Released to coincide with the publication of the seventh and last installment in J.K. Rowling's series of magical (in both senses) coming-of-age novels, this fifth film should please fans who rate the films based on their fidelity to the canonical texts. But for the uninitiated, it's a dry and slightly dreary introduction to the world of Hogwarts and Azkaban, where enchantment and mystery — good and bad — lie beneath a placid surface of English railway platforms, call boxes and pedestrian underpasses. It feels like a placeholder, not because little happens but because so much plot must be served in order to set up subsequent events that there's no room for the gentle...
Released:
2007
Rated:
PG-13
Length:
138 mins