Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Review
by David N. Butterworth (dnb AT dca DOT net)June 8th, 2004
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 2004 David N. Butterworth
**1/2 (out of ****)
Unlike the first two Harry Potter films, 2004's "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" (hereafter referred to as HP3 to save my failing fingertips) doesn't open at Thanksgiving (it's the start of the summer season and here's Harry already!) and isn't directed by Chris Columbus (this time around Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón takes over the directing reins). But it still looks and feels very much like a Harry Potter movie no matter how you slice it, and that's good news for the rabid and multitudinous fans of J.K. Rowling's series of children's books (later to be dramatized with alarming alacrity) about a now 13-year-old orphan who just so happens to be a wizard.
That has as much to do with the Harry Potter phenomenon as it does the product on the table, of course--HP3 is neither worse nor better than its predecessors--and it carries with it the same criticisms that befall any attempt at literary adaptation, i.e., the stuff they left out, the stuff they put in, and just how the filmmakers' interpretation matches our own humble imaginings.
Having myself struggled with Rowling's lack of sophistication, patently obvious and "chiefly Brit." humor, and surprisingly sub-juvenile POV, I will admit that she sure knows how to set up a story, populate it with living, breathing personalities, and tell her tale with an uncommon yet assured simplicity. Case in point: Sirius Black, a central figure in HP3, is actually introduced (or at the very least mentioned) on page 16 of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"! Now that's forward thinking...
The gang's all here in HP3 of course: Harry, Ron, Hermione, the Dursleys, Hagrid, Professor McGonagall, Severus Snape, Draco Malfoy, all wistfully realized by the very same actors as before (with the exception of Albus Dumbledore--Michael Gambon steps in for the late Richard Harris without missing a beat). And there are some typically decent additions: Emma Thompson as Professor Sybil Trelawney, David Thewlis (remember him from Mike Leigh's "Naked"?) as black arts master Professor Lupin, Timothy Spall (another Mike Leigh favorite) as the ratty Peter Pettigrew, and yes that's Gary Oldman as the eponymous prisoner himself, with a chamber full of secrets--and a very animated wanted poster--all his own.
"The Prisoner of Azkaban" is the one, lest you've forgotten, that features Harry, in his third year at Hogwarts, attaining greater insight into the betrayal and tragic death of his parents while being pursued by an escaped murderer (Black) and ghoulish, life-sucking Dementors (whose first appearance, parents of little ones take note, should have garnered the film a PG-13, not PG, rating).
Personally I had higher hopes for this film, given Cuarón's involvement (his "A Little Princess," an adaptation of another beloved children's book, and "Y Tu Mamá También" were two of my ten best films of 1995 and 2001 respectively), but the worst you can say about HP3 is that it's more of the same... and endlessly so (almost two-and-a-half hours by the time John Williams's unmemorable score drones to a close). The hippogriff, made unnecessarily central, is decent; the werewolf, necessarily central, is ludicrous; and they should have done more with the Marauder's Map.
Otherwise "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" is a dependable and easygoing entry in the ever dependable and ongoing series.
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David N. Butterworth
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