Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
(Region 2 PAL DVD)
(2004)
review by Billion$Baby

Having being distinctly underwhelmed by the two previous entries in the franchise, it's refreshing to see Alfonso Cuaron's far darker take on the famous Rowling material. This third film has a lush John Williams score and some staggeringly good fantasy images (that shot of Potter riding the hippogriff across the water being an excellent example) and imaginative direction. The best analogy to use is that if Tim Burton directed a Harry Potter film, it would look like this.

These films rapidly appear to be becoming a "who's who" of British thesps, with many a cameo or supporting role by many UK's celebs. This time around, newcomer (to this franchise anyway!) Gary Oldman gives another stellar performance as the titular character, Sirius Black, the notorious tattoed wizard prison escapee who is being hunted down by the Dementors - extremely similar to the LOTR ringwraiths! And he's joined by David Thewlis as Professor Lupin, the friendly new teacher with a dark secret - the name kinda gives it away for adults.

Make no mistake about it, this sequel is very different to the first two films. It's about as dark as one could dare to hope for considering that it's primary target audience are children. There's obviously jokes and moments which are tailor made for kids but adults can have a great deal of fun with 'em too. Notably the hysterically funny Knight Bus (for delivering stranded witches and wizards to their location of choice) sequence with the badly short sighted, crisp sandwich eating, lunatic speeds driver and his talking shrunken head. Having said that, there is a brilliant time travelling Back To The Future (interacting with an earlier version of yourself) style finale.

From what I understand from Potter readers (my Father, believe it or not!!), the book's story has been truncated rather heavily but the screenplay is perfect as is, and should book to film adaptions ever be identical? Plus Rowling does have the right of approval on the screenplays of these films. Biggest shock contained within is how much older the three child actors look, having now bloomed into teenagers. It makes one wonder if the same three actors will appear in all subsequent entries. Personally I hope so, I have no problem with the older appearances.

It's nice to be genuinely surprised by films, and this one came as a bit of a shock to many with it's change in tone and fabulous cinematography. The Prisoner Of Azkaban is very highly recommended to all fans of fantasy cinema and if this is any indication of what's to come, I eagerly await the next film, Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire. Trouble is, after enjoying this so much, I now feel obliged to pick up the first two so-so films and I was never a great fan of those by any stretch of the imagination! I'm a bit disappointed with the dvd though.

Whilst picture quality is excellent, there's simply no excuse for not providing a dts soundtrack on such a highly anticipated dvd release of an extremely successful film. This is a two disc set and the first disc only contains 3 trailers and by the way of extras. Tsk. The second disc is chocka full of interactive features and games for the children without a great many being allocated to the making of the film itself. Deleted scenes, interviews, and a not too long making-of are provided but one has to seek them out amongst the many extras which won't appeal to adults.

But the film is, as ever, the star and the reason why we buy these things in the first place. Folks who hadn't given this film much of a second thought (like myself) would be highly advised to try out a rental if nothing else. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban is a seriously good movie. You may be shocked!