DVD Review HTF REVIEW: Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED). (1 Viewer)

[Jan H]

Haven't read the book (only read Chamber of Secrets), but was very disappointed in this film. The acting was marginally better than the first two films, but the effects looked cheap and the film overall was emotionally flat. It's as though Rowling has hired George Lucas to write and direct the film versions of her books.

 

[Matt Stone]

Wow, I couldn't possible disagree more. I think the first two are much more emotionally flat when compared to the third. I love the first two, but I thought Azkaban had a really nice style. Lupin and Black are two of my favorite characters from the books, and I thought they were translated brilliantly to film.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

Trailers definitely aren't forced, in fact I haven't even seen the main menu yet- as soon as the disc started spinning I told my Pioneer to go to Title 1 so I could look for the number, and it did but first made me play Title 4 which tells you the movie is rated PG and why (why do they include this but they cut off the blue rating screen at the end of the movie?)
Will watch the whole thing on Thanksgiving and hopefully enjoy it despite the pop-up number, but I had better not see this on any other DVD release otherwise my buying will go down drastically!

 

[Britton]

Everything I've heard indicates that the 3 disc set is just the first two movies packaged in the digipaks and the third movie in a amaray case. There's no option to get any consistency with the packaging, at least not in Region 1. I couldn't care less myself since this just seperates the much superior POA from the other two.

 

[Ernest Rister]

I thought Wal-Mart was carrying a three-pack in similar cases -- ah well -- I take your word for it.

 

[Ernest Rister]

I thought Wal-Mart was carrying a three-pack in similar cases -- ah well -- I take your word for it.

 

[Dom]

"Just what the hell kind of "process" did they subject to this movie's picture quality for its release on DVD? It's horrid! The picture is too dark and at too high a contrast so as to be hard to look at."

If anyone saw the film at a theatre, the picture quality was intended this way, very dark, uneven, macabre etc.

Nothing wrong with the DVD video.



Go to the theatre more often, better than any home theatre.

Cheers

 

[Michael Reuben]

Question about a different video oddity. Did anyone else notice this?

At various points in the film -- most obviously when there's a fade to black -- there's some sort of interference pattern consisting of diagonal lines moving across the screen. At first I thought I had a loose connection or electrical interference, but I've now seen the same distortion on two completely different systems. Has anyone else seen this? (I didn't note any time marks, but I'll try to find some.)

M.

 

[Brian L]

Michael....how about a HP PoA glitch thread?

I watched the film last night, and I appear to have a bad disc. Right in the middle of charter 20, my Denon 1600 goes completely pixilated for what seems to be 30 seconds. The disc is brand new, as clean as possible.

Played the same scene in my Sony 650D, and while it does play through a bit better, it hangs at the same point, so, its not my machines.

Not sure where the layer change is, but all my machines normally handle that with a simple pause...this is much worse than that.

I have had DVD since '97, and of the 300 or so discs I own, this is the first time I get a verifiable bad one. Heck, I even was OK with the SW OT that a lot of folks had grief with.

BGL

 

[Scott Wong]

I would say that statement is debateable. I rather fancy my home theater to any public movie environment. There's just something about the comfort of my own home and a DLP set freshly calibrated by Gregg Loewen that makes movie watching a very enjoyable experience... moreso, than having some losers chit-chat while kicking the back of my seat throughout the entire film.

Regards...

 

[TonyD]

i saw this, at least three times.
i was gonna ask about it but forgot.
looks awful.
it happens during the fade to blacks as you mentioned.

 

[Dom]

There are several excellent theatres in my neck of the world that have great DD surround sound and huge screens, can't beat it.

I suppose it's a matter of what's available theatre wise where you reside, I know quality varies. I guess I'm just lucky to have great theatre facilities.

And I also think the loser chit-chat statement is exagerrated.

Cheers

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Teen 1: "The new Harry Potter DVD rocks, dude!"

Teen 2: "How come?"

Teen 1: "Check out the awesome plastic case - it's much cooler than the paper ones for the first two movies!"

Teen 2: "Bitchin'! I didn't want to buy it, but now that I see the edgy plastic case, I'll buy 12!"

 

[Michael Reuben]

TonyD, thanks for confirming! It's always good to know I'm not the only one.

I haven't seen anything like this since the LD days. It looks like something caused interference during some stage of the disc production, but at the playback end it's probably impossible to say where.

I'd recommend exchanging the disc. I too have had DVDs since 1997, but I have a few more titles than you, and I've had my share of defective discs. Many of them looked perfectly clean.

As for a "glitch" thread, I think it's a little too early to know whether we'll need one.

M.

 

[Matt Stone]

Hahaha!

 

[Chris]

Jeezus. Just sat and watched a lot of the extra features.. the actor who plays Mr. Dursley looks like he put on about 100 lbs since the film!

 

[JoSAN]

.

 

[Joe Caps]

I like this film and saw it several times in the theater. All the theaer prints looked badly processed to me and I hoped the dvd would look better. It doesn't being too contrasty and other weird looking things including bad flesh tones.

 

[Scott Wong]

Amen to that. I hate going to the movies. I have no problem whatsoever in waiting for the film to be released on DVD. Watching it in the comfort of my own home, on my own home theater seating, with my own equipment makes the movie experience that much more enjoyable.

I don't think there's any right or wrong way. To each their own. I just prefer staying home.

 

[Patrick Soucy]

The mine from Canada is 301 too... Really not the best idea of the century Warner...