Where did the story go?

Rating: 6/10 (28 March 2005)

I know many people think that Prisoner of Azkaban was a great film and I agree that it was visually stunning, well directed, and much more mature than either of the previous films. There's more to a movie than that, though, especially this movie. Prisoner of Azkaban is an adaption of a book, part of a larger series, and ,most importantly, already extremely popular and well known. It is also the favorite of the series (so far) among the majority of those I have asked. There were many important issues to consider when making this movie.
I think that too much of the story was sacrificed for the sake of the artistic vision in this movie. If you haven't read the book and never plan on reading the series, but do watch the movies, I'm sorry. You'll never understand how much depth Rowling put into this story, she really went to a whole new level in the Prisoner of Azkaban. There's a depth to the story and details that are weaved together in unexpected ways and you miss the majority of it by just seeing the movies. Its not that I expect every detail of the book to be in the movie, I'm a filmmaker myself, I know that there are limits to what can be done due to movie length, budget, etc. I also realize that a different director is going to have a different vision for the stories, I think that most of what Cuaron did for the film was fantastic. Even the inconsistencies that were introduced by Cuaron I could easily overlook if more of the story had remained in the movie, but its not there and its a shame.