Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

There are certain films that come out that are simply amazing. It might be for a totally original story or awesome special effects or for one of many other reasons. That's how I've always felt about the Harry Potter films. It is probably the only series I can remember thinking how I so wish I was an actor so I could be in something like this. On another level these films have the same affect on me in the sense that it motivates me to want to create something that is just as entertaining.

"Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" is without a doubt the most emotionally driven of the three films. The tone is a lot darker and there is a lot more anger and sadness then the previous two films because more things about Harry's past are starting to come to light. This film is also different from the first two in other ways. Alfonso Cuarón is the director for this one instead of Chris Columbus and the stylistic differences are noticeable right off the bat. His use of a hand held camera is very obvious in one of the first scenes, plus there is a lot more camera movement than in the first two films. There is also a lot more time spent outside of the classrooms so there is a lack of wizard's robes which are common in the previous installments.

Having actually read the book there are a few things that annoyed me a little. The first is that there are a lot of things in the book that was cut out of the film. Of course there is no surprise that this was going to happen but I would have liked to seen more of the scenes from the book in the film; especially the actual ending from the book. I just think the ending in the book would have been more sentimental than the one that was on screen. There were a couple of things that were also downplayed which I thought might have been better to have elaborated on. Those were the relationship between Ron's rat and Hermione's cat and actually going into more depth on the Dementors and how truly deadly they were. Two things bothered me a bit. The first was that it seemed that different locations were used for places that were already established in the other films. The woods surrounding Hagrid's hut didn't have the mass that it had in the other films. Also the willow tree that was seen in the second film as being next to the castle in now away from the castle in this film. (I'm assuming that these trees are the same because of what I read in the books). The second was having Michael Gambon play Dumbledore instead of Richard Harris. Harris had a great combination of quiet strength and sensitivity to his performance while Gambon seemed to be more energetic and active which, in my mind, changed the character somehow. But honestly, how can you replace a legend?

Even though I have been critical of some of the things that I saw on screen I still think in terms of story that this is the best Harry Potter film as of yet. All three main actors will be returning for the 4th film, which is filming now and is scheduled to be released in November of 2005. Hopefully they will match the amazing nature of this film, if not surpass it altogether.

3 1/2 Stars of out 4

Woah. Considering how much they had to cut from the third book, I'm surprised they're going to attempt the fourth. Course, they need to realize that most of us HP addicts would probably sit through the whole movie, even if it was five hours long. ^_^

I don't think the reviewer in the link above has read any of the books. After all, in the fifth book, it's revealed *why* Harry's staying with the Durslys (I know that's misspelled, but I don't care. ^_^).

I really enjoyed the movie, though I did miss a lot of what was cut out and the original Dumbledore. But there's not a lot they can do about actors dying, I guess. It's really an entertaining movie, whether or not you like the books (though if you hate the books, I wouldn't recommend the movies).

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If this is how much they cut in the Prisoner of Azkaban ....How much more will they need to cut for Goblet of Fire?

Have not seen it yet..but some trivia for ya...The Australian Censorship Board..placed a M15+ rating for the movie which caused a stir here a couple of weeks ago...until they relented and gave it a PG rating..

Seems certain scenes scared the little mites..<eep!..checked the scene with the dementor on the train from the tailer..and nearly jumped out of my seat an whimpered piteously trembling under the house@

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Shoot first..ask questions later!

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Shoot first..ask questions later!

Oh yeah, I know that. It's just the rating on this one that had me puzzled. Or at least the suggested M15. I wouldn't be surprised (if they keep doing them) for the movies to start getting a PG13 rating. But not this one.

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