"Better But Barely"

Harry Potter
and the Prisoner of Azkaban

directed by Alfonso Cuaron
screenplay by Steven Kloves
based on the novel by J.K. Rowling
 
          The third Harry Potter film begins with the most obvious masturbation metaphor since Spider-Man woke up in his own web. To say that new director Alfonso Cuaron brings the character and franchise into a level more mature than Chris Columbus would allow is to say too much. Instead, as the boy wizard enters his teenage years, the films enter an awkward stage too, gaining confusion as this installment takes liberties with the book and inconsistently steps sideways, not forward, from the previous two.
        After an overlong sequence of spectacle that might have been sufficiently replaced with more important scenes from the book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban arrives at a somewhat re-imagined Hogwarts with a slightly different headmaster (Michael Gambon taking over for the late Richard Harris), neither emitting the same cordial impression undertaken with fantastic wonder in The Sorcerer’s Stone. The titular prisoner is Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) convicted as an aid in the murder of Harry’s parents now assumed a threat to the boy. Patrolling, though not protecting, the school’s every entrance are Azkaban’s guardian Dementors, creepy beings resembling grim reapers and effective as vacuums of life wherever they go.
          That this sounds reminiscent of the Nothing from Wolfgang Petersen’s The Neverending Story is a stretch but one scene in which Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) rides a hippogriff does evoke memories of Sebastian riding atop Falcor while serving no other purpose for a character already delighted with the experience of flying via broomstick. Another scene borrows from Jurassic Park sharing also with that film an unlikely deviation from its source and yet another moment may remind its audience of Back to the Future II. While Columbus’ most apparent tribute was to the more classic North by Northwest, Cuaron wins with his original setups, utilizing more movement of the camera as well as more movement in front of it. His use of background space during certain expository sequences is admirable yet plenty of time still remains for the occasional constraint of talking heads.
           The main problems with Cuaron, though, are also related to his creativity. By not following with the same uninspired literalness, he alienates fans, particularly in his failure to properly explain the logic of his alterations. When other movies like X-Men or Spider-Man veer away from familiar continuity, they succeed in their providing acceptable and excusable origins as substitute. Those who haven’t read the book are also alienated and sometimes confused as the film is rushed, choppy and without adequate development. Most of the players are no longer in need of introduction, but neither should they be as completely bankrupt of character. As for new additions, Gary Oldman and Julie Christie have never been so ignored while Emma Thompson has never been such a travesty. Only David Thewlis, as the school’s replacement professor of defense against the dark arts, Remus Lupin, brings appeal to his role, more an intriguing mystery than depthless device.
        In the end, Alfonso Cuaron is a welcome change but hardly an Irvin Kirshner for a new generation (at least he had Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan as foundation while Cuaron is still stuck with the cursory Steve Kloves). His film, while fuller in flavor, still lacks substance. Compared to their books, Prisoner of Azkaban is no more about destiny and penalty than Chamber of Secrets is about celebrity. The franchise relies primarily on the plot and effects, leaving the best parts to those still willing to read Rowling’s text. At least after three films, the author is finally established as more than another cinematically congruent novelist and any reader of the series knows that there is more maturity to be found in the characters and the stories than any of the adaptations will illustrate.

Expectation Key


there's no possible way we will even see this

we'll eventually see this but we aren't really expecting much

anticipating the release of this one but we're sure to be left unsatisfied

such high expectation of this film only leaves room for disappointment