Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

This is perhaps my favorite of the Harry Potter films to date. Directed by Alfonso Cuaron, the film immediately sheds much of the child like charm the first two films had in favor of giving the characters a 21st century feel and there is no question that the overall quality of the film benefits from Cuaron's visual style.
It is also considered to be somewhat controversial in the Harry Potter uni-nerd-verse. I remember speaking with fellow Potter fans when this film was released. Most of our time was spent running through all the details and events that the film leaves out. The films run time is comparable to the first two despite the fact that the source material was roughly 150 pages longer than the previous two so it was no surprise that there were tons of things left out.
The film itself centers around the escape of Sirius Black from Azkaban prison. Since no one had ever escaped before the entire wizarding world is shocked by the news that this deranged murder managed to do it. It also doesn't help that he is regarded as one of Lord Voldemort's most loyal supports.
Azkaban is a huge turning point in the Potter series. No longer is Harry wandering around wondering to himself "what's going on" only to find out it's another scheme by Voldemort to get him. Instead, we begin to see the unraveling of the greater story that is taking place outside of Hogwarts. There is a sense of intrigue throughout the book and film that the previous entries had not established and the sequence in the shrieking shack (particularly the book version) is jaw dropping.
It's been several years since I read the 3rd instalment in the Harry Potter series and the fact of the matter is that subsequent films have done far more damage while butchering their source material. The question that will forever linger of this film among Potter fans is whether or not it opened the door for remaining films to essentially provide cliff notes versions of the books. I don't have an answer to that but I can say that at this point it is worth watching on the merits of some slick film making and the growth of the main characters. Despite the fact that we may never get the full adaptation of the books we may want, I can still appreciate this entry as an example of great film making.