Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) spends a lot of time being knocked cold in the third installment of J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter series, HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN. Its hardly surprising, between mishaps at Quiddich matches, the Dementors, particularly nasty creatures that Ill get to later, and the amount of story to get though, its enough to make anyones head spin. Fans of the series will not be surprised to learn that trying to cram the books 400+ pages into even 2 ½ hours of screen time will, of necessity, mean skimping on the storys rich panoply. Its not just the length of the book, but also Rowlings ability to pack a surprising amount of detail onto virtually every page. The film version makes up for that loss with suitably imaginative visuals and a knack for hitting the high points of the plot without missing a beat. Sure, it would have been nice to spend more time in Hogsmeade, the magical local village where the students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry go on weekends, or to enjoy just a little more of Professor Snapes (a pallid and greasy Alan Rickman) particularly cold-blooded version of tutorial torture, but finally seeing what a hippogriff (a cross between a gryphon and a horse) looks like in flight, or what happens when a giant spider sports roller skates on the end of each leg, is a salve for any shortchanging in the deal. Kudos to returning screenwriter Steven Kloves for some smart decisions.
It is Harrys third year at Hogwarts and over the summer hes grown both physically and sullenly. The former is out of his control, and he can hardly be blamed for the latter, what with his foster family treating him as shabbily as Cinderellas wicked step-family did her. The film begins with our hero meting out some satisfying rough justice to them that renders one member of the family into a human blimp that floats with a ridiculous grace over London. Instead of being expelled for practicing witchcraft outside of school grounds, though, hes welcomed back with open arms and a spell to make the muggles, as the non-magical people are called, forget all the wizarding. There are bigger problems to be dealt with in the person of Sirius Black (Gary Oldman), the man who betrayed Harrys parents to the villain of the series, Lord Voldemort. Black’s escaped from Azkaban Prison and the authorities think hes out to finish the job by finishing Harry.
His lordship doesnt make an appearance in this installment, but theres treachery aplenty as friends and foes gets all mixed up, Harrys best pals Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) may or may not have felt a spark of a different sort of magic than the one taught at Hogwarts, and the school welcomes yet another in a series of professors to teach the defense against the dark arts class, Remus Lupin (David Thewliss).
The pacing makes the running time fly by and helps overcome the problem of all the subplots that needed to be dropped in order to have a manageable running time. New director Alfonso Cuaron, replacing Chris Columbus sugary style, takes things in the suitably dark direction that the books do at this point, even little things like the photo in the wanted poster for Black thats plastered everywhere. Like all magical photographs, its animated like a 10-second film clip. This one shows Oldmans Black snapping at passersby like the worst psychopath of your worst nightmare. The camera angles are edgier with art direction that even in verdant forests has a dark cast to it, the perfect frame for the Dementors, who are the defining image of this installment. Those would be the guards at Azkaban who are now tracking down Black at Hogwarts. These spectral, skeletal things clad in ragged capes that float unnaturally, seem not to be in the same plane of reality as everyone else. Silent and relentless, their presence is announced with a creeping frost. Their weapon is to suck happiness from their victims, or anyone who gets in their way, or souls from the condemned with a mouth that looks like a lampreys. Its enough to disrupt the sleep of adults, much less kids. Compared to them, the werewolf is adorable, and believe me, hes not adorable in and of himself.
Harry and Hermione are still sympathetic, but are no longer cute in that kid way. Grints Ron, on the other hand, still manages to steal scenes with a fine sense of being ferociously overwhelmed at every turn as the least able member of the crew, both physically and magically. Hermione, the brains of the bunch, has become even more serious, almost grim, but distinctly empowered. Watson herself has slimmed down to the standard of Hollywood sveltness and has become oddly self-conscious in her performance. Radcliffe has matured appealingly, taking on a more solid body shape and the proper dose of moodiness that comes with being a teenager, whether muggle or wizard. He summons up the hot-blooded, all-encompassing anger that doesnt know when, if, or how to explode, yet he can still weep convincingly when the moment calls for it.
Most of Rowlings large cast of supporting characters make the cinematic cut, but some fare better than others. Theres plenty of Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane), the giant who watches over Harry and an assortment of magical creatures, but Maggie Smith as Professor McGonagall, has barely more than a cameo. John Cleese as Nearly Headless Nick is AWOL, replaced by marauding knights on horseback that are studiously ignored by everyone. As for Michael Gambon, who has the potentially thankless task of taking over for the late Richard Harris as Headmaster Dumbledore, he makes the transition as seamless as these things can be, adding a bit of gravitas to the part without sacrificing a fine, though distinctly understated, sense of humor.
As for the new characters, Thewliss is suave and piquantly embodied as someone who just stepped out of the 1940s, from his tweed suit and clipped mustache, to the choice of music that he uses for his students to conjure by. Emma Thompson as Professor Trelawney, the air-headed professor divination, is fragile and eccentric beneath hugely frizzled hair and enormous, thick-lensed glasses, becoming deliciously discombobulated upon finding a grim in Harrys tea leaves, a grim being a dog shape and the worst thing you can find is said leaves. It can only be hoped that Julie Christie as the mistress of Hogmeades pub is properly earthy for a PG-13 film, has more in the next film than just the handful of lines allotted to her here.
As good as HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN is, and it is a fabulously wild ride, it foreshadows something as disturbing as Voldemort’s threat that hangs over Harry’s lightning-bolt scarred head. Each book in the series becomes appreciably longer, making an adaptation into a feature-length film more and more problematical. The ending of PRISONER is glaringly abrupt, something that the cheesy freeze-frame emphasizes all too clearly. Will the powers that be continue trying to make one film per book, or do the smart thing, film the books more closely and release the results in multiple parts? It would make even more money for the franchise and, what’s even better, make for films that do right by the legions of Harry Potter fans. Everyone wins, and how often does that happen?
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