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Ratings Breakdown For Prisoner of Azkaban
Rating Average:
B+ (104 votes) |
A (65.4%)
68 votes |
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B (17.3%)
18 votes |
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C (9.6%)
10 votes |
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D (4.8%)
5 votes |
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F (2.9%)
3 votes |
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Review By mpost2
The world's favorite bespectacled boy wizard returns after a two year absence in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the third installment of J.K. Rowling's wildly popular series of children's books, armed with a new Professor Dumbledor (Michael Gambon) and a new director who brings with him a much darker tone than the first two movies.
Harry's third year gets off to a rough start when he accidentally on purpose inflates his instigator Aunt, turning her into a human. Harry (Daniel Radcliff) turns runaway and, with nowhere else to go, returns to his beloved Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to find the wizarding world in upheaval. A frantic manhunt is underway for the convicted mass murderer Sirius Black (Gary Oldman). Black, we learn, has strong ties to Lord Voldemort, the dark wizard who killed Harry's parents. A perceived madman convicted of killing 13 people with a single spell, Black has escaped the wizard prison of Azkaban, a prison believed impenetrable due to the dreaded Azkaban guards known as the Dementors. These tall, terrifying creatures patrol the prison, feeding off of the happy thoughts and feelings of those around them and seem to have a particularly strong effect on Harry. Black, it is believed, plans to finish Voldemort's work and kill Harry. With his ever-present best friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) at his side, Harry meets the new challenge head-on with the help of a new ally in Professor R.J. Lupin (David Thewlis), the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, who becomes Harry?s mentor while hiding a violent secret.
I admit to having serious misgivings from the start when I heard about the choice of Alfonso Cuaron to direct Azkaban, replacing the much and (mostly) wrongly maligned director of the first two films, Chris Columbus (who stayed on as producer). Cuaron, an art house favorite who was granted the job due to his "hot" status after his recent foreign language hit Y Tu Mama Tambien and his reputation as a children's director, presents a flashy style and deliberate pacing to his films that concerned me as being unsuitable to the story. Cuaron does have an exceptional way with the camera and is in rare form here, but his problem with pacing is evident, especially in the first act. He does manage to rectify that by the last act, a lightening fast, whiplash paced conclusion that ties everything together nicely even if it also marks the biggest structural departure from Rowling?s vision (giving Watson's Hermione significantly more to do than in the book).
The last act isn't the only major change Harry purists will notice. Harry's third cinematic adventure is much more tightly packed than the previous two whose only real fault in my opinion was they felt too episodic. The film gets right into the action, leaving nothing to pretense. This is both a help and a hindrance, however, since this gives the film's first act an overall hurried feel. It feels more like a trailer for the book's first third than an introduction to the story. Cuaron has also overhauled the look of the school itself. Unlike the first two movies, the outside of Hogwarts now looks like any other castle you would find in Europe, losing its magical quality. Also gone are the neat and tidy robes the students wore in the books and the first two movies, replaced with a disheveled, loosened tie look that, while it may fit most teenagers in private schools, does not match the images from Rowling?s books.
However, there is much to like. The kids have settled into their respective roles nicely, even if they are all beginning to look a little long in the tooth to be playing 13 year olds (making next year's The Goblet of Fire likely the last with all three child actors). Radcliff makes the biggest impression. His performance is much more confident than in the other movies and a number of his scenes require actual acting, not just reacting, and he pulls it off nicely. The rest of the acting is also first rate. Gambon is a nice replacement for Harris with his performance being much closer to the quirky, almost hippyish Dumbledor described in the books, although Harris' loving, fatherly warmth will be missed. Oldman is a terrific (if all too brief) addition as the mysterious Black and Thewlis is truly wonderful as the kindly Professor Lupin, both of whom are vitally important characters in later installments. He handles Lupin's relations with Harry beautifully, allowing the character to become a father figure for him. His scenes alone with Radcliff add a personal dimension that was missing from the first two films.
Visually the film is easily the most impressive of the three. The effects are also the best of the three films with the wonderful CGI character called Buckbeak -- a bizarre, but gorgeous creature that looks like a cross between an eagle and a horse -- is the film's crowning achievement. The Dementors are also impressive and appropriate creepy, but some might complain of a resemblance too close to the Ring Wraiths from The Lord of the Rings. Composer John Williams' third go around has produced his most satisfying and impressive score of the series, mingling familiar themes with heavy doses of orchestral foreboding and medieval moodiness. A number of pieces present some of the loveliest work Williams has done in years.
My small complaints aside, make no mistake that Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a very, very good film. One that nicely continues the cinematic journey of Harry Potter and helps raise the bar for what is becoming a very good summer for sequels.
Grade: B
| | Review By veggyldy [ A ] (1 Users Found This Well Written, 0 Did Not) | | Review By larinthia [ F ] (3 Users Found This Well Written, 2 Did Not) | | Review By HP Freak [ A ] (2 Users Found This Well Written, 0 Did Not) | | Review By genietwo [ D ] (2 Users Found This Well Written, 2 Did Not) | | Review By Jch [ F ] (1 Users Found This Well Written, 2 Did Not) | | Review By Mkingsolver88 [ A ] | | Review By rkottmyer [ B ] (2 Users Found This Well Written, 0 Did Not) | | Review By vincent vanghoul [ A ] (1 Users Found This Well Written, 2 Did Not) | | Review By killbill12345 [ B ] (0 Users Found This Well Written, 2 Did Not) |
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