Comments on: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

By: James Garcia

James Garcia — Tue, 18 May 2010 16:13:34 +0000

Daniel Radcliffe is a good actor and good looking too.-’;

By: mp3 player

mp3 player — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 15:27:13 +0000

I heard, Warner Brothers has announced the release date for the sixth Harry Potter movie.

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” will open in theaters on November 21st, 2008, just in time for the holidays. No director has been attached to the project.

The Half-Blood Prince arrived in bookstores last summer and sold 6.9 million copies on its first day of release.

The upcoming fifth movie of the popular fantasy series, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” is due out on next summer. I just can’t wait it!

By: Amy

Amy — Sun, 02 Jan 2005 05:18:02 +0000

I thought the film was great! J.K. Rowling does a fantastic job writing the stories. My two favorite authors of all time are J.K. Rowling and Lemony Snicket. You are awsome authors!!!!!!! Great job.

By: suzero

suzero — Thu, 30 Dec 2004 07:58:45 +0000

What a relief to see this after the dog’s breakfast that Chris Columbus made of the first two. How did someone with that little talent ever get to be a Hollywood director? Any doubts I may have had about a non-Brit directing such a British film were unfounded. Alfonso Cuaron did an excellent job in my opinion, although I must be careful not to confuse his (good) direction with my relief at a better film than the first two if you see what I mean.

David Thewlis was excellent and Gary Oldman was barely recognizable as there were very few close-ups of him during his scarce screentime. The three young actors playing Harry, Ron and Hermione had obviously matured, but I think credit goes to Cuaron for directing them better rather than them having suddenyl developed better acting skills. There were still some moments that made me grimace at the bad delivery of lines, but muuuuuch less than in 1+2 (sorry, I cannot help but keep comparing).

Arjan, you mentioned the changing of the sets quite negatively, which I can understand in terms of continuity, but to be honest, I am glad Cuaron dared to break with Columbus’ brightly coloured versions. this looked so much more like England / Scotland, with cloudy skies and thunderstorms.

The visualization of the Dementors was totally different than I had imagined whilst reading the book, but worked very well. Cuaron succesfully used IMAGES to convey certain information in a beautiful and subtle way compared to Columbus’ reliance on dialogue (delivered badly most of the time).

As it is such a long time ago since I read the book, I was not aware of exactly what they left out in the screen version, although it was obvious they left out quite a bit. I agree with an above comment that Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) deserved more attention, although I lean more towards positive attention rather than making him scarier.
****SPOILER****
In the book, Harry’s feelings of relief at being able to go and live with his godfather rather than the Dursleys is enormous and the let down all the more great when it turns out he can’t. That is important for the next films/books and could have been clarified more here.

All in all, I enjoyed myself.

By: Draco

Draco — Tue, 03 Aug 2004 13:57:57 +0000

It was very bad film!!!!!! :D:DP:P:P:P:P:):):):):(:(:(:( :/:/:/:]:]:]

By: Paco

Paco — Fri, 09 Jul 2004 10:07:31 +0000

This was the more mature one of the lot. It was different, but I cannot say if it was better. The first two seemed more targetted to a younger audience but had a fantastic look to them; one of those Christmas-holidays-looks, all nice and fuzzy.

This one looked much harsher en scarier. I totally agree with Damian that in this one there seem to be a lot of corners cut. Malfoy is nothing more than a charicature and seems only there to annoys Harry and his friends. I haven’t read the books, but my feeling is that he will become more important as the story develops (and become Harry’s greatest adversary?). This also goes for Ron Weasly, who only seems to walk in the way as some dumb guy.

The only thing where I differ from Damian is that the ‘third’ part of the movie was too long for my taste. They took too long to explain the whole time-travel thing and it was obvious that everything was prepared to introduce the next movie. I would’ve preferred that time spent on the others characters and give them more rounded parts. Now it was all about Harry, Hermoine and Lupin (excellent role by Thewlis) and the rest was backdrop.

By: damian

damian — Sat, 03 Jul 2004 13:00:03 +0000

I just got annoyed at Harry’s constant fainting. I enjoyed the film a lot, trust me.

By: Julie K

Julie K — Sat, 03 Jul 2004 05:13:25 +0000

Hi Damian,
I’m not sure if you actually liked this movie or not?You say you were disappointed and annoyed so I guess these were only minor points you dwelt on?The rest was ok?

Julie K

By: damian

damian — Fri, 02 Jul 2004 07:56:23 +0000

I really liked this one. The fact that Chris Columbus didn’t direct it filled me with joy to start with because I think the level of talent that guy possesses is nowhere near enough to bring these stories to life.
Here, the world was alive. I think Cuaron took Chris Columbus’ basic ideas and strectched them where they wanted to go – where they should go. Hagrid now looks like a giant rather than a fat guy in big boots. Although it was strange to see a new Dumbledore andit took a while tog et into the way he approached the character, I really liked Michael Gambon. All the support cast are excellent.
Malfoy dissappointed me though and I thought his scenes were for the most part unnecessary. I’ve never read the books, and I’m sure there’s a fair amount of material that’s been chopped in the adaptation, I thought the story flowed quite well this time.
MINOR SPOILER AHEAD if you haven’t seen anything
What annoyed me though was Harry’s constant fainting, which just seemed like weak stroytelling to me. Every time there’s a dramatic scene and Harry’sd at the point where he might learn something, THUMP. Fade to Black. Then wait another five minutes, here’s a little more information and, THUMP. fade to black.
It annoyed me because it takes all the tension away too quickly. The scenes all build up nicely and then, when I was looking for Harry to find a way to deal with each situation or to use the information he’s learned to good effect. THUMP. NEXT SCENE PLEASE.
It just seemed liked to easy an option to get from one place to another. As usaul with the Potter films, the main thrust of the story only begins in the third act, and it works excellently this time. Hermione’s little trinket makes for a great last half hour.

It’s my favourite of the series by a long way, because stylistically it ozzes confidence and passion. But I still don’t have a great desire to read the books.

By: weefselkweekje

weefselkweekje — Mon, 14 Jun 2004 14:47:48 +0000

Actually, my heart did miss a beat or two when Harry met Peter Pettigrew in that dark hallway… brrr…

Very cool movie. Less introdution and a solid story. The special effect were so good I barely noticed them! Thumbs up for Harry!