Do you think that Cuaron actually read the book?

Rating: 1/10 (28 December 2004)

Because I'm willing to cut the guy some slack if his decision to make Hogwarts and Hogsmeade look like "prisons" if it was all just a huge misunderstanding ... i.e. maybe Alfonso Cuaron thought that he was designing sets for Azkaban rather than Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, or maybe Cuaron got all confused and thought that HARRY was the prisoner of Azkaban, thus designed a bleak setting for the young wizard.
This was a bad movie ... poorly acted, characters not "right," choppy editing, no flow at all, and the entire main plot was missing. If I hear one more comment about how this movie was a "coming of age" flick for Harry, I'm going to scream. PoA is all about James Potter and his school days ... it's about Harry finding out more about his parents. It is not about adolescent angst. Again, I ask, did Cuaron or even Steve Kloves (screenwriter) for that matter READ THE BOOK?
And honestly, who would care whether or not their parents signed permission slips for them to visit Hogsmeade if Hogsmeade actually resembled that awful place Cuaron gave us in PoA? The only place kids could go was the candy shoppe. What was up with making The Three Broomsticks a bar where underage people could not go?
Of course Jo Rowling is out there spouting the company line --- "best of the three" blah, blah, blah. What can she say other than that? They've allowed her to "consult" on the films out of courtesy only, she's already sold the rights ... Warner Bros. could do whatever they wanted with the material now.
They should have waited until all seven books were completed to make these movies for several reasons. 1.) A real Harry Potter fan may have grown up and taken on the project with a loving treatment of the material (ala Peter Jackson, Phillipa Boyens and Fran Walsh for Lord of the Rings) 2.) It wouldn't be so bad cutting parts out if they actually knew where the story was headed and how it was going to end. It would be a lot easier on fans to watch it then. 3.) Poor Dan Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint would not have been foisted upon us. Those kids need to rethink their career choices ... they stink.