Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
I'm not a huge Harry Potter fan.
This is not to say that I don't appreciate Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling has brought fantasy to adults and children everywhere, and I'm extremely grateful for it. However, a lot of what she wrote is familiar to fans of fantasy - indeed, in some ways she's slyly retelling the Arthurian myth (oops, did I give that away?).
As a result, I haven't read the books. So my critique of the movie is based on solely the movie standing on its own. This is important - the two women that I went to see it with missed flaws that confused me because they knew the backstory. If you're a raving Harry Potter fan, move on, there's nothing to see here. If you're an average Joe who may not be intimately familiar with the Harry Potter series, then we can commiserate.
The movie starts with Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) finally doing what we've always wanted him to do - teach those muggle bullies a lesson. Indeed, much of this movie has wand waving and pointing in a manner that suggest harm if not death. Right away, we understand that Harry is mad and he's not going to take it anymore.
Harry runs away from home, only to get picked up by a bus for homeless wizards. This wacky bus phases in and out of traffic, whips around hairpin turns, and is cheerfully narrated by a Jamaican shrunken head, all the while providing comfortable sleeping arrangements for down-on-their-luck wizards. From there it's off to the Leaky Cauldron. Fortunately, Harry doesn't get in trouble for "blowing up his aunt" - indeed, he is curiously free of all penalties or retribution for his unseemly magical behavior. Without repercussions or real consequences for his actions, Harry is united with his old friends Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Gint) and sent off to school, Monster Manual (that's an inside joke for you role-players) and all.
It's there that Harry discovers none other than Sirius Black, a wizard who escaped from Azkaban, hunts him. The Dementors, a Ringwraith-like series of black shrouded floating ghosts who suck the life out of the living, in turn hunt Sirius. But who is Sirius really hunting and why?
Because the Dementors are the long arm of the law, so to speak, they are tolerated at the school, but the headmaster (Michael Gambon, filling big shoes left by Richard Harris) warns that no one should "give the Dementors a reason" to harm a student.
That introduction pretty much sums up the problem with the movie. The Prisoner of Azkaban wants to be grown up. The Dementors genuinely threaten Harry, and he deals with very real feelings of rage and frustration. He picks fights with bullies, struggles with classes, and kids whisper behind his back. But there are consequences for such actions and the movie often fails to take them into account.
For example, Hermione is granted some exceedingly powerful magic that enables her to take two classes at the same time (!) and yet Harry isn't allowed on a school trip because he can't get a signed permission form from his stepparents. Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane), now an instructor for the exotic beasts class, exposes his students to a dangerous hippogriff and, duh, somebody gets hurt. Harry gets in trouble for using a magical map that shows the location of everyone in the school, but it's apparently okay for the kids to play quidditch in the middle of a lightning storm. You know, the game where they fly on broomsticks chasing flying METAL BALLS. Should we be surprised that someone gets hit by lightning? In comparison, Harry's encounter with Dementors seems tame.
There are also some strange plot choices, such as having not one but two beings that transform into canines. Are viewers sophisticated enough to know the difference between a Grimm - a gigantic black moor hound - and a werewolf? Most unforgivable is the Massive Deus Ex Machina that is poorly explained and abruptly introduced, but manages to conveniently wraps up every loose end.
That said, Prisoner of Azkaban is a beautifully visualized movie, a sort of Gormenghast version of the earlier cheery installments. Alfonso Cuaron films everything through a dark lens, but with a humorous aside. Yes, this is a darker, scarier movie, but it's all in fun.
The actors are a mixed bag. Radcliffe doesn't display a lot of range in a role that demands much - weeping is not his forte. Gint isn't much better. His character is still a caricature, a bumbling scaredy cat that seems a little too attached to his pet rat Scabbers. The nature of the pets are never truly explained - are they familiars and thus important to magic or merely pets? If they're just pets, why would the school tolerate them? If they're familiars, Ron should be in big trouble for repeatedly losing Scabbers.
David Thewlis is superb as Professor Lupin, alternately playing a sad and extremely intelligent professor who once knew Harry's parents. Equally engaging is Professor Snape (Alan Rickman). Throw in Gary Oldman as Sirius Black and you've got three excellent actors at the top of their game. Unfortunately, the new Dumbledore simply does not have the weary, measured wisdom that Harris brought to the role. Dumbledore feels like a younger guy in a wig and moustache.
The true star of this movie is Watson. Like Harry, she experiences all stages of teen drama, from fright to frustration to just plain fist-fightin' mad and displays all of them with the prowess of a professional actress. Watson gets my vote for the one most likely to "survive" (in the way the Star Wars cast survived) this series when it ends.
Ultimately, those who love the book will love this movie. But as an outsider looking in, it seemed like a lot was left out. My wife was able to fill in the blanks, but she shouldn't have to.
