Chris Columbus’s successor, director Alfonso Cuaron, seems to be getting rave reviews for making this movie darker than its predecessors. I’m not sure why. Not to put down Cuaron or anything, but it seems to me J. K. Rowling should be getting some of the credit, since the book is much darker than the first two — a trend that continues through the fourth and fifth books.

Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) again flees the Dursley home a few days before term begins, this time after having caused Uncle Vernon’s sister Marge to swell up like a balloon and float off because she said unkind things about his parents. (Don’t worry, the Ministry of Magic straightened matters out — pity.) Sitting at a bus stop, he sees a large black dog glaring at him from across the street; but before anything can develop, the Knight Bus — triple-decker Witches’ and Wizards’ public transport — picks him up and hauls him off to the Leaky Cauldron in London, where he is brought before Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, who tells him not to worry, but don’t go out. Seems that the evil Sirius Black, one of You-know-who’s most potent minions, has escaped from escape-proof Azkaban Prison and is likely out to get Harry. Harry should, of course, be safe at Hogwarts, but one can never be sure, and so Hogwarts will now be guarded by a phalanx of Dementors, the prison guards of Azkaban, who are (like many real-life prison guards) not much different in terms of evil than the prisoners they guard.

I have a few gripes. Percy Weasley (who will play an important, but not too edifying, role in the later books) is almost written out of the story; Ginny Weasley is written out. Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), who is already an important character, serves in this adaptation largely as a foil for Harry and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson). Draco Malfoy is so underused that you pretty much have to know the earlier movies to understand that he’s a major villain and appreciate the shiner that Hermione gives him at one point. We never learn the identities of those who created the Marauder’s Map and how they relate to the first likeable Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Remus Lupin (David Thewlis), the despicable Sirius Black (Gary Oldman), Harry’s father James (Adrian Rawlins) and the “late” Peter Pettigrew (Timothy Spall). The scene in the Shrieking Shack is compressed unmercifully; much of potions instructor Severus Snape’s (Alan Rickman) role disappears. Overall, the film struck me as choppier than it should have been — perhaps the result of attempting to shorten the film’s running time below that of the first two (two hours and 22 minutes compared to two hours and 32 minutes and two hours and 41 minutes) when the book itself was significantly longer and more incident-packed. What will be done with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire I don’t know — that book was twice as long as The Prisoner of Azkaban. One rumor has it that the movie will be twice as long, but split into two parts released in adjoining months. Not a bad idea, actually …

On the other hand, the CGI — particularly Harry’s flight on Buckbeak — was superb, and — give Cuaron his due! — the new look of Hogwarts — Scottish up and down, rather than English left and right — is, at least to me, much more attractive, though the new location of the Whomping Willow is a bit inconsistent with what happened to the flying Ford Anglia in the last movie. I particularly like the idea that one now has to go on a significantly vertical hike to get from the castle to Hagrid’s cottage; and getting back up to the castle must be twice as much fun. Michael Gambon, who takes over from the late Richard Harris as Albus Dumbledore, does so seamlessly. It would have been nice if Divination instructor Sybil Trelawney (Emma Thompson!) could have had a bit more on-screen time. ⁽¹⁾ I missed Draco’s father Lucius Malfoy (the sneering Jason Isaacs), but he will apparently be back in both The Goblet of Fire and The Order of the Phoenix — one need only wait one and a half, respectively three, years.

All in all, a pleasant film — best of the three for CGI and cinematography, best of the three for those who enjoy darkness, certainly far more interesting than the first film, perhaps inferior to the second because of the abbreviation of certain parts. Catch it while you can.

Estu Daniel Radcliffe, ne Peter. Dankon pro la recenzo!

Well, as you know, Trelawney wasn’t in the 4th Potter movie (Goblet of Fire), Steve Kloves, a screenwriter in the modern age, and yet, DID pass up the chance to include Ron’s famous comment to Lavender Brown in Divination class. *sad*

I really hate the Potter franchise, not only for ruining my most favorite character Ron (book!Ron is far from movie!Ron), but also always shunting aside and giving very little screentime to the amazing Rupert Grint, who is the best out of all the young Potter actors.

If not for Rupert who plays Ron so brilliantly, I’ll just stick to reading the books (I love JKR and the Potter books), and not watch the movies anymore.