Jasonic's Favorites: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Hello, and good evening, Internet!
This was the only Harry Potter I reviewed on my previous blog and now that I've done the previous two, I am redoing this one with my new format and updated thoughts!
Released in 2004, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is regarded by many fans and critics to be both the best book in the book series as well as the best film in the film franchise -- and I agree with both. It is widely known that the reason for this movie's and the franchise's success has to do with how it both evolves and matures the franchise, essentially growing along with the audience. Whereas the first two movies were more child-friendly -- Chamber of Secrets less so than Sorcerer's Stone -- this third year of Harry Potter's years at Hogwarts is his first year as a teenager and therefore the movie leans more into the teen angst side of things with a more serious plot, a more muted color palette, less cheery setpieces, and less extravagant music to boot. With the mid-2000s being more angsty years for the world in general, it was only fitting that the movies followed suit as Harry -- or more specifically his actor -- got older, the film franchise also following its apparent trend of getting darker every movie. At the time of its release, it was also the Harry Potter film with the most liberties taken from the book due to the fact that the books were getting longer and more complex and therefore the plot and backstory needed to be trimmed down to fit a movie so it wouldn't bog the runtime. Depending on who you ask, this may be considered a disservice to the story though judging by the critical reception this movie had and continues to have, it seems to be in its favor because even my friends will hardly criticize this movie either because its their favorite in the series or they just love Harry Potter in general. Like with most movies I have reviewed that are considered fantastic, I, too, am prone to gushing about this movie with how great I believe it is regardless of the liberties it takes. That said, does this movie, like any other movie, have any warranted criticisms? For the sake of finding out, let's pack up our Hogwarts school supplies, throw on our invisibility cloaks, and Lumos our way through the third movie of the Harry Potter franchise, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban!
The film takes place a few months following Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets; in it, thirteen year old Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) abandons the Dursleys following a dreadful gathering with his Aunt Marge (Pam Farris) where Harry accidentally inflates her in a fit of rage. Upon seeing a black dog known as "the Grim", Harry is extracted by the Knight Bus and brought to the Leakey Cauldron in London where he awaits the beginning of his third year at Hogwarts, but not without learning that the most infamous inmate of Azkaban Prison, alleged serial murderer, Sirius Black (Gary Oldman), has escaped and is coming after Harry. After reuniting with his friends, Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), the trio board the Hogwarts train where they are attacked unexpectedly by a lone Dementor, a vicious creature that guards Azkaban, can freeze the surrounding area, and make anyone within range feel like they're in depression. The Dementor tries to suck out Harry's soul before they are saved by their newest Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Remus Lupin (David Thewlis), conjuring a Patronus Charm to drive the dementor away. Headmaster Professor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) then commences the year at Hogwarts with a speech explaining that the Dementors, which usually guard Azkaban, are now patrolling the school with the killer on the loose and will remain so for the rest of the year until Black is caught. Between the stakes at hand, Ron and Hermione getting into constant bickering about how her cat, Crookshanks, treats his rat, Scabbers, and the trio's close friend, the groundskeeper, Rubeus Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane), being appointed to Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Harry is in for some new experiences, some lively ones like him getting to ride Hagrid's Hippogriff, Buckbeak, some stressful ones like his friends bickering and himself being unable to go to Hogsmeade Village with everyone else, and some angsty ones like avoiding Dementors as well as the supposed killer on the loose. When the truth of recent events as well as the answers regarding his past come to light, Harry will soon learn that Dumbledore's prophesying words of, "Happiness comes in the darkest of times if only one rememberes to turn on the light," have a lot more potency to him than he initially realizes.
