Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Studio: Warner Brothers Pictures
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Screenplay: Steve Kloves
Main Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman, David Thewlis, Gary Oldman, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane, Tom Felton, Richard Griffiths
Grade: B+
Now we're moving. From the opening percussive glow and owl hooting zooming in and out of Harry's bedroom there is more emphasis on creating a mood and mysticism. This seems a clear declaration of intent that wherever possible this third Harry Potter film will not be filmed in a flat conventional way that Chris Columbus was guilty throughout most of The Philosopher's Stone and The Chamber of Secrets.
When making the hilariously bad Batman and Robin (easily my second favourite Batman film to watch but for all the wrong reasons) director Joel Schumacher referred to Warner Brothers requesting that everything be more 'toyrific' to maximise all potential revenue streams. The Philosopher's Stone and to a lesser extent Chamber of Secrets were very toyrific. The kids staring longingly at the Nimbus 2000 broom was a clear pitch for being the 'must have' Christmas gift of 2001 and the Quidditch games seemed like extended adverts for the inevitable computer games - the shoddy CGI in many of those shots would even suggest they advertised in-game footage.
Of course Harry Potter remained a global branding phenomenon and of course there are plenty of cool gizmos and gadgets on display in subsequent post-Columbus films in the 'franchise' (a phrase I am loathe to use at the most appropriate of times) but there is an increasing sense of a hands-off approach from Warners and the small UK studio of Heyday by now seems to have control over every major aspect of what is seen on screen. The choice of director is the first indication of more autonomy.
I fear I may have been too harsh on Chris Columbus. I watched Home Alone countless times and anyone who had a major hand in Gremlins' creation is always going to stay in my good books but Alfonso Cuaron is in a completely different league. Look at what both directors have on either side of their CVs before and after their forays into Hogwarts. Cuaron made Y Tu Mama Tambien and Children of Men. Columbus made Bicentennial Man and Rent.
My first impression when seeing Prisoner of Azkaban during its first release was it seemed to zip along at a fast pace - almost too fast. I seemed to have remembered the dialogue being spoken so quickly that even Dan Ackroyd would struggle to keep the pace. On watching it now it doesn't feel too quick other than a very thorough and to-the-point scene in which an invisibilty cloaked Harry listens in as Professor McGonagall recites to innkeeper Mrs. Exposition every key bit of information our hero and us as the audience needs to know for all the character conflicts and mysteries to be resolved. You get a sense that all the events of Prisoner of Azkaban are tied up within the first term and a half whereas all other films cover the entire school year and maybe that change of seasons is what leads to a greater sense of the film dragging.
There really is a wonderful sense of grown-up actors being liberated in these films. The fun parts are always the supporting ones. All the child actors bar Harry have a clear sense of who they are - the snarky one, the comic relief, the brains, the oaf and the adults all know that the pressures off. This is a guaranteed payday and not a Mike Leigh-style test of mettle. That's not to say they don't show full dedication but there's no sense of worry in their performances.
With this film I'll champion David Thewlis as a fairly straight-laced Professor Lupin with a secret as dark and mysterious as your rudementary knowledge of Latin. Lupin is a warm but slightly distant figure for Harry. There's a caring and love for a boy he's never met but still knows so well. The need to feel protective to Radcliffe is shared by many of the cast and by now there's a natural likeability in his performance that we as an audience genuinely react with concern when he and his friends are in peril.
Michael Gambon took the tricky step of replacing the now deceased Richard Harris as top wizard headmaster Professor Dumbledore. Whilst it's sad to see Harris gone it would seem that Gambon was a more appropriate age and physical state to take the reins from here on anyway as the increased physical presence meant that there needed to be a more sprightly body ready for action. There's also a sense the hippie in Gambon's groovier interpretation. Harris had a twinkle in his eye that says he sympathises with a child's sense of mischief and adventure. Gambon has one that suggests he still gets up to it himself whenever possible.
Prisoner of Azkaban is oft cited as the best of the films and even more commonly listed as the best of the books. I would agree that it seemed the best of the reads, but I would have to re-assess them all one after the other to be confident in my convictions and whilst this film marathon has been fun I'm not about to do this for a much lengthier period of time. Especially when I have four published books of A Song of Ice and Fire to get on with.
Perhaps one of the reasons Prisoner of Azkaban is often cited as the high artistic watermark of the series is that it's also the most unimportant as far as pushing the overall narrative forward. This is the only Voldemort-less story, there are no major deaths and not that many mysteries of Harry's origin are unravelled. That freedom and a source novel that - in number of pages at least - would indicate someone in editing was still willing to provide negative feedback to a draft handed in by JK Rowling means that the only key job here is to tell a rip-roaring story and that's what is achieved.
The gap between releases and filming has now widened. Whilst Chamber of Secrets came out exactly one year after Philosopher's Stone the gap is now eighteen months and Prisoner of Azkaban sees all our young cast members seeming to have aged a heck of a lot in the six weeks since Chamber of Secrets took place. Matthew Lewis' Neville Longbottom in particular has gone from short and tubby to looking like he's an eight foot tall beanpole.
Hogwarts itself has undergone some changes. Instead of feeling more like a cathedral near a town there's more of a distant, rural feel to it. The school now really seems to be in some sort of hinterland of high hills and vast forests. Hagrid's home has certainly relocated a fair way away from the main school for a start. The increasingly teenage atmosphere is reflected in the wardrobe as gone are the long flowing gowns and perfectly kept school uniforms - there's now a more comprehensive school untucked shirt and loosened tie look to a typical Hogwarts student. The final act of the film sees Harry, Ron and Hermione all running about in the jeans and jackets and the haircuts now suggest not so much a mother's touch than a thorough work over by the top staff of Toni & Guy.
The improvement in acting continues with the main cast. Radclife seems to constantly be playing catch-up with the demands of a lead actor. You now feel he has the confidence to know he can be a presence and is charismatic enough to hold an audience for a full film where he is in nearly every scene but his technical abilities still leave something to be desired. If the Radcliffe of Prisoner of Azkaban were given the requirements of the first two films he would have been completely successful, but the increasing doubt Harry has about his own history and the growing number of names and faces that he should believe are for or against him or neither or both is still a bit too much. One scene in particular requiring him to weep is quite hard to watch just because you know no tears were ever going to come out of those myopic eyes.
This review is already far more cumbersome than the film itself so I'll try to wrap it all up. Continuing on from the haunted house genre of Chamber of Secrets this is almost straight forward horror in many places. The final conflict especially suggesting more than a touch of inspiration from the classic Universal monster movie.
This film may also be Hermione's finest hour. Whilst Chamber of Secrets saw Harry and Ron having to fit the final pieces of the puzzle without the brains to back them up this story is all about Hermione knowing what's what and Harry and Ron struggling to keep up as she races from one part of Hogwarts to another. Emma Watson has always had it hardest - both in how she is expected to look in the media and in playing one of the hardest to like character archetypes (the know-it-all) and making her not just likeable but loveable. Rowling clearly wants Hermione to be a feminist icon and Watson just about hits the right balance of brains, bravery and anxiety ("is that really what the back of my hair looks like?") that most smart young girls, I would imagine, can relate to.
Coming up: Dancing, dating and derring do!...
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