Wonderful skilled directing and incredible film, but missing plot and story.

Rating: 8/10 (5 March 2005)

I love Harry Potter, and "Prisoner of Azkaban" is my favourite book. The series has taken a large step in a new direction, from the two first Columbus made films. An understandable choice.
What's wonderful about the stories is the way things are introduced as one thing and often turns out to be something else or have a significant role later on. A wonderful thing about the books, and therefor saying "Prisoner of Azkaban" is the best is not saying that much.
But "Azkaban" has some more important elements of seriousness and it is where, for me, the real story starts, where the fight between good and evil really starts. The two prior stories is an introduction to persons, with Harry and Tom Riddle as the most important.
So I had some what high expectations to the film. They where mostly fulfilled, although I found quit a lot of holes.
The news of Cuaron as Director had me some concerned, although it didn't scare me off, far from it. But when I heard of his work with Practical Magic on set, I actually found my self looking forward to the film.
As always the film has the same magic to it as the books, the locations, sets and magic is fantastic, but by now that shouldn't be a problem for them. Rather what is the problem is story and acting. For once the acting is of a quality seldom seen in family films. Cuaron has made a great job with the young actors, and some of the scenes actually out matches the good old thesps. Incredible to see the actors growth that way, how they evolve into the characters. This is something I really appreciate. It makes this much darker installment of the series more realistic and gives a feel of the story, that to some degree lacked in the two prior. The cast is good and solid, really works out fine, although Gambon as Dumbledore is a hard one to swallow after Harris' take on the role. But the rest is great, and most of all believable in their role, even Thewlis works as Lupin, although it is quit another direction from anything else i've seen him in.
Cuaron's feel is in the movie. It is a director movie if anything, the use of cameras and it's movements, symbols and images that is repeated through out the films, long shots rather than fast editing and it work so well, it looks amazing, Prisoner is an example of what you get if a director is taken from the smaller movies where he had artistic liberty to the major films in Hollywood, would love if more films where like that. It is something few still possesses in Hollywood, like David Fincher and others. The long shots with dialog are impressive, and explains quit a large deal of the background of Harry and therefor some plots of the future films. And they again show the work between director and actors.
The story is quit a problem, the important stories are as they are in the books, but being a director with his own ideas, Cuaron has changed some smaller parts to fit his vision and the movie, a shame, cuz somethings have a innocence in the book that the movie hasn't, and somethings are much more significant to the story than the film implies. They are the animagus-plot, Snapes connection to Black and co., some of the "erotic" feelings between the three friends, to soon in my opinion, and the fact that scenes are cut, most likely due to time constrains, fulfilling Trelawney's prophecy.
As a fan I know much of the background and plot, but I figure that people who haven't read the books doesn't get the whole picture, a shame, cuz in Prisoner there lies so many things that explains who Harry's parents is and who his parents friends is. Guess they have to read the books then.
As a series fan i'm sad that many things are missing, as a movie fan i'm impressed with the treatment of the media, which looks so great it blows me away, as a fan of both I'll give it 9, for the effort and the feel of the film, and because I know i'll be watching it again and again and again.