Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
This review is for those of you who have read the books and know what’s going on. If you haven’t read the books…well, then, you really shouldn’t be seeing the movie (pet peeve).
***WARNING: This is not a good review so do not read below if that will affect you***
*Sigh*
Why do I always do this to myself. I have to say that was the most anti-climatic five days ever. I was so excited to be rewarded with this movie. Before I begin, I warn you, Book 3 is not just my favorite book of the series, it is my favorite book, period. And part of my feelings can be due to the fact that I re-read the book right before seeing the movie.
Unlike the first two movies where I could get over the changes they made, I do not see that happening with this film. They royally fucked it up (I hope you take my use of the word fuck here will all the emphasis it demands).
Short and sweet:
My advice, unless you are okay with spending your money to see fancy special effects, you’re better off staying home and re-reading the damn book.
If you wish, continue:
I shall first start with reasons for you to see the movie:
The special effects:
-The Dementors
-Buckbeak
-Quidditch
-Animagi
-Werewolf
Has it’s moments even when severely departing from the plot.
Ron is funny.
Hermione punches Draco and you get to see it twice.
Fred and George are funny.
Dan Radcliff is good (their acting is getting much better).
The reason you saw and liked the other films.
What is my problem you ask? Everything else.
Alfonso Curaon should probably stick to Indie films. I don’t like his editing style and I hated Y Tu Mama Tambien so I knew that was coming. He’s more suited to that movie than to these big budget CGI flicks. Everything moved at hyper speed and they spent more time on doing things wrong than sticking around and enhancing the things that were right (or just doing it right in the first place). And seeing as how screenwriter was the same from the first two movies and Chris Columbus was still producing, Alfonso can be the only one to blame for the major problem:
They so severely twisted the plot of the third book it is hard to endure.
They either left out gianormous plot points or so glossed over them that you fail to understand why you should care.
What the hell was with those talking, smart-ass, shrunken heads?
Most of the story is propelled by Buckbeak and that whole thing was left in the background. After the initial incident there was no mention of Buckbeak until all of a sudden he lost his trial and then at the end when they needed him in the plot again. And all of that stuff with Malfoy is in the background as well.
You see Crookshanks only at the beginning of the movie and there is nothing about the back and forth between Crookshanks and Scabbers and Ron and Hermione until we near the end of the movie. Then, of course, Crookshanks eats Scabbers (we only find that out because Ron randomly yells at Hermione). Hagrid gives Ron back Scabbers, there was no reveal and of course once Scabbers broke free it was not Crookshanks that helped them get into the tree, Harry and Hermione fought the tree on their own after Ron was dragged in by Sirius. There was no relationship between the cat and Sirius.
They did explain the Grim but not to a point that you understand that Harry is actually scared of it or why he should be.
Harry only had one dementor lesson and was able to repel the Boggart back into the case on his second try. They make light of the fact Harry is hearing his mother and father’s deaths in his head each time a dementor nears. The most you hear is her scream “HARRY” and then he’s out cold.
THERE IS NO WOOD!!! I was so damn excited to see him again and they completely left him out of the film even though it was his last year anyway. Why?
There was no Quidditch cup! We only got the first match with Hufflepuff and that’s as far as they went with that. And it was messed up too, we didn’t actually see a Quidditch match. Most of it took place in the clouds with Harry and the dementors that now fly instead of glide. There were about 4, not a hundred, and Harry fell 100 feet instead of 50. And the Grim he was supposed to see in the stands was instead a cloud in the sky. They did show that his Nimbus hit the Whomping Willow and broke apart. However, they left out the Firebolt. I thought they were going to leave it out completely, but no, he got it as a present from Sirius in the last 5 minutes of the movie. This is so they wouldn’t have had to stick to the plot of how serious a threat Sirius was to Harry, the two not talking to Hermione, keep Wood in the movie, etc.
Speaking of Hermione, she didn’t once show signs of stress from taking so many courses. Of course, they didn’t really explain that she was taking way too many courses or that she was doing something strange to get to them all. At most there were Ron one-liners when she would show up out of nowhere at the beginning of each class.
Like I said, they took out the Quidditch Sirius sighting, and he only slashed the fat lady, he never went into Gryffindor tower. We knew the basics but they did absolutely nothing to show his dedication to getting at Scabbers/Peter while scaring the crap out of everyone else.
Lupin was…there. The showed one of his classes and really changed what happened when they faced the Boggart in the staff room. Thankfully Snape did wear the dress and hat but everything else was weird and he let Harry go up against the Boggart, it turned into a dementor and then he stepped in. Then in the rapid cut to the next scene Lupin told Harry he wouldn’t let him go up against the Boggart because he thought it would turn into Voldemort. Okay…even though you saw it change into a dementor? It was really weird. And for some reason the Slytherins were in the class. They popped up in a few classes they weren’t supposed to be in. Snape did give the assignment and his fear was the moon but he was never sick. Until the big reveal at the end and Hermione mentioned that he had been sick during the year.