Like I mentioned already here and in my previous version of this review, this was the most angsty Harry Potter film up to its point in time and if that plot summary doesn't convince you, I'm unsure what will. The overall story is virtually the same as the book its based on, but with a few extracted details such as the explanation and backstory behind the Maurader's Map and their authors as well as Sirius Black's legend he created surrounding the Shrieking Shack and why its called such, which is understandable given that those backstories would seem extraneous in a movie based on a book. However plot important the authors of the Maurader's Map (Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs) are is only known to book fans as it reveals that these names are actually nicknames for Lupin, Peter Pettigrew (Timothy Spall), Black, and James Potter; whatever the case, this would have bogged the movie and was likely in a deleted scene at some point. Removed plot points aside, the movie works well for a movie that shows its protagonist maturing into teen years with an overall darker aesthetic than its predecessors, a more serious (no pun intended) plotline, and some very focused tracking shots that emphasize certain interactions and plot points very well. For example, when Arthur Weasley (Mark Williams) appears to Harry at the Leaky Cauldron to inform him of Sirius Black's plot to infiltrate Hogwarts and come for Harry, the entire scene from the Weasley's gathering around the table to Arthur pulling Harry aside to talk to him is apparently all one take, likely to emphasize the levity of Harry reuniting with his second family followed by the severity of Arthur relaying information to Harry that could save his life. The following scenes on the Hogwarts Express as well as during the Quidditch match are drenched in a rainy landscape to give the movie a darker tone compared to the bright and cheery first year especially, the second film only maintaining some of that cheeriness in favor of darker events and stakes. The main lighthearted scene in this movie is more towards the beginning with the comedic characters of Stan Shunpike (Lee Ingleby) and the talking head with a Jamaican accent commenting on the world around him with whimsical animation and music to boot. And the best part: in a series like Harry Potter, this feels entirely natural for them to be getting more dark with every installment and it's one of the reasons I love going back to it so much.
As with every Harry Potter, the actors do such a great job that I can't stress enough how great it is to watch them grow together as actors and as characters. Daniel Radcliffe is no doubt great in his role, getting to show a more saddened and enraged side to Harry, particularly in the scene after he overhears Minerva McGonagall (Maggie Smith) state the truth about Sirius being both a friend to Harry's parents as well as Harry's godfather. Radcliffe's acting really sells how devastated one might be to learn of such news and he deals with it in a way a teenager would by attempting to take his anger out on Black when they finally meet initially. Rupert Grint and Emma Watson are very consistent with their previous performances as Ron and Hermione respectively, Rupert's Ron still being comically wimpy to the dismay of most book fans while Emma's Hermione gets to show more of a brave, defensive side to her character -- a trait which many emphasize book Ron had while book Hermione was a lot more fearful. Apart from the main trio, Tom Felton's Draco Malfoy has matured physically and is often portrayed as a much more stuck up bully who thinks he knows best by doing things like marching rapidly toward Buckbeak who promptly attacks and injures him -- he even shows a lot more cowardice by whimpering after the fact as well as later when Hermione holds him at "wandpoint" before straight up punching him in the nose. Like with every Harry Potter adult, on the other hand, those actors continue to be outstanding to this day even after a lot of them are gone; the new Dumbledore, Michael Gambon (may he RIP), for example is known for being a much more extravagant and brash Dumbledore than Richard Harris was and while he's much more composed here, Goblet of Fire was where his brashness was really laid on thick, but we'll get to that later. Alan Rickman (also RIP) was undoubtedly the perfect cast for Professor Snape, nailing the demeanor of a bitter man whose hatred for the protagonist's father continues to overflow into the protagonist himself. His insults toward the main cast as well as his usual shtick of detracting points from Gryffindor make him an excellent red herring antagonist in pretty much all his appearances and while he doesn't do anything particularly antagonistic in this movie, he continues to portray the role so well, I could never imagine anyone else. This is the first Harry Potter I have reviewed since Maggie Smith unfortunately passed away recently and while I haven't said much about her role as McGonagall up to this point, I always thought she was an excellent actress and played all her roles exceptionally well -- may she too RIP. I could name every actor/actress, but we'd be here all day, so I'll say right now, the most standout role is, no doubt, Gary Oldman as Sirius Black; his silent screaming in the newspaper gives the impression of a depraved lunatic, which could convince first time viewers who never read the books that he really is the bad guy this time. And when we do finally meet him, we hear his deranged screaming full force prior to the reveal that he wasn't a killer, which is all the more understandable considering he was framed and wrongly put in prison for twelve years. Even in his more composed talks with Harry later on, Oldman portrays a more genuine, hopeful side to his character, showing well that he is an excellent actor with layers to his performances. He among the many faces of the franchise are why it is so beloved and I continue to return to this franchise for that and many other reasons.
