Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Full Price Feature
Hot damn! Now that's what I'm talking about. For the record, the
companions who had not read the books (all male) thought the movie
was "just fine." The female companions (including myself) who had
read the books were transported in ecstasy. Director Alfonso Cuaron
totally elevated this franchise from precious homage into delicious
art. Please Alfonso come back! (Sorry true believers, the director
of Four Weddings and a Funeral has the next one.)
It's darker, but the whimsy and the cozy familiarity are still there.
The kids are notably taller and more conscious of their bodies. Dear
Michael Gambon does a brilliant job reinventing the wheel as the new
Dumbledore. Fred and George took acting lessons and were
irresistible. Draco was teetering between blubbering girl-man and
Aryan snake -he brought a lot more life to his character.
And Oh. My. God. Hoogwarts never felt so real. The location
seemed more cohesive, more tangible, more three dimensional, and more
mystical than ever before. The giant clock and pendulum, the druidic
stone markers, the fairy-like mountains (Scotland to be sure, but
everyone knows Hogwarts, like Oz, is there, but not there).
Cuaron wisely retained the services of composer John Williams, with
new and old themes, but brought in his heavenly director of
photography Michael Seresin (Angela's Ashes). The camera work made
me want to shout (yes I am a nerd) and swoon. Beautiful swoops
through and across various reflective surfaces, into and out of
spaces, through light and glass and ice and water and - oh! Someone
fix me a mnt julep.
The dementors, written before Peter Jackson's interpretation of the
Ringwraiths, no doubt were a visual challenge to be different than
that perfect image. Rest assured, they were very cool. Still, we
are sorely lacking the Snape levels that we need but it is always
lovely to have him in a scene.
Cuaron and Rowling bring us new and exciting things this installment,
and with such style! Emma Thomson is divine (ha ha) as Professor
Trelawney. David Thewlis is overly sweet and heartfelt, and may eat
up a disproportionate amount of screentime (especially compared to
major plot element Sirius Black), but he solves a good dal of story
editing problems and gives Harry some focus in an otherwise chaotic
world of frustration and fear. The Marauder's Map is perfect, so
very perfect, better than I could have hoped. If you love the map a
lot, watch the credits; watch for Padfoot.
All the effects are very good, very detailed and precise, but most
notable is the very real, very excellent hippogriff Buckbeak. His
mannerisms and movement, everything is so very real, he made the
centaurs from the first film look like Clash of the Titans.
Purists take note: some changes were made in the interest of
narrative efficiency and there is a new fat lady. Overall, this is
one for the DVD collection for sure. Awesome.
--
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These reviews (c) 2004 Karina Montgomery. Please feel free to
forward but credit the reviewer in the text. Thanks. You can
check out previous reviews at:
http://www.cinerina.com
and http://ofcs.rottentomatoes.com
- the
Online Film Critics Society
http://www.hsbr.net/reviews/karina/listing.hsbr
- Hollywood Stock
Exchange Brokerage Resource
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X-RT-ReviewID: 1289867
X-RT-TitleID: 1132921
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X-RT-AuthorID: 3661
X-RT-RatingText: 5/5
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