Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - 06/05/04

Written by: J.K. Rowling (novel), Steve Kloves (script)

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Gary Oldman, David Thewlis, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane, Emma Thompson

Official Site

Spoilers First off, that is by far the coolest poster I've seen for any of the Potter films. It sets the tone of the novel perfectly.

I saw the first film of the Harry Potter series before I read the books. I didn't see it in the theaters... I had no idea what all the hub-bub was about... but I bought the first movie blind, knowing I would enjoy it. I mean, a couple of million people all over the world can't be wrong, right?

Ok, a few hundred million people...

So I saw the first film and was enchanted by the world created from the imagination of J.K. Rawling. And I bought the four novels that were available.

Prisoner of Azkaban isn't my favorite novel of the five now available, but it showed a growth in Rawling. The first two novels are fun. The second novel, Chamber of Secrets, showed that Rawling understood how dark the wizarding world could be. She was just starting to figure that out with book two. With Azkaban, she took it much further. It is, in my opinion, the darkest of the five novels thus far (even though Order of the Phoenix has much to do with Voldemort).

So, I didn't think that Christopher Columbus was going to be able to direct the third film in the same manner as he did the first two. Columbus is a gifted director, and I was very impressed with the work on both Sorcerer's Stone and Secrets... but this third film needed no sugar coating.

After Y Tu Mama Tambien, Cuarón got the ok from Rawling to direct the third film. She seems to have remained in creative control over most of the processes involved with the franchise, and good for her. I remember when Spielberg was interested in the project, wanting Hally Joel Osmont to play Harry... but Rawling was intractable in her want for the entire cast to be British. I respected her decision then and still do.

Rawling's story is interesting, as she was broke in Scotland... then received a Scottish Arts Council grant from the government to finish the second novel. The first was published, did phenominally well... and she's keeping the money in England (where she was born). I think that speaks volumes on her dignity and character.

Cuarón played much with the atmosphere surrounding Hogwarts, with fun camera angles and dissolves, fades and CG effects. All of these lent to some great scenes that flowed really well with the plot and the story. He got good performances out of everyone... I think each of the actors and actresses who have been with the production since its start have all gotten a feel for their characters... so, performances have been consistent since the getgo.

But something troubled me the entire time I was watching the film. With Columbus as the producer, I'm not sure why he allowed this to happen.

The Whomping Willow, Hagrid's hut... both of these elements were moved around from their locations of the first two films. It didn't make sense.

My biggest problem with the film is Kloves' adaptation of the novel. He did an excellent job with the first two films... but there were certain things in this film that did not flow quite like the novel. I was expecting certain things to come up, and they didn't, which surprised me.

For example, the marauder's map. Professor Lupin, James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew created that map when they were at Hogwarts... and Lupin gets the map from Harry after Snape finds Harry wandering the halls after dark. But nowhere in the film does Lupin tell Harry about the origins of the map.

This falls into the plot point about James Potter being an animagi... along with Black and Pettigrew, because their friend Lupin was a werewolf. Since Lupin was a werewolf, the three friends decided to learn how to become animagi's, so their friend would have companions to travel with during full moons.

The names of the creators of the map, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, are the names of the animagi animals... the four friends secret names.

I found it odd that Cuarón and Kloves did not take the extra time to include this explanation into the film.

Also, when Harry and Black are about to be sucked in by the dementors, the Patronus spell is cast, and the dementors get dispelled away. Harry sees two things. One, the formation of a Stag, and two, what looks to be his dad.

The big deal here is that the Stag was what James Potter was able to transform himself into. But there was no explanation for this, either. The whole point of the Stag was so that there was an additional connection between Harry and his father.

Another strange thing was the fact that they changed how they came to find Pettigrew. In the film, Harry spots Pettigrew on the marauder's map. Lupin spots him too, which is how he finds out that Black was innocent.

In the novel, Black escapes from Azkaban when he finds a scrap of newspaper that has the Weasley's on it. Ron is carrying Scabbers (his rat, and the animagi that Pettigrew changed into), and Black recognizes him. This prompts him to escape from Azkaban, to find Harry and kill Pettigrew.

Never in the film do we find out how or why Black broke out of Azkaban... an important plot point.

I found these elements missing to be a disappointment. They aren't completely integral to the films plot, but they are important to establishing why Lupin, Black, Potter and Pettigrew were friends... and, who created the map, which has much to do with the fourth and fifth installments.

I cannot say with certainty that this was Kloves' doing. It could have been that the scenes were shot and dismissed due to pacing. But I think they should have reconsidered.

Azkaban is a transition novel. I read one review about how it was disappointing to have Gary Oldman in the film, but for such a short period of time. Well... yes and no. Sirius Black was set up in this novel to tell the reader a number of things... most of them shown in the movie. He makes a huge difference in both the fourth and fifth books...

We learn that James and Lily Potter weren't killed by their friend. We learn that Black is Harry's Godfather. We learn of Lupin's and Pettigrew's relationship to the lot. We learn who deceived the Potter's. These are important facts for book four. As I said, a transition novel, but really great for what it is.

I miss Richard Harris. That was a perfect casting choice, if I've ever seen one. I think they got a good replacement with Gambon, who did not try to duplicate the character that Harris brought to light, but to create his own version of Dumbledore. My girlfriend said that she thought Gambon came off too young. You have a picture in your mind while reading the novels of this man who's lived for ages and ages. Harris looked right for the part... Gambon filled in just fine.

David Thewlis was an interesting casting choice for Lupin. I haven't seen much of his work except for Timeline, which isn't something that should be compared to this film. I think he pulled off the character well, but I wish I would have seen him more with his friend Black than we did. I was hoping he would shed more light on his friendship with the Potter's than he did. Alas, Lupin too has much more to do with this story later on.

The Goblet of Fire is in the process of filming. Everyone has signed on again, though the three child stars are growing up faster than Harry, Hermione and Ron. No one knows if the three are going to be asked to act in the fifth film, The Order of the Phoenix... we shall see. It's possible that Fire, being such a large book, might be cut into two films. I'm not sure I like that, since the first film was 152 minutes, the second 161 minutes. Azkaban came out being the shortest of the three, at 142 minutes. I don't think there will be a person out there, who is a fan, that wouldn't sit through a three hour Potter film. The problem is that it will cut down on how many showings there can be per day... so, we shall see.

Mike Newell is helming the film, the first British director of the series. He hasn't directed a film with an CG that I can remember... he's a strange choice for a director, but I've enjoyed his films in the past, so we shall have to see. The same thing can be said about Cuarón. Columbus, who produced the film, gave Cuarón the job after seeing his film A Little Princess. Seems the atmosphere of Princess was a good comparision for Columbus. Cuarón who directed this film with a singular vision that made for an entertaining movie

I should mention that people who have not read the novels will still be able to enjoy the story and characters. Cuarón held true to the Potter Universe. He didn't go off course and make his own film. It looks different from the first two films, but all of the elements are still in place.