With this being the last Harry Potter that John Williams composed, he gave it his all to make his music extravagant to a degree, but a little bit more subdued to reflect the darker journey Harry goes on. The main theme, naturally, plays in the beginning and does its job of re-establishing the wonders of the Wizarding World and accompanies a scene of Harry attempting Lumos Maxima as Uncle Vernon (Richard Griffiths) comically checks on him. Themes like "Buckbeak's Flight" capture that classic John Williams flare, beginning with intense percussion followed by wondrous strings to reflect Harry's levity while flying on a creature as opposed to a broom -- the whole Buckbeak flight scene is an underrated one for that matter. The film also features the first real vocal song in the franchise in the form of the Hogwarts choir song, "Double Trouble"; named after the incantation of the iconic three witches in the opening of Macbath, the commentary on this song says that this song was intended to represent a warm welcome back to Hogwarts and I'll say it certainly delivers after the harshness Harry endures up to his arrival. The scene also presents itself as the first time we see the Hogwarts choir as well as the new look for Professor Flitwick (Warwick Davis) going forward and easily sets the tone for the usual Dumbledore opening speech that accompanies every book/movie thus far. Perhaps the most interesting use of music in the film is in the later tracks "The Patronus Light" and "The Dementors Converge"; from what I noticed, these are mostly the same song with a few differences given that they represent the same scene from different angles -- the former being from Harry's POV before time travel and the latter being during the time travel segment. The most standout difference is during the Expecto Patronum scene where in "The Patronus Light" variant, we hear triumphant horns battling with themselves and dissonant whining of the chorus to represent the power of the stag Patronus time traveled Harry produces. Meanwhile, in "The Dementors Converge" version of the sequence, the choral voices and muted horns are isolated, rendering the victorious side of the score more noticeable to show that Harry cast away the Dementors all by himself because he had already seen it before -- time travel, you know? Suffice to say, John Williams did a fantastic job on this last Harry Potter film of his and the dynamic music I mentioned is a testament to how well the soundtrack and this movie are put together.
The special effects and animation, once again, are top notch for this franchise and here they continue to look way better than what we were given in Sorcerer's Stone; while the effects overall seem to dim less and less practical as the film's go on, there's no denying that the animation is gorgeous. Buckbeak especially looks to be the most realistic mythical creature we've seen in the series up to this point and the animalistic twitching of his head as Harry approaches is a nice touch to make him look like he's actually there. The aforementioned Knight Bus scene, at the time of this film's release, had what I believe to be the funniest use of bullet time -- a technique popularized by The Matrix -- in the scene where it turns slow mo and squeezes itself and the people inside it to be thin enough to fit between two double decker buses. With scenes like that, the whimsicality of Harry Potter remains despite the story being arguably the darkest shift in tone for the series thus far. Speaking of dark, this movie is also animates much darker characters not just in concept, but also in literal dim light considering that most of their scenes take place at night; I, of course, am referring to Sirius Black's black dog Animagus, Lupin's werewolf transformation, and the Dementors themselves. Sirius's Animagus doesn't have too many standout shots, but he's animated well enough into the movie to be convincing as if they had a real dog in his place so I'm not bothered by that. Lupin's werewolf transformation, on the other hand, is a rather underrated sequence I don't see talked about enough; between the intitial expanding of his pupils into something more feral, the darkening of his face and the elgongation of his face/legs, and even the disappearance of his human hair and it getting replaced by waves of wolf hair is an exceptionally well-animated sequence that if I had been any younger when I first saw this film, I would have been convinced that Lupin's actor actually turned into a werewolf on camera. Lest we not forget about the Dementors; I read somewhere that these guys, the star creatures of the film, were once conceptualized to be puppets, however, that probably would have been too expensive and thus they resorted to making them completely CGI. Between their their bleakly obscured faces, scary clawed hands, and other ghostly features, a young child would easily be scared of this and I would most certainly be afraid to let one of them suck my soul out -- honestly thinking about it, the Grim Reaper looks and sounds adorable by comparison. This film certainly doubled down on CGI though not to its detriment and the special effects budget has always done something to make these movies look great!
