Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Cast
Daniel Radcliffe .... Harry Potter
Rupert Grint .... Ron Weasley
Emma Watson .... Hermione Granger
Gary Oldman .... Sirius Black
Michael Gambon .... Albus Dumbledore
Directed by
Alfonso Cuar�n
7/10. It's Harry's 3rd Year at Hogwarts, not only does he have a new "Defense against the Dark-Arts" teacher, but there is also trouble brewing. Convicted murderer Sirius Black has escaped the Wizards Prison, is coming after Harry.
This movie compared to the other 2 is a nice change of pace but it really doesn't fit the series. Christopher Columbus did a very good presantation of the book into a movie while Cuaron just decides to change things. His view of thinking is of not what happens in the other 2 movies or the 3 books but just his own.
Overall, I think the acting has gotten better in this movie than previous movies because the characters are finally fitting into their roles though most characters didn't have a chance to do much in comparsion to the other movies.
The visual effects were good and I don't really want to rip this movie apart because it was good, just not what I was looking for. Read on if you've seen the movie or if you don't mind some spoilers.
Warning!!! Spoilers ahead!
Now to basically sum up everything that anyone's said in this whole entire posting nest: I noticed myself that even having not read POA for at least 3 or 4 years, I was still able to remember things that occurred in the book that didn't happen in the movie. For instance: the Firebolt (or whichever ethe broom is called now) wa s put at the end of the movie. I remember it getting stripped down and searched and what not by Hermione. It made no sense at the end of the movie. I have this feeling they did it in post production and they're like oh crud, we forgot to put this in, let's just stick it at the back.
The whomping willow changed shape and location and Hagrids hut changed shape and location. Now, either place for Hagrid's hut were fine but stick to one place, but I liked the whomping willow next to the school better. It just seems better.
As everyone complains about the Maruder's map, I have to complain too. People that I were with that hadn't read the books were confused at the map's purpose and I had to explain it to them. Plus the Animagus part and anything else that was supposed to happen at that shack.
The quidditch got severely knocked...it makes sense to have that little bit where he falls off....but since they stuck the firebolt scene at the end of the movie instead, we don't have anymore quidditch action. Wait a second, I just thought of this, we never see Harry go home on the train which for people might not realize that he doesn't go home. Just seems like he's left there.
The fat lady and the knight. Isn't the knight in this one? He was a sort of funny character that could have been used at some point.
Did anyone feel like there were too many fade outs in the movie? He faints and it fades out weirdly into a circle...
I think Chris Columbus should be rehired because even though this was a nice movie, it just didn't fit in the same category as the first 2.
Anyway last point, I think they should make a POA: The remake. Will someone join me?
Rater #2
8/10. Finally! A breath of fresh air comes to the Harry Potter series! After the two good, but not great, films directed by Chris Columbus, which were both pretty much the same, something new had to come to the series. Something that could take this series and spin it in a whole new direction. Something to make this children's series a bit less childish. That something is director Alfonso Cuaron.
The titular wizard (Daniel Radcliffe) is back for his third year of wizarding school at Hogwarts. After defeating the evil wizard Voldemort twice already, he learns that a serial killer, Sirius Black (Gary Oldman), has escaped from Azkaban prison and is out to get him. In addition, the prison guards, computer-generated Dementors, come to Hogwarts looking for Black, but seem to affect Harry, also. Add some more teenage angst (after all, these people are 13), and you've got a recipe for a great third film of a series.
It's sad to see how much of an asset Cuaron is to the Harry Potter series to see all of his talent go down the drain by a truly awful script by Steven Kloves. His first two scripts were mediocre-just general, basically stealing exactly from the book. But this script, being that it's based off the longest of three books so far made into movies (and it's the best of the five so far), his first mistake is making it shorter than the first two. A book that's maybe 75 pages longer than the others shouldn't be 20-30 minutes less than those. The movie's really for those who have read the books, because most of the things that are crucial are just referenced to in the movie. Many other crucial details are just plain left out in order for more "humor" involving the Whomping Willow tree.
But now I have to praise Cuaron. He takes the mess that is Kloves' script and does the best he can with it, which is pretty good. As I said previously, the first two movies were pretty childish and by-the-book, so to speak. Here, Cuaron uses adult stylings to make this movie more open to adults. Instead of showing off what he can do with special effects, he uses them minimally, basically as an understatement, just using them whenever necessary. Therefore, this scarcity of the special effects made them more welcome. Although the werewolf that comes in at the end of the movie looked like it was something straight out of Van Helsing, at least it wasn't too overdone.
I also have to applaud Cuaron for his artistic license. In Kloves' previous scripts, he had a few Quidditch games that went on for way too long, brought nothing to the table, and looked way too fake. Here, there's only one that's short and has a purpose. Although everything had a purpose in J.K. Rowling's books, here much felt rushed and just there to get it out of the way. That's what it's like in Azkaban, also, but it, for the most part, works, since I have read the books. Much of what was needed to make the books work weren't in the movie and were omitted for the relationship between the characters to build. And it worked. You could see the palpable bonding between most of the characters. That's why this movie is better than the first two: it spends more time on what we actually care about: the characters, not how much money they had in the budget to create special effects.
Sure, I have a few complaints, such as John Cleese not coming back as the ghost Nearly-Headless-Nick, Gary Oldman's underuse, and other minor details. But for the most part, Cuaron saves a movie series from a line of childish directing and terrible writing and turns it into something that is very real and something that other series (such as the Lord of the Rings) could have used.
Rated PG for frightening moments, creature violence and mild language.
Running time: 141 minutes
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