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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2-Disc Widescreen Edition)

List price:	~~$29.98~~
Our price:	$19.49 that is 35% off!
Media:	DVD
Directed by:	Alfonso Cuarón
Starring:	Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson (II)
Release date:	23 November, 2004

Average user rating: Average user rating: 2

Death to Cuaron

I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan and "Prisoner of Azkaban" is my favorite book in the series so far. I was looking very foward to seeing this movie. After seeing it, I was very disappointed. Cuaron, the new director, butchered the original story. There was many mistakes and there were too many things left out of the movie.
Cuaron changed the entire setting of Hogwarts. The grounds were completely changed. He added a stupid bridge to get into the school and changed the location of the Gryffindor common room.
Many scenes from the book were also left out. Cuaron did not put in the back story of the Marauder's Map, how Moody, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs were Harry's father and his friends. There were very little scenes of Harry and his friends in class. The movie ended without closure like the first two. It ended, instead of them leaving on the train of the End of the Year Feast, ended with a freeze-frame of Harry flying on his Firebolt. There is much more that was changed or left out, but there isn't enough time to mention it all.
On a whole the movie was ok, but for fans of the book the movie did not live up to the story. Cuaron should be charged with TREASON for this abomination!

Could've been a contender

'Prisoner of Azkaban' is, in some ways, a vast improvement over the Chris Columbus-led Potter adventures. For one thing, it feels like a real FILM, as opposed to a book report! But that brings me to my complaints. The movie is just too dark. Some people think "dark" equals "good" by default, but it doesn't. That tone isn't appropriate for Harry's third year. A lot of groundwork for future novels/films is laid in this outing, but really nothing terribly "dark" happens in the book. This tone would perfectly fit a film version of 'Order of the Phoenix' -- number five in the series -- but here it seems forced and out of place. Moreover (and as someone else mentioned) fairly crucial plot details are dropped in the adaptation from book to screen. Consequently the Marauder's Map and the Patronus Charm feels like contrivances to resolve the A and B-plots rather than crucial links to Harry's family and heritage. I live for the day when Warner Bros. hires a competent screenwriter to adapt the Potter franchise. As it stands, the damage is done and the sad fact is that it would've taken just fifteen seconds of screen time to clear up these details.

But hey, at least it's "dark"!!!!! :(

A Brutally Honest Crtique

This new chronicle in the Harry Potter sequence is nowhere near worthy of the rosy ratings of most reviews because of two simple reasons.

The first of these is the acting. I feel that the actors preformed their parts well, but I have several major qualms with the new director, Alfonso Cuaron, about his choices for the portrayal of the characters. The first major flop was Dumbledore. The actor played the part well, and retained the look and sound of the old Dumbledore, but the lines and intonation were appalling. The literary purpose of Dumbledore is as a source of safety and comfort for Harry, but this movie lost all of that. The primary problem was that Dumbledore lost all of his appeal to the audience because he no longer retains that indelible Dumbledore quality of warmth. He was brisk, snappish, and terse in his addresses to the students, and this is a serious departure from the caring and deep Dumbledore we met in the first two movies. The theatrical lighting also enhanced this new image: the first two movies had a great deal of yellow and orange light, while the color swatch for this was more toward the cooler colors such as blue. The other acting difficulty is apparent by even looking at a poster for the movie; Harry is no longer the central character. After seeing this film, I came away with the impression that Hermione had achieved dominance in the film titled Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. This is but one of the two major reasons that this movie is barely worthy of two stars out of five.

The other reason that this movie disappoints me is the content. While I have to admit that all of the sequences shown in the movie were very good, it is what is not shown that is the most distressing. The Harry Potter books have a unique charm resulting from Rowling's phenomenal ability to characterize, the intense reality of the world she weaves, and her ability to build a plot rich with intrigues out of minor supporting details. And her characterizations often occur alongside her sublime plot details, which only add to her skill as a writer. But this movie only barely manages to capture the world she wrought in The Prisoner of Azkaban, and loses the plot entirely. Too many things were left out, many of which left viewers puzzled. For example, when Lupin revealed to Potter that he knew how to use the Marauder's Map, none of the characters batted an eyelash. Moreover, the entire subplot about Harry's father was omitted; this included who "Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs" were, the fact that they were all Animagi, or wizards who can transform into animals, or why Harry's patronus was a stag. I feel that this is likely connected to Harry no longer being a central character in the movie bearing his name. Overall, I feel that this movie strays dangerously close to what Christopher Coloumbus alluded to wanting to do with the Harry Potter series, take all the action sequences from all the books, and combine them into a single movie.

In conclusion, I feel that this film seriously undermines the characters and mutilates the plot. By changing the character focus and leaving out central story elements, this movie not only poorly portrays this book, but also changes things so considerably that it will be a huge hurdle to recover from these blunders in the Harry Potter movies to come.