So even with the overall greatness of the previous two films and the franchise as a whole, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban undoubtedly still stands as my favorite of the Harry Potter films. Between its more stylized approach to adapting the book, its darker shift in tone while still maintaining the iconic Harry Potter whim, the outstanding acting performances that continue to be remembered to this day, the score being the last that John Williams contributed to this franchise, and the amazing special effects, this film also manages to stay #1 in the minds and hearts of many Potterheads, myself included. If you had asked me after I first saw the franchise, I would have said that Parts 1 and 2 of Deathly Hallows were the overall better package just because of what a great finale both films were, but as a standalone movie, I now believe that Prisoner of Azkaban now has and holds that title permanently. Without the traction this franchise got in its early days, I doubt I would even be sitting here typing on my computer still talking about it alongside the many other Potterheads in the world and the Internet's community. Regardless, I do believe that pretty much all the films are great even if I continue to elevate this one over all the others. All that said, I give this movie an A+ and recommend it to any and all fans of the franchise, those who are curious about Harry Potter, or just literature fans in general.
Thank you all for reading and I will see you in the next review!
This was the only Harry Potter I reviewed on my previous blog and now that I've done the previous two, I am redoing this one with my new format and updated thoughts!
Released in 2004, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is regarded by many fans and critics to be both the best book in the book series as well as the best film in the film franchise -- and I agree with both. It is widely known that the reason for this movie's and the franchise's success has to do with how it both evolves and matures the franchise, essentially growing along with the audience. Whereas the first two movies were more child-friendly -- Chamber of Secrets less so than Sorcerer's Stone -- this third year of Harry Potter's years at Hogwarts is his first year as a teenager and therefore the movie leans more into the teen angst side of things with a more serious plot, a more muted color palette, less cheery setpieces, and less extravagant music to boot. With the mid-2000s being more angsty years for the world in general, it was only fitting that the movies followed suit as Harry -- or more specifically his actor -- got older, the film franchise also following its apparent trend of getting darker every movie. At the time of its release, it was also the Harry Potter film with the most liberties taken from the book due to the fact that the books were getting longer and more complex and therefore the plot and backstory needed to be trimmed down to fit a movie so it wouldn't bog the runtime. Depending on who you ask, this may be considered a disservice to the story though judging by the critical reception this movie had and continues to have, it seems to be in its favor because even my friends will hardly criticize this movie either because its their favorite in the series or they just love Harry Potter in general. Like with most movies I have reviewed that are considered fantastic, I, too, am prone to gushing about this movie with how great I believe it is regardless of the liberties it takes. That said, does this movie, like any other movie, have any warranted criticisms? For the sake of finding out, let's pack up our Hogwarts school supplies, throw on our invisibility cloaks, and Lumos our way through the third movie of the Harry Potter franchise, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban!
