A welcome rejuvenation

Rating: 8/10 (7 July 2005)

The Harry Potter movie series, so far, stands among only a few movie series that have improved with each successive film--the Evil Dead series and The Man With No Name trilogy to name two others. Chris Columbus, director of the first two films, gained a steadier grasp on his material with the second film, but it was Cuaron, director of this third, that moved the series into a much needed different direction.
Columbus, a children movie director, paradoxically does not understand children. In his films, he forms representations of children that cater to an adult imagination; however, these representations are far too stiff and too clever to be true or believable. His films are entertaining because they appeal to this adult imagination, but that can only take the Harry Potter series so far. Cuaron stepped into it and yielded to the young actors a measure more freedom of character movement. The young actors, because of this freedom, act more like real kids, rather than cute representations.
Rupert Grint, playing Ron Weasley, in this film does not rely on the quizzical expression that frequented his face in the first two films, and his punchline voice, though it remains, is clearing up nicely. Emma Watson, as Hermione Granger, has gained strength and confidence as an actress; she possessed both in the first two films, but has more-so now.
Daniel Radcliffe, as the title hero, still needs some tuning up: his dialogue is more halting in this film and he can't quite manage the clunkers screenwriter Steven Kloves throws at him--when, for instance, he swears vengeance on convict wizard Sirius Black. Despite this, Radcliffe plays a better Harry Potter in this film, one who is more a troubled loner and tumultuous teenager, one who is a truer manifestation of the hothead Rowling created.
In an otherwise cartoonish--though not unpleasantly cartoonish--first third, Radcliffe brings this troubled teendom out when he runs away after an upsetting episode with the Dursleys, his foster family. He seethes with anger, confusion, and melancholy.
The filmmaker, whether it is Cuaron or Kloves or others, risks more in this film. Some of these risks are silly, whether it is an allusion to drug use when the boys are sitting around trying candies that have different joke effects on them, or whether it is an allusion to another boyhood activity when Harry makes his wand incandesce underneath his bedsheets.
The biggest risk was changing Hogwart's locale. The terrain in this film feels natural and vibrant, and though they acquaint the audience well enough with the new hilly school-grounds, the audience may be put off, or, worse yet, confused after having familiarized themselves with the setting during the first two.
The filmmakers also risk confusing the audience by glossing over some of the plot details in the assumption that most the audience has read the book. Columbus, at least, enunciated every significant detail.
Cuaron, however, should be congratulated on the risk that paid off the best: putting more emphasis on characters than effects and putting more control into the young actors' hands. This most of all makes Prisoner of Azkaban the engrossing, entertaining, vibrant film it is.
The visual effects--and they're considerably vital in a franchise such as this and worth consideration--are absolutely astounding, Buckbeak the hippogryff especially--another leap forward from the first two.
Also, listen to the score by John Williams as you watch. It's a treat too.