It’s all to the good, as The Prisoner of Azkaban is the most visual of films to this point, with great composition, effects and direction, with a far more organic and realistic feel to its magical world. But Slughorn has a habit of ‘collecting’ the scions of the powerful and famous, as well as promising students of the future, he’s a career networker, and he’d like to add Harry Potter to his shelf.

In 'The Deathly Hallows: Part One' (2010) Harry, Ron and Hermione, now no longer at Hogwarts, set out on a dangerous quest to uncover and destroy the lost Horcruxes, the secret behind Voldemort's immortality. There might have been a smidge of digital banding around an illuminated wand at one point, but that might have been my imagination. It also means that you can devote nearly an hour to the film’s conclusion, and it doesn’t feel imbalanced. Meeting secretly with a small group of students who name themselves 'Dumbledore's Army,' Harry teaches them how to defend themselves against the Dark Arts, preparing the courageous young wizards for the extraordinary battle that lies ahead. But Ron and Hermione convince Harry that they need to prepare to fight back, to at least be ready for the oncoming darkness, and Harry creates an ‘army’ of his own.Of the first three films, it’s easily the best, and given how the subsequent novels become ever more convoluted and plot driven, I wouldn’t be surprised if I found The Prisoner of Azkaban to be the best of all eight Harry Potter films. It’s three people facing adversity together, and the strains it puts on their otherwise previously solid friendship. It also helps that it very early on establishes its two main plot threads, Malfoy’s mission, and Harry trying to learn Slughorn’s secret, and it never really strays from these story arcs, never gets distracted.

That said, the structure of the novel still hampers the movie, and having watched the film for the fourth or fifth time now, I really do wish that they could get to the dramatic intent of the story a little quicker.That’s with the exceptions of The Prisoner of Azkaban, and The Half Blood Prince, two films which make me forget their respective source materials, and which I can appreciate wholly as movies in their own right. It's a sprawling 31-disc compilation of every Harry Potter film in Blu-ray, as well as DVD format and digital copy. The Harry Potter stories continue to get darker in tone, and that’s reflected in the look of each subsequent film. The Deathly Hallows, Part 2 doesn’t really put a foot wrong in my estimation as it barrels headlong towards its conclusion. What really sells the feel of the collection are the leather-bound book cases for each film, which all rest on a custom wood shelf.

The shine has definitely gone off the first film for me, although much of that has to do with my own mania for the franchise waning. In 'The Prisoner of Azkaban' (2004), the trio are now in their third year of wizarding school, but there is a shadow hanging over Harry: dangerous serial killer Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) has escaped from the Wizards' prison, Azkaban - and he wants revenge for the death of his master, Voldemort, who Harry defeated 13 years earlier. Year 6: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - As Lord Voldemort tightens his grip on both Muggle and wizarding worlds, Harry and Dumbledore work to find the key to unlock Voldemort's defenses. The flow of the story is natural, well paced, and feels concise, not at all piecemeal or bitty as in the first two films.Incidentally, Boyhood might have picked up the Oscars, but Harry Potter did it first, and on a much larger scale.

The image is clear throughout, with impressive, vibrant, and detailed HD presentation for the most part, although like the previous films, depth and clarity do begin to suffer when dark and misty scenes prevail.

Surround Spanish, Catalan, Czech, and Slovakian, with subtitles in those languages plus Arabic, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish, and it’s all good, the dialogue remaining clear throughout, with the music and the action represented well by the surround treatment. In addition, the package boasts special features, including alternate soundtracks, audio commentaries, interviews, and documentaries that showcase the life of the famed martial artist, and his contribution to the action movie genre.