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Harry Potter and Cinderella should hook up for a blind date. Between wicked guardians and step-sisters, I’m sure they’d find a lot in common. The darkest to date of the Harry Potter movies, in“Prisoner of Azkaban” director Alfonso Cuaron and screenwriter Steven Kloves have shaved most of the subplots that plumped up the book its based on. This may be heresy but they’ve actually improved the story by focusing on the trio of characters that are at the heart of both the books and the films. Surprisingly, “Azkaban” works amazingly well and, in fact, is more atmospheric than any of the other films. Director Chris Columbus has no style to speak of as a director and the more generic atmospheric touches are abandoned for a darker look more in keeping with this transitional coming-of-age story. When wizard Silas Black (Gary Oldman) escapes from prison, the dreaded Dementors are sent out to try and find him. It seems that Black was convicted of murdering Harry’s parents on behalf of you-know-who. Harry discovers a dark quality to his usually sunny nature as he finally strikes out at one of his wicked relatives leaving him homeless for a brief period of time. Finally Harry discovers some disturbing truths about himself.

The school has a brand new Professor by the name of Lupine (David Thewlis) teaching defense against the dark arts haunted by a terrible secret about himself. Director’s Cuaron’s sure hand and deft atmospheric direction make “Prisoner” perhaps the best of the three Potter films. The script by Kolves stays true to much of Rowling’s universe while taking a number of risks in simplifying a narrative that would be far too complex to portray in a 2 1/2 hour film. Those who only know Potter from the movies (and there are a few that are happy as clams not to dive into Rowling’s books) won’t know the difference while hardcore fans will probably object stating that the book was so much better than the movie. I can’t imagine Rowling’s book, despite her considerable skills as a writer, capturing the nuanced performance of Gary Oldman as Silas Black or David Thewlis thoughtful performance as Lupine. That being said, there was also room for an expanded edition a la “Lord of the Rings” that would have appealed to both sets. Surprisingly, no one is interested in pursuing this approach with these films as none of them have been longer in their DVD incarnation than their theatrical release. ---

“Azkaban” comes with more extras than there are spells in Lupine’s book. We get little in the way of actual behind-the-scenes features as the makers decided to focus much more on games than featurettes or documentaries. Since the series was and is primarily aimed at children, that’s no surprise. “Creating the Visiion” features interviews with Cuaron, Kloves and others about their decision to excise much of the material and Rowling’s reaction to the finished product. There is footage never before here but it isn’t integrated back into the movie.