8 Jul 2009

Potter Wednesdays: Prisoner of Azkaban



This is where things start changing and the intensity gets upped a notch. For starters we've got a new Dumbledore! And may I say after having rewatched these three movies I do prefer this one, he's a bit more dynamic and transmits better the sense of hidden power beneath the cool exterior. Also, the kids are visibly quite a bit older here. Not just physically but emotionally. I enjoyed the few moments where you could see something "beginning" to happen between Ron and Hermione, and Daniel Radcliff channels Harry's impatience and anger very well.


This is the only film without even a cameo by Lord Voldemort, but enough of a sense of danger is transmitted with the escaped muderer Sirius Black and the Dementors who are after him. Who needs the Dark Lord when a psycopath is on the loose and after your hero? ;o) And just the idea of those Dementors has to be one of the scariest things around! Feeding of joy and happyness? Leaving you only with your most aweful memories? Sucking out your soul with a kiss?! *shudder*


I'm not sure when I saw this in the cinema if I knew then who Alfonso Cuarón was or if I recognised his name from his previous movies I'd seen and enjoyed (Y tu mamá también, Great Expectations, A Little Princess), but I do remember quite clearly that I recognised the hand of a Mexican director behind a lot of the little quirks in characters and background! Those shrunken heads and skulls all over the place? The kids clothes when they're goofing off first night back in the tower? And so many other little bits and pieces. The movie also felt so much more real and intense than the first two, like we've left behind childhood and moved into the realm of teen angst, and Cuarón managed to get that wonderfully out of his actors! Something else I really enjoyed, his way of showing the passage of time (over the school year) with the changing of the leaves on the Whomping Willow, felt very poetic... Anyhow between Y tu mamá también and this one, I've been keeping an eye out for Cuarón movies ever since and try not to miss them! I do wish they'd have given him the final Potter movie to direct as well... *sigh*


Things I didn't like so much: we didn't get to see enough interactions between Snape and Lupin (my favourite prof in the series)! Nor is it mentioned anywhere that in spite of his hatred, Snape still makes the Wolfsbane Potion each month so Sirius will do a harmless werewolf transformation. And they totally mixed up when Snape catches Harry with the Marauder's Map (of which we also didn't see enough). What about Harry's floating head that scares the hell out of Malfoy near the Shrieking Shack?! Another mix up, in the book Harry receives the Firebolt some time in the middle of the story and spends a long time wondering who gave it to him (in fact when Hermione suspects -rightfully- that it was Sirius Black and tells McGonagall the others are furious with her since the broom gets confiscated for tests against hexes and he almost doesn't get it back in time for the next Quidditch match!), whereas in the film it's just a note at the ending... So we missed the moment of realisation when Harry thanks his Godfather for it. We also miss out on moments such as when he receives the signed Hogsmeade authorisation for the following year. Or when Harry gets home and scares the Dursleys with tales of his "escaped muderer" godfather! lol! And I missed seeing Hermione storm out of Trelawney's class!


But enough of the negatives... this book is where more elements go missing in the movie, and it only got worse from here on out (what with the growing size of the books and all that) so I'm not going to keep harping on what's missing! Anyways, this has been my favourite so far, and if I remember correctly the newer ones it's my favourite of ALL of them! I'll reappraise as I watch the others...

Want to add on how I much I enjoyed all the scenes between Lupin and Harry, you could believe they really cared about and respected each other.


PS: did you guys hear about Rupert Grint (Ron Weasly) catching swine flu?! Apparently a light case as he'll be at the international premiere in London tomorrow... Thanks to Juliette from Pop Classic for the heads up! (later confirmed in my Spanish newspaper...)

7 comments:

  1. Pretty nice post, yes I like harry potter

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  2. Shame on me - I have never read the series, but I have watched every movie and am anxiously awaiting July 15th!

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  3. Hey basya, all Potter-lovers are more than welcome! :o)

    Shame on you indeed Dive Girl!!! For the first two books I guess it's ok, but as you can see from what I wrote, starting with this one there is just so much more in the books!!! Especially with the evolution of the relationships between the characters. GO READ THEM ASAP!!! ;o)

    I wish I could watch it on the 15th... am not even sure if we get it on that date or a bit later... I'll be waiting to watch it on the 24th when I get to London so I can see it in English instead of dubbed in Spanish. :p

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  4. I need to get all the movies to watch before the next one comes out. I forget!

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  5. Woah Nancy! Watching them all real close together will definitely be a strong dose of Magic! :p

    and the kids will grow up real fast...

    These are such fun... I have no idea how many times I've read the books and watched the movies! Must be another sign of my crrrrazyness! ;o)

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  6. I don't mind any of the changes except one - why didn't they take 2 minutes to explain the identities of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs?! The stag shaped Patronus doesn't really make sense without that, nor does Lupin's ability to read the map and concern that Black can as well

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  7. Ooooh! So true! I'd forgotten about that one Juliette! Yeah, nomention about how difficult it is to become a true Animagus, about all the hard work put in by the three so thy could accompany Lupin, about who/how/why the Marauder's Map was created... and would have been so easy when Lupin returns the map to Harry!

    hmmm... perhaps if I go through the deleted scenes on the other disc there might be something. I saw them a long time ago and can't remember.

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Hey there! Yes you! The quiet one in the back... I'd love it if you hung out for a bit and shared your thoughts!

I might stop by your place with an answer, but I'm more likely to reply right here so click on "email follow up comments" if you'd like to see what I and others have to say and come continue the conversation! ;o)