Being a huge Harry Potter fan myself, I was shocked by how much of J.K. Rowling’s wonderful words Cuaron and screenwriter Steve Kloves (who also penned Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber Of Secrets) edited out (Azkaban is a paltry 136 minutes long compared to the first’s 153 minutes and the second’s 161); sure, the main plot is intact, but where was Cho Chang? And more of Trelawney! But then I realized this: Cuaron’s editing of the novel is one of the things that sets his method apart from Columbus’ formulaic ways; it’s one of the elements that differentiates his film from the previous two. Cuaron doesn’t follow the cookie-cutter stencil that Columbus did, and that’s what makes Azkaban into a real film adaptation and not just a staging of the novel.
The film begins swiftly, if abruptly, as Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), missing best friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson), is back with the Dursleys for the summer. They are playing host to Aunt Marge (Pam Ferris), Uncle Vernon’s (Richard Griffiths) sister and essentially a female version of her brother. She insults Harry and his parents to her delight, and smothers the Dursleys’ pig of a son, Dudley (Harry Melling), in even more undeserved affection.
Irritated by her impertinence, Harry goes all Carrie on her, blowing up glasses, playing with the electricity, and inflating her like a balloon as she floats into the sky. As expected, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia (Fiona Shaw) are outraged; so much that this time around our boy wizard gets pissed and runs away. With nowhere to go, Harry is picked up by the Knight Bus, a bus line of the wizarding world, where he learns that a convicted mass murderer named Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) has escaped from Azkaban Prison.
As Harry, Ron and Hermione begin their third year at Hogwarts, the school is abuzz about Black’s escape; but the three then find out that Black wants only one thing: Harry. They then set off to find out why, while at the same battling the greatest foe of all: puberty.
From the first few minutes of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, you can already feel, and see, something different – a certain artistic panache that wasn’t present in the two previous Potter films. Though Chris Columbus was far more faithful to the novels than Cuaron, Columbus was bland and pedestrian; Cuaron, on the other hand, brings originality to the franchise. He directs Azkaban with a deliberate, dark Burtonian flair, and cinematography that’s some of this year’s best: his artful shots are beautiful, fascinating, lyrical, and simply brilliant. The tone he sets is a much darker, more frightening one, and the magic defers from such pleasant "Wingardium Leviosa" territory and delves into the more sinister of spells like the Patronus, preparing us for the next film’s "Avada Kedavra."
The three leads’ performances are also maturing: Grint isn’t as stiff anymore as Ron, Watson is superb as Hermione, and Radcliffe is getting used to being a leading man. (Tom Felton as Malfoy, sporting new bangs, is reasonable enough.) Yet it’s the excellent British supporting cast that shines: Michael Gambon is a decent, if implausibly too energetic, replacement for the late Richard Harris as Professor Albus Dumbledore; Alan Rickman is, as usual, delightfully evil as Professor Severus Snape; Gary Oldman and David Thewlis, as Sirius Black and Professor Remus Lupin, respectively, are very good, both providing the film’s emotional maturity; and the always-terrific Emma Thompson, who deserved an Oscar nomination for her performance in Love Actually, is hilarious as the wacky Professor Sybil Trelawney (Maggie Smith, however, as Professor Minerva McGonagall, is underused).
The visual effects are breathtaking, with dementors and hippogriffs amazingly animated, and John Williams’ haunting, fresh score will leave the phrase "Something wicked this way comes" ringing in your ear.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban has completely redefined the Potter franchise, transforming stenciled, formulaic films into art. Both visually and emotionally satisfying, the film’s inventiveness, originality, and creative flair all are thanks to one man, and the true star of Azkaban: Alfonso Cuaron, the best thing to ever happen to the Harry Potter movie franchise.
Bottom Line: Intelligent, funny, thrilling, visually brilliant and disarmingly mature, Alfonso Cuaron makes Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban by far the best of the three, and the first time a Potter film is also one of the year’s best.
Grade: A
•Watch Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
•Watch Dawn Of The Dead.
•Watch The Ladykillers.