YSL.com movie critic Eddie Szewczyk is back with his take on the new "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" film. The movie opens Friday, June 4, at a theater near you.

By Eddie Szewczyk
(Exclusive to Young Saint Louis.com)

There have been quite a few changes in Harry Potter's world since our last visit.

The new installment in the film series, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," features a new director. And a new Albus Dumbledore.

Harry's wizard world this time is darker and somehow grimier.

The skies are usually cloudy and the big Quidditch match is played in a driving rain storm.

Much of this movie takes place in shady forests and meadows outside the walls of Hogwarts.

Harry and his classmates are older and beginning to experience more adult thoughts and feelings.

But, all of these factors combine to create a fantastic film about a world even more enchanted, dangerous and real than in the first two movies.

The "Prisoner of Azkaban" opens with Harry, as usual, spending a miserable Muggle summer with the Dursleys. His Aunt Marge pushes him so far that he breaks his word and the laws of wizardry.

He inflates her like a huge balloon and she floats away into the sky.

Harry is rescued from the wrath of the Dursleys when he's picked up by the Knight Bus. That magical buz zips right over, around and even through Muggle traffic.

He's taken to the Leaky Cauldron Pub before starting his third year at Hogwarts.

Everyone quickly forgets Harry's act of wizardly rebellion against the Dursleys. That's because word spreads that Sirius Black has escaped Azkaban prison. He's the guy who is rumored to have helped Lord Voldermort kill Harry's parents.

After his escape, Sirius Black is supposed to be coming to get Harry.

In an attempt to protect the Hogwarts students from Black, the school permits Dementors to patrol the grounds. Dementors are hooded apparitions that usually are guards at Azkaban prison.

Among their more "charming" qualities is the ability to suck the souls out of their victims.

Without giving any of the plot away, I'll say that Harry learns some surprising things about Sirius Black, his parents and himself by the end of the movie. And Harry's wizard powers also get stronger.

Despite all the new elements, "The Prisoner of Azkaban" retains all the "old magic" of the previous installments.

The King Bus is a purple, triple-decker bus straight out of a dream.

Hagrid the half-giant of Hogwarts is his usual humorous self. And he's adopted a fantastic creature named Buckbeak. He's a hippogriff, which is half horse and half eagle.

Of course, Harry's loyal friends, Hermoine and Ron, are back. As are his arch-enemies, Draco Malfoy and Professor Snape.

The "Prisoner of Azkaban" is one movie you can't miss this summer. It will leave you waiting eagerly for the next installment of Potter magic.

 

 

Belleville kid reviews Harry Potter again

Teenager Eddie Szewczyk is back again to review the latest Harry Potter movie. His review of "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" is the third Potter movie he's reviewed for Young Saint Louis.com.

Eddie does a speedy job on this YSL.com reviews. In this review, Eddie will attend a preview showing of the movie at the Creve Coeur 12 Theater on Tuesday, June 1. By Wednesday afternoon, he has his review sent to YSL.com for editing.

Then, after editing, the review goes to the YSL.com webmaster in Columbia. It will be on-line in the June edition before the film opens to the public on Friday, June 4.

Eddie will do all this while taking care of his regular school classes at St. Louis University High School.

The 15-year-old Belleville, Ill., kid is a natural for reviewing the blockbuster Harry Potter movies.

He is a regular on-air reporter and reviewer for Radio Disney's station in St. Louis. He also is a representative for the Disney station.

He's active in movies, the theater and TV. He's appeared in many Muny musical productions. Also, he's appeared in TV commercials and voice-overs as well as in industrial films.

Eddie reviewed "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" in November, 2001. In November, 2002, he reviewed the second Potter movie, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets."

YSL.com thanks Eddie for his good work in bringing you fine reviews with a local flavor.