The First Harry Potter Movie that isn't Just an Adaptation

Rating: 10/10 (2 August 2013)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the first Harry Potter movie that isn't just an adaptation, it's also a good movie on its own. Not that the first two were bad, but they felt more like adaptations than they do films. Why is this one better? Let's take a look, shall we?
First of all, the technicals are far superior in this film than they were on both The Philosopher's Stone and The Chamber of Secrets. The cinematography has a lot more style going on here than they did in the first two. Alfonso Cuaron is a very Gothic director and it shows here because there's so much more grey and darkness in the cinematography this time around and it looks beautiful. The special effects are also upgraded, while the first film had some great effects for the time, it's definitely aged. The second film had a much smoother look with its CGI but there's nothing terribly impressive about them. This film however, still looks excellent nine years later. All the creatures in this film have a lot more detail in their movements and design and Buckbeak(a hippogriff in this film) is probably the best example. During his introduction scene, he's always doing some sort of movement in the background. If you look carefully, you can actually see him taking a dump, I'm not kidding. There's also a lot more detail in each shot. Every time I watch this movie, I always see something in the background that I didn't notice before such as a certain prop or someone in the background doing something. Lastly, the score is even more beautiful and elegant in this film than the first two.
Secondly, the story is a lot more engaging this time around. The first film had a fun, imaginative story but what it lacked was compelling human drama. Though, it definitely had its emotional moments. The second film had a little more human drama going on but there isn't any real character arcs for our three protagonists. This film in comparison, actually has adult themes and compelling character arcs. This movie is ultimately about confronting your past. Harry's character arc in this movie is about learning to get over his past. Throughout the film, he's haunted by his past. He has memories of his mother's scream as she's about to be killed by Voldemort, he wants to murder Sirius Black when he learns that he was the reason the Potters are dead, and he constantly gets attacked by Dementors whom sucks away his best memories and inflicts some of his darkest memories. But throughout the film, he gets over his past because he learns to remember who they were and what they stood for. The scene that illustrate his arc the most is when Sirius and Remus want to murder Peter Pettigrew, the real man who's responsible for the death of the Potters, but Harry tells them not to because his parents wouldn't have wanted them to become murderers. That scene shows that he remembers his parents for who they were and will do what they would've done.
So there's some good character stuff in here but one thing I don't like is that there's this really cheesy speech given by Sirius Black at the end of the film that goes like " Even though they're dead, they're still in your heart. " Come on, was that speech necessary? Another thing I don't like is that Harry at the beginning of the film kinda looks like a murderer. He accidentally blows up Aunt Marge when she insulted his parents but he doesn't even think about trying to save her! That's just cruel!
Some other things I want to touch upon is the shooting, acting, and writing. Cuaron has a very unconventional way of shooting. The dialogue scenes in this movie often are shot in one-take without any edits and that's pretty unusual for a movie today but I actually really like it! The acting from the adults are good as always, Emma Thompson is really funny here as Professor Trelawney but I think the showstealer is David Thewlis as Professor Lupin. He has a warmth and wisdom to his performance that makes it believable why Harry latches onto him so much. The kids definitely show some improvement here compared to the first film where they were just kinda reading lines. Daniel Radcliffe kinda overacts here and there but he overall carries the film well. Rupert Grint doesn't do a whole lot but he interacts well with Emma Watson and there's some really funny moments with them together. And Emma seems a lot more natural this time around. This film is a lot less faithful to the book compared to the first two films but I actually think that's a good thing. The first two had somewhat stilted dialogue and awkward pacing here and there but this film fixes these problems because there's more attention to making a good movie rather than just being faithful to the book.
Overall, this film is a huge improvement over the first two. Better acting, writing, and technicals make this film triumph over the first two. I am gonna give it a 8/10.