incandescens | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Yes, it's opened here in the UK. Yes, I went to see it with my parents today.

Don't look at the stuff behind the spoiler unless you want spoilers. I mean it.

Dark. Did I say dark? Definitely dark, with a strong note of Dickensian, and all the better for it. Definitely better than the second movie, though so different from the first (which had to establish a lot of background) that I'd rather not compare it.

Lots of good moments.

The plot has been cut. Certain facets have been pared back severely, though the results of previous actions are very apparent in the way that certain characters relate. Someone who hasn't read the books will be left with a few questions, though the main areas are answered, I think.

Sirius Black and Remus Lupin are both done well. I have no problems with them not being pretty. They look just right; Black is half-starved, nearly insane, and in rags, while Lupin is a man who's not well off -- and, I suspect, both mostly out of current society and supplying himself from old family items/suitcases/wardrobes. The new Dumbledore also pulls his part off nicely, and Cornelius Fudge (Minister) is excellent. Diagon Alley and the Leaky Cauldron are marvellous, as is the Knight Bus. Lupin's werewolf form is also impressively scary.

During the big Shrieking Shack scene, there is a line which I predict will make the fangirls shriek, which is not (I checked) in the book. While threatening everyone with a wand, and hearing Black and Lupin argue, Snape snarls that they sound, "just like an old married couple," if I remember the line correctly.

Of course, I may be the only person who notices that . . .

Otherwise -- had lazy day, played Knights of the Old Republic, started looking at necromantic redlines, tried not to dread work tomorrow too much. Picked up a couple of Chinese graphic novels at the weekend -- the sort translated into English with lots of colourful art, not Chinese translations of Japanese manga -- just to see what they were like. I suspect I won't like them very much, but at least in the future I'll be able to speak from knowledge rather than ignorance.