This is not to say that I don't appreciate Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling has brought fantasy to adults and children everywhere, and I'm extremely grateful for it. However, a lot of what she wrote is familiar to fans of fantasy - indeed, in some ways she's slyly retelling the Arthurian myth (oops, did I give that away?).
As a result, I haven't read the books. So my critique of the movie is based on solely the movie standing on its own. This is important - the two women that I went to see it with missed flaws that confused me because they knew the backstory. If you're a raving Harry Potter fan, move on, there's nothing to see here. If you're an average Joe who may not be intimately familiar with the Harry Potter series, then we can commiserate.
The movie starts with Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) finally doing what we've always wanted him to do - teach those muggle bullies a lesson. Indeed, much of this movie has wand waving and pointing in a manner that suggest harm if not death. Right away, we understand that Harry is mad and he's not going to take it anymore.
Harry runs away from home, only to get picked up by a bus for homeless wizards. This wacky bus phases in and out of traffic, whips around hairpin turns, and is cheerfully narrated by a Jamaican shrunken head, all the while providing comfortable sleeping arrangements for down-on-their-luck wizards. From there it's off to the Leaky Cauldron. Fortunately, Harry doesn't get in trouble for "blowing up his aunt" - indeed, he is curiously free of all penalties or retribution for his unseemly magical behavior. Without repercussions or real consequences for his actions, Harry is united with his old friends Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Gint) and sent off to school, Monster Manual (that's an inside joke for you role-players) and all.
It's there that Harry discovers none other than Sirius Black, a wizard who escaped from Azkaban, hunts him. The Dementors, a Ringwraith-like series of black shrouded floating ghosts who suck the life out of the living, in turn hunt Sirius. But who is Sirius really hunting and why?
Because the Dementors are the long arm of the law, so to speak, they are tolerated at the school, but the headmaster (Michael Gambon, filling big shoes left by Richard Harris) warns that no one should "give the Dementors a reason" to harm a student.
That introduction pretty much sums up the problem with the movie. The Prisoner of Azkaban wants to be grown up. The Dementors genuinely threaten Harry, and he deals with very real feelings of rage and frustration. He picks fights with bullies, struggles with classes, and kids whisper behind his back. But there are consequences for such actions and the movie often fails to take them into account.
For example, Hermione is granted some exceedingly powerful magic that enables her to take two classes at the same time (!) and yet Harry isn't allowed on a school trip because he can't get a signed permission form from his stepparents. Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane), now an instructor for the exotic beasts class, exposes his students to a dangerous hippogriff and, duh, somebody gets hurt. Harry gets in trouble for using a magical map that shows the location of everyone in the school, but it's apparently okay for the kids to play quidditch in the middle of a lightning storm. You know, the game where they fly on broomsticks chasing flying METAL BALLS. Should we be surprised that someone gets hit by lightning? In comparison, Harry's encounter with Dementors seems tame.
There are also some strange plot choices, such as having not one but two beings that transform into canines. Are viewers sophisticated enough to know the difference between a Grimm - a gigantic black moor hound - and a werewolf? Most unforgivable is the Massive Deus Ex Machina that is poorly explained and abruptly introduced, but manages to conveniently wraps up every loose end.
That said, Prisoner of Azkaban is a beautifully visualized movie, a sort of Gormenghast version of the earlier cheery installments. Alfonso Cuaron films everything through a dark lens, but with a humorous aside. Yes, this is a darker, scarier movie, but it's all in fun.
The actors are a mixed bag. Radcliffe doesn't display a lot of range in a role that demands much - weeping is not his forte. Gint isn't much better. His character is still a caricature, a bumbling scaredy cat that seems a little too attached to his pet rat Scabbers. The nature of the pets are never truly explained - are they familiars and thus important to magic or merely pets? If they're just pets, why would the school tolerate them? If they're familiars, Ron should be in big trouble for repeatedly losing Scabbers.
David Thewlis is superb as Professor Lupin, alternately playing a sad and extremely intelligent professor who once knew Harry's parents. Equally engaging is Professor Snape (Alan Rickman). Throw in Gary Oldman as Sirius Black and you've got three excellent actors at the top of their game. Unfortunately, the new Dumbledore simply does not have the weary, measured wisdom that Harris brought to the role. Dumbledore feels like a younger guy in a wig and moustache.
The true star of this movie is Watson. Like Harry, she experiences all stages of teen drama, from fright to frustration to just plain fist-fightin' mad and displays all of them with the prowess of a professional actress. Watson gets my vote for the one most likely to "survive" (in the way the Star Wars cast survived) this series when it ends.
Ultimately, those who love the book will love this movie. But as an outsider looking in, it seemed like a lot was left out. My wife was able to fill in the blanks, but she shouldn't have to.
posted by talien | 9:09 AM
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