Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and friends are back at Hogwart’s for a third year, but a prisoner from Azkaban has escaped with rumors that he is after Harry.
I thought this movie was awesome. The direction was great. He made everything look really pretty and dark and magical. I can’t even remember what Hogwarts or the grounds around it looked like in the first two movies, since they were so bland. The other director guy has no vision whatsoever. I thought he was a horrible director after watching the first two movies. I saw them because I enjoyed the books, but thought he did a bad job with them since I never wanted to watch them again.
I wouldn’t mind seeing this movie again. I thought he got the spirit of the books into the movie and even added little funny bits here and there, like the whomping willow tree shaking off its leaves all at once or Buckbeak jumping around trying to eat bats that were flying by its head.
I do agree that it would have been nice of them to explain the names on the map were actually the four guys. Others I was with thought they had just used it when they were younger, but didn’t realize they created it. It would have also been good to explain how Sirius escaped Azkaban. Other than that, anything that was left out, I thought was okay.
The movie didn’t feel too long or too rushed trying to fit everything in and there was a lot to fit into this movie. I know he isn’t directing the fourth movie, which is a shame since I thought he did a great job with this one. I hope the next director is as good or better.
Rating: A
Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts for another adventurous year of Wizardry School. At the beginning of the term, Harry learns that a wizard has escaped prison to find him. Dementors (horrible flying thingys that suck the good memories from you) are dispatched to surround the school looking for the prisoner, Sirius Black. Through out the year Harry, Ron and Hermoine discover various clues that lead them to Sirius, to facts surrounding Harry’s parents’ death and Harry becomes an even more powerful wizard.
The movie, alone, is actually very good. I enjoyed the scenery and imagery. All the computer graphics were excellently done. And the story although not exact was pretty good. I am however disappointed in that they seem to gloss over several things that I enjoyed in the book. One example (which may seem unimportant) is they read the names on the map (Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs) in the movie, but then never really explained the fact that those are Lupin, Pettigrew, Black and Potter.)
LamW – 0