Seriously, everything moved too damn fast.
Harry overheard that conversation in The Three Broomsticks, but alone and under the invisibility cloak because apparently, “No Underage wizards allowed!” Wow, that makes a lot of sense on a Hogwarts weekend. And it was weird that they had him crying after he heard all of that.
(There were other weird emotional things I didn’t understand. Like when they heard Buckbeak get killed Hermione started crying and hugged Ron, who hugged her back and Harry joined in on the other side of her. In the book whenever Hermione does this Ron gets really anxious and awkward. Or that the way Ron and Hermione were over their pets.)
The end sequence. The part that makes the book great, could have been done verbatim with the dialogue in the book. No changes had to be made. Every time I read the book I have to read that part aloud and I leave out the exposition and it’s still riveting and then if you add in the action it is massively intense. But, of course, they changed it, only part of it took place in the shack. Peter’s part was cut very short. Snape just walked in without the cloak because they didn’t use it for some reason. There was no intensity to the big scene in the shack. It would have taken the same amount of time to do the dialogue and action as it was and it would have been soooooooooooooooooooooo much better. The movie fell dramatically short.
After Lupin turned he went after the kids and a conscious Snape threw himself in front of them. Harry went off after Werewolf Lupin and Dog Sirius alone and it was a future Hermione who made a werewolf call so that Lupin wouldn’t kill Harry (movie Hermione didn’t really care so much that they weren’t supposed to change the past or be seen, which was also proven when she threw rocks into Hagrid’s hut to warn their past selves about the arrival of Fudge, McNair and Dumbledore at Buckbeak’s execution). Werewolf Lupin came after future Harry and Hermione in the forest and Buckbeak ran in to save them. Then they ran to the lake in time to see the dementors come after Harry and Sirius (who were not accompanied by Hermione as Harry ran off on his own before). And Harry was barely excited about living with Sirius. He didn’t have time to be. They jumped the scene so fast he was like, “Live with you?” and then the movie moved on.
They made all of these changes and all it did was make the movie choppy and irritating to those of us who know what is supposed to happen. And those who have not read the book are left completely in the dark (that’s not totally a bad thing because you should have read the book before seeing the movie, but it’s a testament to how much they left out, it’s impossible to follow).
I am going to stop there. I did not go into every little detail. I’ve written as much as I can remember that really got to me though there was a lot more wrong. I doubt my review will stop you from seeing the movie so the rest will be a surprise.
I was really, truly disappointed with the movie. So far my sister and Jessi agree.
***WARNING: This is not a good review so do not read below if that will affect you***
*Sigh*
Why do I always do this to myself. I have to say that was the most anti-climatic five days ever. I was so excited to be rewarded with this movie. Before I begin, I warn you, Book 3 is not just my favorite book of the series, it is my favorite book, period. And part of my feelings can be due to the fact that I re-read the book right before seeing the movie.
Unlike the first two movies where I could get over the changes they made, I do not see that happening with this film. They royally fucked it up (I hope you take my use of the word fuck here will all the emphasis it demands).
Short and sweet:
My advice, unless you are okay with spending your money to see fancy special effects, you’re better off staying home and re-reading the damn book.
If you wish, continue:
I shall first start with reasons for you to see the movie:
The special effects:
-The Dementors
-Buckbeak
-Quidditch
-Animagi
-Werewolf
Has it’s moments even when severely departing from the plot.
Ron is funny.
Hermione punches Draco and you get to see it twice.
Fred and George are funny.
Dan Radcliff is good (their acting is getting much better).
The reason you saw and liked the other films.
What is my problem you ask? Everything else.
Alfonso Curaon should probably stick to Indie films. I don’t like his editing style and I hated Y Tu Mama Tambien so I knew that was coming. He’s more suited to that movie than to these big budget CGI flicks. Everything moved at hyper speed and they spent more time on doing things wrong than sticking around and enhancing the things that were right (or just doing it right in the first place). And seeing as how screenwriter was the same from the first two movies and Chris Columbus was still producing, Alfonso can be the only one to blame for the major problem:
They so severely twisted the plot of the third book it is hard to endure.
They either left out gianormous plot points or so glossed over them that you fail to understand why you should care.
What the hell was with those talking, smart-ass, shrunken heads?
Most of the story is propelled by Buckbeak and that whole thing was left in the background. After the initial incident there was no mention of Buckbeak until all of a sudden he lost his trial and then at the end when they needed him in the plot again. And all of that stuff with Malfoy is in the background as well.
You see Crookshanks only at the beginning of the movie and there is nothing about the back and forth between Crookshanks and Scabbers and Ron and Hermione until we near the end of the movie. Then, of course, Crookshanks eats Scabbers (we only find that out because Ron randomly yells at Hermione). Hagrid gives Ron back Scabbers, there was no reveal and of course once Scabbers broke free it was not Crookshanks that helped them get into the tree, Harry and Hermione fought the tree on their own after Ron was dragged in by Sirius. There was no relationship between the cat and Sirius.