*SPOILERS* (unless you're a fan of these films/books, in which case, be my guest)
The film takes place a few months following Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets; in it, thirteen year old Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) abandons the Dursleys following a dreadful gathering with his Aunt Marge (Pam Farris) where Harry accidentally inflates her in a fit of rage. Upon seeing a black dog known as "the Grim", Harry is extracted by the Knight Bus and brought to the Leakey Cauldron in London where he awaits the beginning of his third year at Hogwarts, but not without learning that the most infamous inmate of Azkaban Prison, alleged serial murderer, Sirius Black (Gary Oldman), has escaped and is coming after Harry. After reuniting with his friends, Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), the trio board the Hogwarts train where they are attacked unexpectedly by a lone Dementor, a vicious creature that guards Azkaban, can freeze the surrounding area, and make anyone within range feel like they're in depression. The Dementor tries to suck out Harry's soul before they are saved by their newest Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Remus Lupin (David Thewlis), conjuring a Patronus Charm to drive the dementor away. Headmaster Professor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) then commences the year at Hogwarts with a speech explaining that the Dementors, which usually guard Azkaban, are now patrolling the school with the killer on the loose and will remain so for the rest of the year until Black is caught. Between the stakes at hand, Ron and Hermione getting into constant bickering about how her cat, Crookshanks, treats his rat, Scabbers, and the trio's close friend, the groundskeeper, Rubeus Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane), being appointed to Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Harry is in for some new experiences, some lively ones like him getting to ride Hagrid's Hippogriff, Buckbeak, some stressful ones like his friends bickering and himself being unable to go to Hogsmeade Village with everyone else, and some angsty ones like avoiding Dementors as well as the supposed killer on the loose. When the truth of recent events as well as the answers regarding his past come to light, Harry will soon learn that Dumbledore's prophesying words of, "Happiness comes in the darkest of times if only one rememberes to turn on the light," have a lot more potency to him than he initially realizes.
Like I mentioned already here and in my previous version of this review, this was the most angsty Harry Potter film up to its point in time and if that plot summary doesn't convince you, I'm unsure what will. The overall story is virtually the same as the book its based on, but with a few extracted details such as the explanation and backstory behind the Maurader's Map and their authors as well as Sirius Black's legend he created surrounding the Shrieking Shack and why its called such, which is understandable given that those backstories would seem extraneous in a movie based on a book. However plot important the authors of the Maurader's Map (Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs) are is only known to book fans as it reveals that these names are actually nicknames for Lupin, Peter Pettigrew (Timothy Spall), Black, and James Potter; whatever the case, this would have bogged the movie and was likely in a deleted scene at some point. Removed plot points aside, the movie works well for a movie that shows its protagonist maturing into teen years with an overall darker aesthetic than its predecessors, a more serious (no pun intended) plotline, and some very focused tracking shots that emphasize certain interactions and plot points very well. For example, when Arthur Weasley (Mark Williams) appears to Harry at the Leaky Cauldron to inform him of Sirius Black's plot to infiltrate Hogwarts and come for Harry, the entire scene from the Weasley's gathering around the table to Arthur pulling Harry aside to talk to him is apparently all one take, likely to emphasize the levity of Harry reuniting with his second family followed by the severity of Arthur relaying information to Harry that could save his life. The following scenes on the Hogwarts Express as well as during the Quidditch match are drenched in a rainy landscape to give the movie a darker tone compared to the bright and cheery first year especially, the second film only maintaining some of that cheeriness in favor of darker events and stakes. The main lighthearted scene in this movie is more towards the beginning with the comedic characters of Stan Shunpike (Lee Ingleby) and the talking head with a Jamaican accent commenting on the world around him with whimsical animation and music to boot. And the best part: in a series like Harry Potter, this feels entirely natural for them to be getting more dark with every installment and it's one of the reasons I love going back to it so much.
