for the first time again. His wizarding world is so much more magical than Chris Columbus's, down to the tiniest little detail and the simplest of establishing shots.

( Movie spoilers, in chronological order. I was taking lotsa notes in the dark =P )

Major props to the CG team for Buckbeak, a moderate-decent model but a fantastic piece of animation. Major props to the art team who painted the not-entirely-realistic-but-perfectly-ethereal matte moons throughout the movie.

Overall, my only quibble with the movie was that it was a bit too fast-paced at times, and lost a lot of exposition, especially the important stuff at the end, thus confuzzling newbies. But oh god, it was so smoothly placed together, a much better piece of story-telling than the must-show-off-landmark-scenes! first movie.

( More movie spoilers )

Whee, taking brother to see it when I go home! MUST drag mom along too. ^^ Pray for director's cut DVD with more exposition!