"I'm sorry you are wiser,
I'm sorry you are taller;
I liked you better foolish
And I liked you better smaller."

-- Aline Murray Kilmer

Don't get me wrong. I'm still pretty wild about Harry, but the magic seems more sobering than exhilarating now that he and Ron and Hermione have gotten a bit long-in-the-teenage-tooth.

	'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban' Rating: PG for mild violence and frightening images Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman Director: Alfonso Cuaron

These days, in "H.P. and the Prisoner of Azkaban," our Hogwarts heroes are seasoned upperclassmen -- juniors, to be exact -- but the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is in a virtual state of siege. At this All Harry, All the Time institution, the issue continues to be that ghastly murder of his parents, with which he and we have been obsessed from the start: Live-action wanted posters inform us that vicious Sirius Black (Gary Oldman), presumed killer (or at least betrayer) of Harry's folks, is on the loose with a homicidal plan to penetrate Hogwarts and terminate our boy himself.

Sirius is seriously fearsome, but he's a lamb compared with the creatures who seem to be accompanying and heralding his arrival. They're nasty, ugly, ghostly things called Dementors, polar opposites of Mister Rogers: They like to kill you just the way you (and they) are. But, more psychologically and unpleasantly, they represent your darkest fear -- whatever it may be -- and thereby paralyze you before dispatching you.

It's going to take all the advanced white magic Hogwarts can muster to counter the Dementors' black stuff. Fortunately, our faculty (Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Robbie Coltrane reprising their roles, Emma Thompson in a hilarious new one) is up to the task.

So is the special-effects team. The "skinny" double-decker bus chase is terrific and "HP3" lives up to its predecessors in eye-dazzling animatronics, if not in the innovative use of them. My hands-down favorite is the fabulous Hippogriff -- a huge, ungainly modified Pegasus critter (half-horse, half-bird) whom Harry tames and rides, with literally soaring elegance, for a crucial fast getaway or two. It is a poignantly beautiful creation, endowed with astonishingly "natural" motion. I long to have one as a house pet and would rush right down to the Humane Society if it were available for adoption.

But I'd go the Human Society and adopt our three heroes, too. Harry's and Ron's voices have descended from boyish into manly range, while dear Hermione now has budding curves. All three -- Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson -- have enormous poise and commitment. For me, nothing is funnier than Grint's always-on-the-verge-of-tears expression under duress. Unless it's the side-splitting "inflation" of Harry's obnoxious aunt at the outset. No, wait, here's something funnier: Among the zillions of credits, two categories I've never seen before -- "chaperones" (one of them a Grint) and "creature hairdresser."

"HP3" caper is grandly enjoyable but leaves me with the timeworn lament of those who -- though fond of the series -- do not consider it quite as indispensable as air and water: Director Alfonso Cuaron, even more than Chris Columbus before him, assumes we are all Harriacs, pre-familiar with the complex cosmology and vicissitudes of past and present episodes. If that is the case, you'll do just fine here. If not, you may find yourself periodically up a creek sans paddle.