Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Any movie that brings out the best of the British thespians is alright by me. No John Cleese though. Disappointing? Meh, his character wasn't big enough to change the world. Anyways, Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third instalment in the franchise, based on the little-heard of Harry Potter series of novels.
For years I tried to ignore all this Potter hogwash, but then my good friend Karri (who I'd marry if she weren't engaged to some cool guy) took me to go see Chamber of Secrets & it was freaking awesome. So she lent me the books & I whipped through them because they're so damn good you don't want to put them down (Reading is cool Andy). I've read every book so far, & I can't wait for the movie versions of them all.
A few new faces & slight changes for the third one. Firstly, HP3 is directed by Alfonso Cuaron (best known critically for Y tu mamá también) rather than Chris Columbus like the first two. Secondly, & most unfortunate, due to the passing of Hollywood legend Richard Harris, they cast Michael Gambon as Dumbledore. Gambon is an alright actor, so I don't blame the changing of the character of Dumbledore on him.
I'm not sure who's idea it was to change Dumbledore from the sage-like mentor wizard father figure to the new age hippie mantra spouting crank he seems to be now. The way Harris commanded the screen when his voice barely rose above a whisper was a thing of majesty. Everytime I saw Gambon, he barely registered as a character in the movie.
Anyways, Cuaron plunged deep into the dark aspects of the HP franchise, rather than somewhat skimming the top like Columbus did. Depending on who you're marketing the movie to that can be a good thing. Look, the HP movies are going to make scads of money no matter who directs them. & unless series creator J.K. Rowling runs onto the set saying she hates what they're doing to her babies (where were you for Dumbledore?), the series will always be skating a thin line when it comes to frights for the kiddies.
The third instalment seemed to be more the "Harry Potter Show, starring Harry Potter with his friends Hermione & Ron," rather than the grand ensemble masterpieces of the first two. The first two movies didn't relegate the actors to no more than glorified cameo performances like HP3 does. Still, it's a fantastic movie, so my quibbles are of a personal gripe more than professional. I just hate seeing window dressing wasted. I guess what I'm saying is that when you've got Gary Oldman, David Thewlis & Alan mother fucking Rickman in a movie, let them mix it up a bit. 4.5 outta 5.
Roger Ebert's review of Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)