Yar, you be here: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban > Customer Reviews

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Customer Reviews (94 - 96 of 104 Reviews)

Not good for people who haven't read the books
I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan! But I don't read the books. When I saw the third movie, I kept getting lost/confused. Was there even ANY Quidditch? The first and second ones were easy to understand to those who haven't read the books and it was detailed. I was especially confused near the end in the lake scenes--it could've been more explained. It led me to sign an official petition to make the fourth movie very long or split it up into different parts or something along those lines. But the characters played their roles out very well, I believe. And it's hard to keep your attention span on it seeing that it was moving along very fast and so you would have to watch every scene thinking about what scene just flew by.

Great Adaptation
I very much liked Cuaron's vision of the books, particularly in POA, where the story takes a good hard look at the darker side of JK Rowling's detailed world. It's easy to forget that Voldemort does not make an appearance in POA - the darkness comes from fear, prejudice, and allowing yourself to become evil in order to fight evil.

Daniel Radcliffe simply is Harry Potter. He is an amazing young actor. Rupert and Emma have grown into their craft, which must have something to do with exposure to fine directors and some of the greatest actors in British theater. Michael Gambon, Emma Thompson and Gary Oldman are excellent additions to the cast, and I'm looking forward to seeing them in future installments. David Thewlis is a great actor, but just did not fit my picture of Lupin. Oh well.

Although I generally didn't miss the Quidditch (there are 3 matches in the book and 1 in the film,) I did miss the scene where Harry unleashes his Patronus against what he thinks is Dementors, but is actually Draco & cronies.

The Dementors were wonderful - really frightening. The use of ice to mark their passing, and the blurring of Harry and Sirius when they are attacked by the Dementors was very effective.

I wasn't very happy with the werewolf or the Grim. The Grim looked more like a wolf, rather than my vision of a large bear-like dog (I was thinking scruffy Newfoundland), and the werewolf looked like a thing, obviously not something that would take some observation to distinguish from a real wolf.

Back to Cuaron, he paces POA much more briskly, a desperately needed change from the stately (okay, slow) first two installments. Evil's menace and wizardry's potential for chaos are much more evident in this installment. Finally, the grace notes he's added are completely in keeping with Rowling's world.
He would be an excellent choice to direct Order of the Phoenix.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
I eagerly anticipated the release of the third film in the Harry Potter series for more than a year. But, when I finally got to see it I was more than a little disappointed. Although the standard of acting has improved greatly since the first two films, I felt this film lacked the magic of Philosopher's Stone and Chamber of Secrets.
This film, like the book, sees Harry Potter become a teenager and enter a much darker period of his life. Harry's first two years at Hogwarts saw him battling a weakened Voldemort, whereas this year he must face the Dementors and escaped prisoner Sirius Black, forcing him to discover more about his past.
The book was fantastic, so I had high hopes that the film would be too. But somewhere between evil Malfoy becoming a coward and Hagrid's Hut and the Whomping Willow changing location, the storyline seemed to get lost. That's not to say it isn't a good film - the part at the beginning where Harry blows up his Aunt Marge was hilarious, and David Thewlis is excellent as Professor Lupin. It's just that the changes distract from the story. Michael Gambon has kept none of the mannerisms that the late Richard Harris brought to Dumbledore; Hogwarts had changed so dramatically I spent half the film wondering if Harry and his friends had transferred to a different school; and important parts of the story had been ignored or left out. (Gryffindor winning the Quidditch cup; how Lupin knew how the Marauders Map worked; who Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs were; why Harry thought the Patronus was his dad etc..)
I couldn't help but feel that the new director was trying too hard, making the movie very 'artsy' and taking it somewhere it didn't need to be, and before the end was insight I found myself wishing Chris Columbus would come back.
Harry Potter fans can only pray that Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral) will do a better job with Goblet of Fire.
3 stars - ultimately, to understand this film you have to read the book.

Previous Page

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35

Next Page