Directed by:
Alfonso CuarónScreenplay:
Steve KlovesCinematography:
Michael SeresinComposer:
John WilliamsCast:
Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Pam Ferris, Emma Thompson, Tom Felton, Geraldine Somerville, Lenny Henry, Matthew Lewis, James Phelps (more)VOD (5)
Plots(1)
In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry, Ron and Hermione, now teenagers, return for their third year at Hogwarts, where they are forced to face escaped prisoner, Sirius Black, who poses a great threat to Harry. Harry and his friends spend their third year learning how to handle a half-horse half-eagle Hippogriff, repel shape-shifting Boggarts and master the art of Divination. They also visit the wizarding village of Hogsmeade and the Shrieking Shack, which is considered the most haunted building in Britain. In addition to these new experiences, Harry must overcome the threats of the soul-sucking Dementors, outsmart a dangerous werewolf and finally deal with the truth about Sirius Black and his relationship to Harry and his parents. With his best friends, Harry masters advanced magic, crosses the barriers of time and changes the course of more than one life. (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (11)
That is how things end up when fantasy material gets into the hands of a playful director with fantasy and his own vision. A crying shame that these movies weren’t like this from the very beginning. The change of environment and costumes improved the result. In the same way that part three was a turning point on its journey away from kids’ books to “more", this picture was crucial for the movie adaptations. It is a blessing that Chris Columbus’ boring and uninventive directing is a thing of the past. The only two downsides are the rendition of the werewolf and a certain absence of any link with past episodes. If somebody really liked the first ones, they might not get over the fundamental change in style and rendition. Even though it was a change for the better from all points of view. Thank god. P.S.: Every time we watched this again (lots), we were convinced again and again that SUCH GOOD, inventive and unique family movies come into being once in a blue moon. Proof of this is that now, more than a decade after the premiere I have still not come across any competition in the field of family movies. And by the way, this is the movie with the best and most tightly knotted time travel I have ever seen.
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"Is that really what my hair looks like from the back?" –– Even though I am watching the third installment in the Potter franchise for at least the twentieth time, I still cannot get over the Cuaron exaltation. Rather, I would say he was just lucky to have one of the best books in the franchise, which had the potential to appeal to the widest possible audience. I am not entirely satisfied with the result, though. For one thing, the credit goes to Mr. Dumbass Kloves, whose typical screenwriting trademarks – his classic "catchphrases", weird sense of humor (the cleaning lady scene - I still have not figured out what the hell that was supposed to be about!) and the insensitive reduction of the book, have of course taken their toll (The absolute bare minimum of information about Harry's parents' past is given, and nowhere is it explained that it was actually Lupin, Harry's father and co. who were the people who created the Marauder’s Map!). Plus, then the other thing I am not entirely happy with is the director himself. What disappointed me was the occasional absence of emotion. Some of the scenes that should have been really atmospheric in some way – Harry’s flight on Buckbeak, the meeting in the Shrieking Shack, or Lupin's transformation left me cold as ice, they felt devoid of emotion, and often even laughable. I do not know how much of this is the fault of the director, the cast, or possibly the special effects people, but I did not expect to be so bored in some places. However, now for the good points: there is a great soundtrack by John Williams, Radcliffe finally got a little better at acting (although the "I'll kill him!" scene still looks ridiculous), there are nice exteriors and, except for Buckbeak and the who looked very digital, very nice special effects. The Dementors are okay, the atmosphere is passable, too, and while it seems like I was really critical previously and did not like the movie, I was not - I actually did like it. I just do not get the general hype around this installment. I could understand it with the fifth installment, but definitely not with this one.
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I will repeat myself again, I know that as an ordinary Muggle I have no say in this, but fire Radcliffe for God's sake! Although there are slight signs of improvement, he is still very weak and unconvincing especially in details, for example his acting while crying is a tragedy in itself. Moreover, his awful acting stands out in comparison with, say, the talented Emma Watson. But now to the better bits. I'm not going to join the rest with the notorious opinion of what a loser Columbus is (I wouldn't see him as that bad, just an honest craftsman) and how Cuarón, on the other hand, is amazing; they are just two different concepts. Cuarón strikes a darker chord (also thanks to an increasingly dense source material?), the dementors bring a needed light touch of horror and some scenes can give little kids a case of the creeps (keep it up). The Whomping Willow is awesome, Michael Gambon is an excellent replacement for Richard Harris, the visual effects are fine, the werewolf is sad. That’s it. Well, there’s something else. My desire for the Nimbus 2000 has passed, now I'm lusting after a hypogryph, model Klofan.
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It must be excruciating to film a year-long story from the disjointed, ever-changing Harry Potter universe, no matter what the filmmakers prattle on about in the BluRay bonus features. Cuarón has thus proven himself a messiah, whose ability to maintain a unified storyline and focus on the details, particularly in individual scenes whose careful selection is the only saving grace keeping the entire adaptation from disintegrating into a series of clumsily pasted together visual sequences. It can be seen that script editing and pre-production played a significant role here. The individual episodes, then, not only make sense to readers of the book, who, in short, want to at least see some of the things they read, but are capable of assembly into a coherent story on their own. Each scene therefore has purpose and moves the plot forward. It was thanks to this meticulous preparation that it was even possible to focus particularly on the filmmaking aspects, and that's why the third installment of all the Potter films has the most interesting cinematography, mise-en-scene, and various small quirks and elements in the second and subsequent layers.
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Harry Potter has always been a bit of a light rip-off of Peter Jackson's opus. It cleverly borrows various details, not very conspicuously, but I’ve found several very similar scenes or specific things in all three parts. In the third part, it is clearly the Dementors, who annoyingly resemble the breathtakingly executed Nazgûl. However, the truth is that this part is the darkest and least childish in the whole series. For the first time, there are horror elements, which will probably escalate further in later parts. It's not significantly better than the previous two parts, maybe just a little bit.
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