June 10 movie: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I really enjoyed this. They took a bit more latitude than in earlier films, dropping plot elements here and there. I guess there will be more of that as the series continues, since the books keep getting longer. The only place where I thought they missed something that should have been there was right at the end, there's no explanation for the shape Harry's Patronus takes. That was a really nice scene in the book and I'm sorry it didn't make it into the movie.
The only change that I actually found a bit jarring was that the three main kids spend most of their time in street clothes, not in their uniforms. Am I remembering it wrong, or did they wear their robes all the time in the first two movies? I'm going to have to read the third book again and see if she mentions the clothes they wear.
The new actors are great: David Thewlis, Gary Oldman and particularly Emma Thompson. Michael Gambon was okay -- he didn't make me forget Richard Harris but he wasn't bad. With all that makeup and the beard, he looked about the same. The dementors weren't as scary as the ringwraiths in Lord of the Rings, though they'll probably scare children plenty.
The kids are definitely aging. Harry, Hermione and Ron haven't grown that much since the second film (though I think Hermione and Ron both aged a lot between the first and second) but some of the supporting cast looked really different. Neville got a lot taller and a lot thinner, and I wasn't 100% sure that Draco Malfoy and his henchmen Crabbe and Goyle were even the same actors. They're going to have to start making these movies faster if they don't want to recast.
I think Alfonso Cuarón as director was wonderful choice. I loved his earlier film A Little Princess. Although I don't want to add to the dogpile on Chris Columbus (Salon.com's calling him "doggedly faithful ... but singularly graceless" is typical). Mainly because it's too easy. I mean, the guy's such a hack! Okay, I guess I couldn't resist taking a potshot. But he is a hack.
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the patronus thing was my big beef w/ the movie too--actually it really, really bothered me that they didn't include it, and i think i ruined the movie for everyone i saw it w/ b/c i wouldn't stop complaining about that. but they mention it about six times in the book, so i've always thought it was important, especially in terms of harry's character--i mean, it's just about the only link he has to his dad.