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TSM Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Posted by Dr. Tom on Jun 4, 2004, 15:05
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HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, and Gary Oldman
Written by Steven Kloves, based on the novel by J.K. Rowling
Directed by Alfonso Cuar�n
Rated PG; 142 minutes
A welcome stylistic departure from the first two movies in the series, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter 3 hereafter) is appropriately gloomy and very entertaining.
Thirteen year-old wizard Harry Potter (Radcliffe) leaves the home of his aunt and uncle in a huff, after accidentally bloating another aunt to ridiculous proportions during a fit of angst. He is taken back to Hogwart�s School on a unique double-decker bus, the kind of �Magic Bus� The Who didn�t have in mind when they wrote the song. Once there, he reunites with his classmates and friends Ron (Grint), and know-it-all Hermione (Watson).
As with the last movie, there is a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Lupin (David Thewlis, following wonderfully in Kenneth Branagh�s footsteps from the last film). Lupin was a friend of Harry�s murdered parents, and relates to him several stories about them. The other new teacher, Divination professor Trelawney (the great Emma Thompson, virtually unrecognizable) foresees doom and death in Harry�s future during an exercise in tea leaf reading.
The reason is that notorious killer Sirius Black (Oldman, thankfully sedate) has escaped from the legendary prison of Azkaban. Black is said to have killed Harry�s parents, and now seeks to kill him in service to Lord Voldemort, referred to as �you-know-who� in the movie. To help find Black, horrific-looking creatures called Dementors, who guard the prison of Azkaban, are on the grounds at Hogwart�s. They don�t differentiate between wanted killer and angsty teen, though, as Harry has several encounters with them. Lupin informs him that he is vulnerable to such creatures because they feed on misery, and he has had a life full of it � an important, if apparent, revelation for the character and the film.
Eventually, of course, Black does make it onto the grounds at Hogwart�s, and does manage to find Harry. Lupin plays prominently in the encounter, as well, and by the end of it, neither he nor Black are the men they appeared to be.
As mentioned, Harry Potter 3 is a different movie from the first two, both directed by Chris Columbus. Columbus is all about safe movies that don�t really bother anybody. Cuar�n, on the other hand, makes a much different movie, with a darker look, a darker mood, and no straight lines. While Columbus created a world of lily-whites, Cuar�n dropped a black shirt into that washing machine, and the result is more watchable and more appropriate for the material. Children�s fiction is supposed to be about self-discovery and coming of age in a world of bogeymen, conflicting emotions, and pitfalls, and Cuar�n does a magnificent job making the movie just like that. While the series� earlier two films (the first one in particular) underestimated its audience, Harry Potter 3 pushes the PG rating to its breaking point � a good move for the franchise, which sees its target audience aging as noticeably as its erstwhile child, now teenage, stars.
While the target audience of the books and movies may be 10-16, there is still plenty here for the adults. The humor is frequent, sometimes apparent, but often understated. The performances of the cast are great (and should be � look at the names associated with this picture), from Michael Gambon picking up where the late Richard Harris left off as Headmaster Dumbledore, to Alan Rickman�s wonderfully dour portrayal of Professor Severus Snape.
While it�s a different movie than its two predecessors, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban exceeds them both in quality, mood, and watchability. Now that it�s been confirmed that Cuar�n will not be directing the fourth installment in the franchise, this should hold up as the series� high point. 9/10
Dr. Tom Fowler
(Remove the obvious spam-killing tag before sending)
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