As with every Harry Potter, the actors do such a great job that I can't stress enough how great it is to watch them grow together as actors and as characters. Daniel Radcliffe is no doubt great in his role, getting to show a more saddened and enraged side to Harry, particularly in the scene after he overhears Minerva McGonagall (Maggie Smith) state the truth about Sirius being both a friend to Harry's parents as well as Harry's godfather. Radcliffe's acting really sells how devastated one might be to learn of such news and he deals with it in a way a teenager would by attempting to take his anger out on Black when they finally meet initially. Rupert Grint and Emma Watson are very consistent with their previous performances as Ron and Hermione respectively, Rupert's Ron still being comically wimpy to the dismay of most book fans while Emma's Hermione gets to show more of a brave, defensive side to her character -- a trait which many emphasize book Ron had while book Hermione was a lot more fearful. Apart from the main trio, Tom Felton's Draco Malfoy has matured physically and is often portrayed as a much more stuck up bully who thinks he knows best by doing things like marching rapidly toward Buckbeak who promptly attacks and injures him -- he even shows a lot more cowardice by whimpering after the fact as well as later when Hermione holds him at "wandpoint" before straight up punching him in the nose. Like with every Harry Potter adult, on the other hand, those actors continue to be outstanding to this day even after a lot of them are gone; the new Dumbledore, Michael Gambon (may he RIP), for example is known for being a much more extravagant and brash Dumbledore than Richard Harris was and while he's much more composed here, Goblet of Fire was where his brashness was really laid on thick, but we'll get to that later. Alan Rickman (also RIP) was undoubtedly the perfect cast for Professor Snape, nailing the demeanor of a bitter man whose hatred for the protagonist's father continues to overflow into the protagonist himself. His insults toward the main cast as well as his usual shtick of detracting points from Gryffindor make him an excellent red herring antagonist in pretty much all his appearances and while he doesn't do anything particularly antagonistic in this movie, he continues to portray the role so well, I could never imagine anyone else. This is the first Harry Potter I have reviewed since Maggie Smith unfortunately passed away recently and while I haven't said much about her role as McGonagall up to this point, I always thought she was an excellent actress and played all her roles exceptionally well -- may she too RIP. I could name every actor/actress, but we'd be here all day, so I'll say right now, the most standout role is, no doubt, Gary Oldman as Sirius Black; his silent screaming in the newspaper gives the impression of a depraved lunatic, which could convince first time viewers who never read the books that he really is the bad guy this time. And when we do finally meet him, we hear his deranged screaming full force prior to the reveal that he wasn't a killer, which is all the more understandable considering he was framed and wrongly put in prison for twelve years. Even in his more composed talks with Harry later on, Oldman portrays a more genuine, hopeful side to his character, showing well that he is an excellent actor with layers to his performances. He among the many faces of the franchise are why it is so beloved and I continue to return to this franchise for that and many other reasons.
With this being the last Harry Potter that John Williams composed, he gave it his all to make his music extravagant to a degree, but a little bit more subdued to reflect the darker journey Harry goes on. The main theme, naturally, plays in the beginning and does its job of re-establishing the wonders of the Wizarding World and accompanies a scene of Harry attempting Lumos Maxima as Uncle Vernon (Richard Griffiths) comically checks on him. Themes like "Buckbeak's Flight" capture that classic John Williams flare, beginning with intense percussion followed by wondrous strings to reflect Harry's levity while flying on a creature as opposed to a broom -- the whole Buckbeak flight scene is an underrated one for that matter. The film also features the first real vocal song in the franchise in the form of the Hogwarts choir song, "Double Trouble"; named after the incantation of the iconic three witches in the opening of Macbath, the commentary on this song says that this song was intended to represent a warm welcome back to Hogwarts and I'll say it certainly delivers after the harshness Harry endures up to his arrival. The scene also presents itself as the first time we see the Hogwarts choir as well as the new look for Professor Flitwick (Warwick Davis) going forward and easily sets the tone for the usual Dumbledore opening speech that accompanies every book/movie thus far. Perhaps the most interesting use of music in the film is in the later tracks "The Patronus Light" and "The Dementors Converge"; from what I noticed, these are mostly the same song with a few differences given that they represent the same scene from different angles -- the former being from Harry's POV before time travel and the latter being during the time travel segment. The most standout difference is during the Expecto Patronum scene where in "The Patronus Light" variant, we hear triumphant horns battling with themselves and dissonant whining of the chorus to represent the power of the stag Patronus time traveled Harry produces. Meanwhile, in "The Dementors Converge" version of the sequence, the choral voices and muted horns are isolated, rendering the victorious side of the score more noticeable to show that Harry cast away the Dementors all by himself because he had already seen it before -- time travel, you know? Suffice to say, John Williams did a fantastic job on this last Harry Potter film of his and the dynamic music I mentioned is a testament to how well the soundtrack and this movie are put together.
