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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban DIRECTED BY ALFONSO CUARON RELEASED: 2004 Why's it so good? Alfonso Cuaron took over from original director Christopher Columbus, and with the difficult task of world-building out of the way was able to take the story and run with it, making Potter feel like a real adventure story for the first time, and one taking place in somewhere bordering on the real world.

How does it stack up to the original? It's better than the previous two, and remains many people's favourite entry in the series. Potter's relationship with godfather Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) is beautifully played out, and one of the great "Hell yeah!"s comes when Hermione punches Draco Malfoy. It's also the first of the films to use a rather wonderful washed-out colour scheme, and to revel in its darkness. Glaring error: The production team used Loch Ness to double for Hogwarts Lake. What if they disturbed Nessie? What if he/she/it is visible somewhere in the film? GAP BETWEEN SEQUEL AND ORIGINAL: 32 MONTHS 50 49 48 47 46 45 44 43 42 41 40 39 38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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