Harry Potter And The Prisoner
Of Azkaban
The Plot:
Starting during the summer before Harry's third year at Hogwarts, this is the adventure that happens when he has to go on the run after an incident where he was unable to control his anger... getting on a bus, he hears about Sirius Black, a renegade wizard who was a Prisoner at Azkaban. What Harry doesn't suspect is that Black escaped to look for... him. (From Yahoo Movies)
My Thoughts: (Reviewed by Big Pun)
Now this is the kind of Harry Potter I have been waiting for….this is Potter from an adults perspective….not to knock the first two, because I enjoyed them immensely, but this one hits the nail on the head…being a huge fan of the books, Azkaban is probably my favorite of the five tales out so far…it sets the stage for books four and five, the Goblet of Fire and the Order of the Phoenix (which are so big, I have no idea how they are going to get them in under 3 hours on film).
Where the first two films laid the ground work for what Hogwarts was, and who Harry and all his friend are, and what being a wizard is all about….Azkaban gets into the meat of the characters and story…the evil that lurks out there…we start to see what Voldemort and the evil brought on the wizard world is all about….we are introduced a new, pivotal characters in Sirius Black and Professor Lupin, both are more than they seem….Literally….
The story picks up in year three at Hogwarts as Harry is preparing to head off to school…the movie opens, as do the books, with Harry at the home of the Dursley’s, his ultra mean aunt and uncle….a very funny scene ensues which leads Harry to a quick exit where he is picked up on a bus for runaway wizards…it is here that he first hears of the mysterious Black who has escaped from Azkaban, something no one has ever done…and early on we see that everyone is looking out for Harry because they believe that Black is heading straight for him….
Back at Hogwarts, there have been a few changes with Hagrid now teaching…this was one of my favorite scenes…in Hagrid’s first class we get to meet Buckbeak….and see dirty old Malfoy still up to no good….we get our first meeting with Professor Trelawney, played wonderfully by Emma Thompson…but as the school year progresses, the mystery of Sirius Black starts to unravel until Harry with Ron and Hermoine come face to face with the man he thinks helped kill his parents….
This movie has such a different feel from the first two…to say its darker isn’t enough…it is more thematic…more detailed and more character driven…I love seeing the development of Harry, Ron and Hermoine…now in their teen years, they do a bang up job of coming off as typical teenagers…great stuff…and to me, this really felt like Hermoine’s movie, and Emma Watson is coming into her own with this series…
Other things I really liked…the Quidditch stuff was dialed down, and I dug it…not that it isn’t amazing to see it on screen, but by dialing it down, they made it feel more appropriate to the story line…less in school…there were less instances of in the class or wondering the halls and seeing a ghost just for the sake of seeing a ghost…this movie was all about the story and getting it told….I loved it…
Now, what I didn’t like….and there were very few things…the scenery change…much of the landscape of the film changed from the first two…it worked and it didn’t for me….I love the old look of the big sweeping lawn with Hagrid’s little hut on the edge of a super scary forest….but in all, this movie feels more realistic to what it would look like…a more Lord of the Rings type castle feel if you will…I like it and I don’t…its hard to explain…it just stuck out to me, but something tells me upon a second viewing of the movie, I will love it….the other thing is that I preferred Richard Harris’s Dumbledore to the one played by Michael Gambon…now, I know there is nothing that can be done here, seeing how Harris passed away…but Gambon’s character just seems off to me…again, just nitpicking on my part….
Overall, a fantastic movie and a strong solid addition to the franchise….heck, I think this movie is so unique and different from the other two, it could stand alone….
I
highly recommend the third Potter not just for avid fans, but all who are
looking for a good time at the movies this summer….god, I can’t
wait for Goblet of Fire…..
Starring:
Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Gary Oldman, David Thewlis
Directed by: Alfonso Cuaron, Chris Columbus
Rated PG