Better Than the First Two!!

Rating: 8/10 (6 November 2004)

J.K. Rowling showed the world the boy wizard on paper, a place where he could be whatever we wanted him to be. Now that he is on the silver screen, the audience is given a wonderful view of how one person sees the magical world of Hogwarts. However, for some people, if a director strays from the source material even a hair, the movie is immediately deemed a failure. What these people (fondly known as 'potheads') don't understand is that the books they love are many hours in length and the movies have a time crunch of 21/2 hours. And the movies are also based on the books.
If a viewer can swallow that fact that movie is not the book, then The Prisoner of Azcaban will come off as an excellent film. If not, then the differences from the book will most likely distract from the fabulous scenery, the improved actors and the inspired vision of Alfonso Cuaron. Cuaron's credits include The Little Princess and Y Tu Mama Tambien. What this movie shows is a combination of Cauron's other directorial works. He captures both innocence and the lack there of in the life of thirteen year-olds. Not to say there is promiscuous sex between Ron and Hermione in every other scene (although there is foreshadowing of a future relationship) but Prisoner of Azkaban captures the actuality of life, unlike the cookie-cutter version Chris Columbus created in the first two installments of the series.
All three of the principal actors have grown in their abilities since the last film. Perhaps it's the influence of a new director or maybe it's just that they've had four or five years to finally find the characters that they are playing. The whole cast, new and old, take their roles and give them the spike they need to stand out as their own. They are aided by a script that does not demand they recite such wooden dialogue as they did in the first two. The script is also much braver in cutting out material that would not have helped but just taken up time. This is where the potheads get angry but in fact this is just what the series needed.
Of course, this is not a perfect movie. It still has a bit of the sense of being very rushed (although not nearly as bad as the first one) and it has some scenes that leave the viewer thinking 'What?'. For example, there are a couple points in the movie where story is going smoothly and then, we're walking in the garden with Lupin and Harry or we're in Lupin's office with Harry and the Professor. For a student-teacher relationship, they seem to be very good friends. Their friendship does exist in the book but not quite to the point where the movie uses it. Still, it's the only falture in the script to expand upon what's already there.
It's a shame that Cuaron is not staying on, but with much of his crew and the whole cast are staying, perhaps the Potter films are headed for a bright future. Prisoner of Azkaben is a better film than both its predecessors.
***1/2/*****