Azkaban

I've never been to a movie before where the audience clapped when the previews ended and it started playing. The audience was really into it. It was quite a pleasure to watch.

The main thing that struck me about the movie was that everything - both characters and cinematography (I hate people who use the word "cinematography," but it really seems to fit here, and I must admit it is pleasurable to join the masses in using the word without any qualifications to speak on the subject) had seemed to take a great leap in maturity. Each little witch or wizard who showed up was fascinatingly different. It reminded me of those 7/11 documentaries or whatever they're called (what are they called?), where they go back and interview the same people every seven years and show what's happened to them. I was annoyed with how stick-thin Hermione was. The kids weren't wearing their school uniforms as much, more of a eurogrunge attire, and some of the scenes were altered in color to produce an artistic effect. It wasn't just the kids who had changed but the whole aesthetic of the movies. I would have to watch the previous ones again, but it seemed to me like there was much more focus on the landscape, the changing seasons. There were visual comments about time everywhere you looked. Of course it's an important element of the plot, but it goes beyond that. Draco Malfoy and the goons had drastically reduced roles; Harry was usually around adults doing very serious things. Hogwarts seemed different from the previous movies. I find myself less worried about all the magic and wizardry that the characters must master, and more worried about the states of their souls as they start becoming adults.