Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Review
by Andy Keast (arthistoryguy AT aol DOT com)June 8th, 2004
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004): **** out of ****
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón. Screenplay by Steven Kloves, based on the novel by J.K. Rowling. Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Robbie Coltrane, Tom Felton, Michael Gambon, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, David Thewlis, and Emma Thompson.
by Andy Keast
J.K. Rowling has been hailed as a new Roald Dahl, and her novels being the adventures of Harry Potter, a character now as iconic as Luke Skywalker or Indiana Jones, have been compared to everything from Dahl's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" to "The Wizard of Oz." As a series of films, it will end up
more like today's version of the James Bond adventures: each story arc is a Scooby-Doo plot, heightened by charming characters, imagination, and suspense.
Some five to six years from now, I have a feeling that "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" will be its "Goldfinger," regarded as the best -or at least among the best- of the series. It's intelligent and at times stirring entertainment, with something that many children's films don't have: *cajones.*
This movie dares to take it's young characters seriously, and to have menace.
"Azkaban"'s Scooby-Doo story involves a convict who, as with all of series' opponents, is mixed up in the past of Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and has had something to do with the death of his parents. The convict is Sirius Black
(Gary Oldman), and he is first person to escape from Azkaban Prison, where naughty wizards are apparently sent. He is sought by the Dementors, which are towering, wraithlike creatures who somehow consume the joy right out of a person's being. I could use this portion of the review to segue into a political joke, but I won't. The stock company to Rowling's universe returns: Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon, filling in for the late Richard Harris), Professor McGonagall (Maggie Smith), the laconic and goofy Snape (Alan Rickman)
and the hirsute Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane), who is now teaching classes. New additions include Professor Sybil Trelawney (Emma Thompson) and Professor Lupin
(David Thewlis). Again, the Potter series mirrors the Bond series by continuously building it's pantheon of British actors.
The director, Mexican-born Alfonso Cuarón, has a unique visual sensibility, and brings more to the material than Chris Columbus did previously. He's made a children's movie before (1995's "A Little Princess," which is fantastic), and
his interpretation of Azkaban is in many ways transformational. There are things happening in every visual and aural corner of the frame. Cuarón introduces iris-ins and -outs, sepiatone, hand-held, grainer photography, and cameras that move fluidly through mirrors and windows. It doesn't have the polish of the first two, but it doesn't want to either. There are distinctly Hispanic touches throughout the movie as well, such as Mexican skull candy in a
confection shop. I also loved how, for those who are accustomed to the movie's
logic, the magic wand has evolved into Rowling's version of a gun.
The score by John Williams also breaks new ground, incorporating elements of vintage jazz, church music, Celtic folk music, the lute and the harpsichord. The witches' dialogue from "Macbeth" ("…fire burn and cauldron bubble…") has been transformed into song lyrics, and there is a temporal-spacial sequence
where the ticking of a clock is heard underneath the action. This is some of the best music John Williams has written in years.
I did enjoy the first two films, though the storylines of which may be somewhat
inchoate. "Azkaban" moves past Rowling's world and the Hogwarts school and focuses on the characters, creating a great deal of depth for a children's film. The kids are eccentric (note the movie's last spoken line) and are seen in everyday clothes, the humor isn't forced, and there's realistic sexual tension. The film contains some genuinely intense and scary moments, such as when Harry first opens a literally monstrous book, and we learn more of the darker side of Harry's personality. It reminded me of children's films that were made some twenty years ago, when filmmakers knew that kids could handle relatively frightening or complex material, and weren't afraid to show it. Hop
onto the internet and you can see "Azkaban" referred to as everything from "an abomination" and "one of the worst films in cinema history." Did we see the same movie?
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