Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

For myself (and possibly a few other Potter fans), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban marks the point where both the book and film series first truly began gathering steam. In the case of the film franchise, this is partially due to the absence of Chris Columbus as director. With Columbus out of the picture it meant that Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron could be brought onboard, making Prisoner of Azkaban perhaps the greatest Harry Potter film of the entire series. Cuaron is arguably the most left-field director to be involved with Harry Potter, and I think it was a gamble that really paid off. It also helps that the story becomes decidedly darker and more 'adult' from this point onwards. So say goodbye to all those bright colours, awkwardly cartoonish special effects, and the emphasis on the superficial... this is Harry Potter as it appeared in my mind when I first read the books; dark and enigmatic and breathtaking.

• Right from the outset, this is immediately a better-looking film than its predecessors. The sets and cinematography have a 'sheen' of higher quality.
• Daniel Radcliffe is even more improved this time around, especially when he goes all Carrie on his relatives and gets to show a more assertive/angry side. Meanwhile, Rupert Grint tones his performance down a bit after all that gurning in Chamber of Secrets.
• There are a lot more scenes of the kids just being regular kids, and Harry, Ron and Hermione have been modernised somewhat - they wear contemporary clothes more often and seem a lot more relaxed and less affected in their performances.
  
• The camera work and blocking of scenes is a lot less obviously 'Hollywood'. Cuaron even seems to be using handheld cameras to get a more naturalistic feel, and he manages to engage the viewer deeper into the action with some genuinely exciting sequences (like the manic bus ride to Diagon Alley). There's also some inventiveness in the way he stages scenes, such as the Boggart scene where the camera zooms into a reflection, or the Quidditch match that starts with a rogue umbrella flapping about before the camera pans down to reveal some frighteningly stormy conditions. Cuaron's verve matches the magic of the story every step of the way.
• The Quidditch sequence in general is the best Quidditch scene in the series. It's so much bigger in scope, that epic fall after Harry gets attacked by a Dementor is amazing.
  
• The sets are a lot more detailed and less cartoonish/impressionistic. It's not just that everything's dirtier and more gothic - even the forest now looks like a real forest filled with ferns and other forest-y things (as opposed to the murky collection of evenly spaced-out trees seen in the last two films). As a result of this heightened realism the film is a lot more atmospheric and genuinely spooky. Some fans bemoaned the redesign of Hogwarts when the film first came out due to the fact that it messed up the continuity of the series, but why fight it if the new version is infinitely better?
  
• The Dementors aren't for kids! Younger viewers would no doubt be suffering in their jocks at the sight of these soul-sucking ghasts.
  
• The CGI and live action blends together a lot better in this film. In fact, compared to at least the next two films and their over-reliance on CGI, the visual effects in Prisoner of Azkaban seem to be the high point of the series.
• All the regular characters get their moments. Hagrid is huge again in some scenes but regular-sized in others, which is a little frustrating. Confusingly, Warwick Davis' character (Professor Flitwick) seems to have been rebooted into a much younger and unnamed wizard who conducts the school choir.
  
• As hard as I try to move past the fact that Richard Harris died, Michael Gambon is just too distant as Dumbledore. He lacks the hushed but commanding tones of Harris, he isn't tall enough, and he just doesn't seem to give a shit.
• Emma Thompson is annoying as Professor Trelawny, but I suppose this isn't really her fault as it's an annoying character to begin with. Gary Oldman is perfect as Sirius Black, and David Thewlis does a good enough job as Lupin (Lupin is one of those characters in the books that I never really got a handle on, there isn't much more to him other than the fact that he's a werewolf).
  
• I can't believe Cuaron got away with ending this film with a freeze-frame. Brilliant.
  

Look, it's like this... after the first two films, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban simply feels like a case of more effort being put in. When you add to this the fact that none of the other Harry Potter films have been directed with quite as much panache or originality it becomes quite clear that this film is probably the one that's responsible for the consolidated success of the series. The overall tone of the subsequent films owes a stylistic debt to Cuaron's effort, and it's a shame the director couldn't be gotten back to helm more installments.

DIRECTOR: Alfonso Cuaron
WRITER/SOURCE: Script by Steve Kloves, based on the novel by J. K. Rowling
KEY ACTORS: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Robbie Coltrane, Gary Oldman, David Thewlis, Emma Thompson, Timothy Spall, Michael Gambon, Warwick Davis, Maggie Smith, Richard Griffiths, Alan Rickman, Fiona Shaw, David Bradley, Julie Walters, Tom Felton, Bonnie Wright, Matthew Lewis, Mark Williams, Robert Hardy, James Phelps, Oliver Phelps, Lenny Henry, Dawn French

RELATED TEXTS
- The novel Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling
- The other films in this series are; Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
- Cuaron also directed the films And Your Mother Too, Children of Men, Great Expectations and the upcoming science fiction film Gravity.

AWARDS
Academy Awards - nominated for Best Original Music and Best Visual Effects.
BAFTAs - won Audience Award and Best Children's Film. Also nominated for Best British Film, Best Visual Effects, Best Production Design and Best Make-Up.