HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
RATING: 5/10
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PLOT:
Harry Potter is put in jeopardy when a vicious murderer by the name of
Sirius
Black escapes Azkaban prison and is apparently on the lookout for all
things
Potter. Hermione topless...ensues! Just kidding, of course. The film
essentially follows Potter and his two friends as they attempt to stay one
step
ahead of the baddie and try to figure out why the man wants Harry dead
(other
than the fact that the little wizard-kid's a billionaire, of course). The
third
installment of the obscenely popular Potter series ensues...
CRITIQUE:
As a laymen who has not read any of the Harry Potter novels, as someone
who
didn't particularly care for either of the two previous movies, I can
safely
say that the third part of this children's series is certainly the most
accomplished in terms of its look and atmosphere, but also the lamest in
terms
of its story, development and conclusion. How any film with Gary Oldman in
it
can go wrong is a mystery to me (although having him on-screen for about
10
minutes is a start), but the main idea with any film, in my opinion, would
be
to actually develop a plotline that gives the audience at least three
different
acts, as opposed to a one-line synopsis that can describe the entire
movie:
"Sirius Black escapes from prison and is out to get Harry". That's
basically
what we get from the film from scene one, and a long 140 minutes later, we
are
given an extremely anti-climactic and tepid resolution, that doesn't only
let
down any sort of basic build-up that had come before it, but left me
feeling
very little closure. At this point, I'll be glad to admit that these films
might simply be for "fans" of the books, because to be honest...I just
don't
get the appeal. Sure, the whole "wizard" angle is an interesting one, most
of
the effects in this film are particularly accomplished and the continuity
of
the characters from film to film is semi-engaging, but does anybody really
care
about the one-note storyline? Where are the obstacles? Where are the
memorable
sequences? Where are the situations of peril, the action scenes, the
powers
used by Harry the mighty wizard? (this kid might just be Gandalf's
illegitimate
son, according to the number of times he actually uses his powers...)
To top things off, much like its predecessors, this movie just goes on for
way
too long. An easy half and hour of supposed "plot" could have been cut
from
this thing in order to snap things up, including extraneous sequences
featuring
an eagle-horse thingie, the rain-drenched game of Quiddish, any scenes
with
Emma Thompson's over-the-top new teacher character and anything having to
do
with that lame-ass, one-dimensional "bad kid" Malfoy, who is nothing more
than
a thorn in everyone's side...but not for any other reason than because,
well...I guess the film needs to have a thorn in everyone's side.
Furthermore,
if the film is called HARRY POTTER, how come Hermione is the character who
ultimately seems to have the greater chops? Bah. The ending also felt a
tad
repetitive with certain "time-referential" elements not helping matters
and the
werewolf CGI not providing the film which its greatest effects. The things
I
did appreciate about the film included its many cute, small wizardy
special
effects, the continued great work by Alan Rickman as Professor Snape, the
welcome addition of David Thewliss and his character of Professor Lupin,
the
"dementors" roaming the skies, as well as the zippy sequence with the
double-decker bus. Other than that, there is very little about this
bloated
package that delivered anything of great impact, particularly its
story-line,
which as previously mentioned, is basically one-tone in nature, and
ultimately,
not altogether interesting, surprising, entertaining or fulfilling (that
enough
"ing" words for you?) Even Daniel Radcliffe comes off badly in a couple of
scenes where the now-teen actor is asked to convey actual emotion-I guess
he
doesn't possess the wizardry prowess to make himself a good actor just
yet.
Overall, the film was gorgeous to look at (the snow scenes were
brilliant), but
bored me for most of its runtime and didn't inject any of the so-called
magical
appeal that everyone else seems to be getting from these flicks into me.
Oh
well, to each his own, as I always say...
Where's JoBlo coming from?
The Fellowship of the Ring (7/10) - The Grinch (4/10) - Harry Potter
(5/10) -
Harry Potter 2 (6/10) - Return of the King (6/10) - Spy Kids (8/10) - Spy
Kids
2 (7/10) - The Two Towers (5/10)
Review Date: May 29, 2004
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Writer: Steven Kloves
Producers: Chris Columbus, David Heyman, Mark Radcliffe
Actors: Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter
Emma Watson as Hermione
Rupert Gint as Ron
Genre: Fantasy
Year of Release: 2004
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(c) 2004 Berge Garabedian
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X-RAMR-ID: 37930
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1285869
X-RT-TitleID: 1132921
X-RT-SourceID: 573
X-RT-AuthorID: 1021
X-RT-RatingText: 5/10
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