Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban




"That Britney Spears is always showing off."

On Saturday I saw Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I wasn’t a big fan of the first two Harry Potter movies, which seemed flat and lifeless, and often spent too much time on things that didn’t directly advance the plot. Apparently fans of the books really enjoyed these inclusions, but I haven’t read the books and found them distracting.  Also, director Chris Columbus shot his two entries in a really straightforward manner that made them look like really expensive TV movies.

Luckily director Alfonso Cuaron is more ambitious with the third movie. It feels much more cinematic. To give one example, Cuaron uses establishing shots of the Whomping Willow throughout the movie to illustrate the passage of the seasons as well as to set up the climax of the film, which features the tree in an important role. I also really enjoyed the fact that the time-twisting section of the movie is bracketing by a camera shot that goes through Hogwart’s large clock at the start and backs up through the clock at the end.

Add better creature effects, musical cues John Williams had left over from Catch Me If You Can (2002) and a script that’s much cleverer than either of the first two films and you have a more enjoyable movie. I wish Cuaron was doing the fourth film too, but instead it will be directed by Mike Newell.

Posted: Mon - June 7, 2004 at      

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