The special effects and animation, once again, are top notch for this franchise and here they continue to look way better than what we were given in Sorcerer's Stone; while the effects overall seem to dim less and less practical as the film's go on, there's no denying that the animation is gorgeous. Buckbeak especially looks to be the most realistic mythical creature we've seen in the series up to this point and the animalistic twitching of his head as Harry approaches is a nice touch to make him look like he's actually there. The aforementioned Knight Bus scene, at the time of this film's release, had what I believe to be the funniest use of bullet time -- a technique popularized by The Matrix -- in the scene where it turns slow mo and squeezes itself and the people inside it to be thin enough to fit between two double decker buses. With scenes like that, the whimsicality of Harry Potter remains despite the story being arguably the darkest shift in tone for the series thus far. Speaking of dark, this movie is also animates much darker characters not just in concept, but also in literal dim light considering that most of their scenes take place at night; I, of course, am referring to Sirius Black's black dog Animagus, Lupin's werewolf transformation, and the Dementors themselves. Sirius's Animagus doesn't have too many standout shots, but he's animated well enough into the movie to be convincing as if they had a real dog in his place so I'm not bothered by that. Lupin's werewolf transformation, on the other hand, is a rather underrated sequence I don't see talked about enough; between the intitial expanding of his pupils into something more feral, the darkening of his face and the elgongation of his face/legs, and even the disappearance of his human hair and it getting replaced by waves of wolf hair is an exceptionally well-animated sequence that if I had been any younger when I first saw this film, I would have been convinced that Lupin's actor actually turned into a werewolf on camera. Lest we not forget about the Dementors; I read somewhere that these guys, the star creatures of the film, were once conceptualized to be puppets, however, that probably would have been too expensive and thus they resorted to making them completely CGI. Between their their bleakly obscured faces, scary clawed hands, and other ghostly features, a young child would easily be scared of this and I would most certainly be afraid to let one of them suck my soul out -- honestly thinking about it, the Grim Reaper looks and sounds adorable by comparison. This film certainly doubled down on CGI though not to its detriment and the special effects budget has always done something to make these movies look great!
So even with the overall greatness of the previous two films and the franchise as a whole, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban undoubtedly still stands as my favorite of the Harry Potter films. Between its more stylized approach to adapting the book, its darker shift in tone while still maintaining the iconic Harry Potter whim, the outstanding acting performances that continue to be remembered to this day, the score being the last that John Williams contributed to this franchise, and the amazing special effects, this film also manages to stay #1 in the minds and hearts of many Potterheads, myself included. If you had asked me after I first saw the franchise, I would have said that Parts 1 and 2 of Deathly Hallows were the overall better package just because of what a great finale both films were, but as a standalone movie, I now believe that Prisoner of Azkaban now has and holds that title permanently. Without the traction this franchise got in its early days, I doubt I would even be sitting here typing on my computer still talking about it alongside the many other Potterheads in the world and the Internet's community. Regardless, I do believe that pretty much all the films are great even if I continue to elevate this one over all the others. All that said, I give this movie an A+ and recommend it to any and all fans of the franchise, those who are curious about Harry Potter, or just literature fans in general.
Thank you all for reading and I will see you in the next review!
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