They did explain the Grim but not to a point that you understand that Harry is actually scared of it or why he should be.
Harry only had one dementor lesson and was able to repel the Boggart back into the case on his second try. They make light of the fact Harry is hearing his mother and father’s deaths in his head each time a dementor nears. The most you hear is her scream “HARRY” and then he’s out cold.
THERE IS NO WOOD!!! I was so damn excited to see him again and they completely left him out of the film even though it was his last year anyway. Why?
There was no Quidditch cup! We only got the first match with Hufflepuff and that’s as far as they went with that. And it was messed up too, we didn’t actually see a Quidditch match. Most of it took place in the clouds with Harry and the dementors that now fly instead of glide. There were about 4, not a hundred, and Harry fell 100 feet instead of 50. And the Grim he was supposed to see in the stands was instead a cloud in the sky. They did show that his Nimbus hit the Whomping Willow and broke apart. However, they left out the Firebolt. I thought they were going to leave it out completely, but no, he got it as a present from Sirius in the last 5 minutes of the movie. This is so they wouldn’t have had to stick to the plot of how serious a threat Sirius was to Harry, the two not talking to Hermione, keep Wood in the movie, etc.
Speaking of Hermione, she didn’t once show signs of stress from taking so many courses. Of course, they didn’t really explain that she was taking way too many courses or that she was doing something strange to get to them all. At most there were Ron one-liners when she would show up out of nowhere at the beginning of each class.
Like I said, they took out the Quidditch Sirius sighting, and he only slashed the fat lady, he never went into Gryffindor tower. We knew the basics but they did absolutely nothing to show his dedication to getting at Scabbers/Peter while scaring the crap out of everyone else.
Lupin was…there. The showed one of his classes and really changed what happened when they faced the Boggart in the staff room. Thankfully Snape did wear the dress and hat but everything else was weird and he let Harry go up against the Boggart, it turned into a dementor and then he stepped in. Then in the rapid cut to the next scene Lupin told Harry he wouldn’t let him go up against the Boggart because he thought it would turn into Voldemort. Okay…even though you saw it change into a dementor? It was really weird. And for some reason the Slytherins were in the class. They popped up in a few classes they weren’t supposed to be in. Snape did give the assignment and his fear was the moon but he was never sick. Until the big reveal at the end and Hermione mentioned that he had been sick during the year.
Seriously, everything moved too damn fast.
Harry overheard that conversation in The Three Broomsticks, but alone and under the invisibility cloak because apparently, “No Underage wizards allowed!” Wow, that makes a lot of sense on a Hogwarts weekend. And it was weird that they had him crying after he heard all of that.
(There were other weird emotional things I didn’t understand. Like when they heard Buckbeak get killed Hermione started crying and hugged Ron, who hugged her back and Harry joined in on the other side of her. In the book whenever Hermione does this Ron gets really anxious and awkward. Or that the way Ron and Hermione were over their pets.)
The end sequence. The part that makes the book great, could have been done verbatim with the dialogue in the book. No changes had to be made. Every time I read the book I have to read that part aloud and I leave out the exposition and it’s still riveting and then if you add in the action it is massively intense. But, of course, they changed it, only part of it took place in the shack. Peter’s part was cut very short. Snape just walked in without the cloak because they didn’t use it for some reason. There was no intensity to the big scene in the shack. It would have taken the same amount of time to do the dialogue and action as it was and it would have been soooooooooooooooooooooo much better. The movie fell dramatically short.
After Lupin turned he went after the kids and a conscious Snape threw himself in front of them. Harry went off after Werewolf Lupin and Dog Sirius alone and it was a future Hermione who made a werewolf call so that Lupin wouldn’t kill Harry (movie Hermione didn’t really care so much that they weren’t supposed to change the past or be seen, which was also proven when she threw rocks into Hagrid’s hut to warn their past selves about the arrival of Fudge, McNair and Dumbledore at Buckbeak’s execution). Werewolf Lupin came after future Harry and Hermione in the forest and Buckbeak ran in to save them. Then they ran to the lake in time to see the dementors come after Harry and Sirius (who were not accompanied by Hermione as Harry ran off on his own before). And Harry was barely excited about living with Sirius. He didn’t have time to be. They jumped the scene so fast he was like, “Live with you?” and then the movie moved on.
They made all of these changes and all it did was make the movie choppy and irritating to those of us who know what is supposed to happen. And those who have not read the book are left completely in the dark (that’s not totally a bad thing because you should have read the book before seeing the movie, but it’s a testament to how much they left out, it’s impossible to follow).
I am going to stop there. I did not go into every little detail. I’ve written as much as I can remember that really got to me though there was a lot more wrong. I doubt my review will stop you from seeing the movie so the rest will be a surprise.
I was really, truly disappointed with the movie. So far my sister and Jessi agree.