Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Movie Review

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

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Written by: J.K. Rowling (novel), Steve Kloves (screenplay)
Directed by: Alfonso Cuarón
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Michael Gambon, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, Robbie Coltrane, Maggie Smith, David Thewlis, Emma Thompson
Rated: PG
Watch the trailer

Plot
In Harry's third year at Hogwarts convicted murderer Sirius Black has escaped the Wizards' Prison, coming to Hogwarts for Harry.

Verdict
I like the Harry Potter concept, and this is one of the best movies in the franchise. This movie is a bit darker than the first two, providing an intriguing and well plotted story where every element has a purpose while we're also watching these kids grow up. This is one of the best Harry Potter movies in tone and execution, and it also avoids the bloat that started with the fifth movie. Even if you haven't seen the other movies, you can enjoy this one.
Watch it.

Review
Harry Potter is great wish fulfillment. A neglected kid turns out to have great power. That makes the first movie, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone a lot of fun despite being derivative.

Lupin, Ron, Hermione, Harry

While it helps to know at least the first movie, you could enjoy this movie without having seen the previous ones. Harry is back at the wizarding school Hogwarts, but what no one wants to tell him is that Sirius Black, an underling of the evil wizard Voldemort, has escaped Azkaban prison and is after Harry. Azkaban is a terrible place, devoid of joy. Dementors, magical prison guards, are at Hogwarts to thwart Sirius, but no one can stop them from bothering Harry. In one of the first scenes one begins to seemingly suck away Harry's soul. That's what Dementors do. They are especially attracted to Harry due to his misfortunes. They pose a constant threat to the school and to Harry despite ostensibly there to capture Sirius.

Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe as Hermione and Harry.

I love this story. It's an intricate plot with some nice reveals that aren't all that surprising if you've seen this before or are really paying attention. Hermione has a way of popping in to every scene and Ron is having quite the time with his pet rat. These points are easy to miss, but significant.
Hermione's trick of attending multiple classes is crucial to the main plot and part of how Harry manages to save himself. There's a lot of what we see isn't the full story going on.

Harry with the Marauders' Map

These movies always have a bit of fun with how magic could be used, and each year in school Harry realizes the wizarding world is always growing larger than he imagined. A mischief map helps the plot kick into gear, but I have to wonder how the Weasley twins figured out how to unlock and lock the map. A neat bit of trivia is that the names of the creators of this map link to characters in this movie, but it's never revealed specifically. I believe the book does reveal that Mooney, Padfoot, Prongs, and Wormtail are Lupin, Sirius, James Potter, and Peter Pettigrew.

A Dementor.

This movie is definitely darker, but Harry is growing up and the threat of Voldemort is coming closer, so the tone fits the plot progression. After all, an escaped prisoner wants to kill him. While Cuaron gets plenty of credit, as he should, the script and story are very good.

I don't dig too deep into the overarching narrative as it is quite remarkable that every notable and/or terrible event at Hogwarts involves Harry Potter. That's just how this story has to work. I like the first four movies the best of the franchise. Upon first watching I liked Goblet of Fire the most, but at this point it's Prisoner of Azkaban. After the fourth movie the films couldn't keep up with the books, which becoming increasingly larger while the movies stay the same length. The movies also become more focused on spectacle as the narrative becomes more convoluted.