In these films atmosphere and detail are everything, story nothing; Alfonso Cuaron’s vision is the star of the third installment of J.K. Rowling’s moneyspinning machine. Imagine Tim Burton’s quirky, dark imagination with bold lyricism in place of his usual jumpy childishness and you have something approaching Cuaron’s enchanting visual style.

As in the other films, the story revolves entirely around Harry’s gradual move toward confronting Darth Vader—er, Voldemort, the evil wizard who knocked off his parents. Harry’s story isn’t particularly compelling, and always follows the same pattern, in which the sinister-looking fellow turns out to be a good guy, while the cheery uncle figure is revealed as the bad guy. As such, the only reason to watch is the world created by the director, and Cuaron has added his own signature to the series with incredible shots of hippogriffs, crazy timepieces, famished trees, and a set of ghostly Furies who would give the Ring-Wraiths in “Lord of the Rings” a run for their money.

The actors, as ever, are delightful, led by the perfectly-cast Daniel Radcliffe as Harry and the lovely Emma Watson, a nerd’s wet dream, as Hermione Granger. Like the other films in the series, the cast includes a who’s who of British actors, this time roping in Gary Oldman doing Gary Oldman and David Thewlis as the predictably troubled new teacher. The series’ cast is a who’s who of marvelous British actors, and with so much talent crammed into these movies their essential quality is all but guaranteed. So much more impressive and exciting, then, to see what an artist like Cuaron can do with them.