Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Movie Review

Harry Potter and his friends travel back to Hogwarts for another year in the magical of witchcraft and wizardry in the Prisoner of Azkaban book. It reveals the story of how a prisoner, Sirius Black, who is said to have escaped prison for attacking Harry’s family. During the movie, getting through the devastating reality and learning hidden facts about each member of the trio and Hogwarts change Harry dramatically during the events comes across shocking and ominous influence of the Dementors.

The theme of darkness and maturity prevails in this part of the Harry Potter series, which is different from the previous humorous notes. When exploring the concept of Defying the Dementors, fear is a major theme of the novel; when it comes to time travel, the major themes are friendship and identity. Giovani comes of age with a great amount of maturity and successfully captures Harry’s conflicted personality. Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, who both return as Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, respectively, bring sensitivity to their characters, and new cast members Gary Oldman as Sirius Black and David Thewlis as Remus Lupin add seriousness and philosophical accents to the movie. Oldman is mesmerizing, forcing a change in perspective about this particular character .

Cuarón brings a new vision for the franchise, giving it a previously unexplored edgy feel to it. His vision changes the tone from fairy tale to a very intense action series with the hair of the characters, which builds more depth into the wizarding world. While Cuarón presents an element of magic and wonder, he also avoids shying away from the realities of the present world, which in a way makes the movie rather profound and very well-thought through in terms of cinematography.

John William’s movie sound track was magical and was perfectly synchronized to the movie in terms of mood. Williams also incorporates new leitmotifs that help to explain the film’s mystery and the focus on emotions, make people feel a whirl of suspense and surprise.

The film is rather colorful and the camerawork in ‘Prisoner of Azkaban’ is magnificent – it shinning landscapes and dark corridors. Michael Seresin’s cinematography is already as dual as Hogwarts is, making the audience get into the really magical yet rather gloomy world, which also reflects the film’s spirit.

Stuart Craig’s production design is magnificent in adding the dark magic: both in wide fields, which are surrounded by fog around Hogwarts, and in the interior of the castle. Every component of this movie is unique and made to capture the balance of magic and reality of the film.

The use of special effects is very imaginative especially for the scenes to do with the Dementors and time traveling. Thus, the effects are strengthening the original rather than overwhelming it and helping create a believable and colorful movie environment.

Editing by Steven Weisberg is keeping the movie pace fast here and successfully weaves the several arcs into one. The move from past to present is made smooth and clean and though clarity is kept as an aspect of this type of continuity, tension is also ratcheted up.

The flow of the movie is also well-paced with deep introspective scenes switching gracefully with equally energy-charged action sequences. This works out to create a dynamic rhythm which captures the audiences’ attention, unveil the mystery at the right pace to add suspense and mystery.

The dialogue is relevant and quite charged, riddled with foreshadowing most of the time. It adapts the themes and concepts from J.K. Rowling’s novel and imbuses fresh feeling into the relationships between the characters and adds extra level of emotions during the scenes with Remus Lupin and Sirius Black.

Still, it might present a problem to some, as some of the symbols dominate the simple adventure which reader could imagine. Indeed, complexities introduced are rewarding but will appear as utterly dense to someone not thoroughly familiar with the source material or a twelve-year-old.

Harry Potter 3 is possibly one of the best films in the series due to its ability to combine mystery, magic, and heartfelt moments smoothly. The darker cinematography is a welcome growth for the series and gives food for thought, warm people’s hearts with positive emotions through beloved characters, and inspires young and old to take on new adventures with enthusiasm.