REVIEW: HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN (PG)

By Graham Young on Jul 12, 11 08:42 PM

I WAS AWAY on holiday when this third Harry Potter film was released on May 31, 2004.

Directed by Alfonso Cuaron, it's the 'least successful' film of the whole franchise at the worldwide box office.

Even so, its genuine success compared with most movies means that all of the previous seven Harry Potter movies are still in the all-time top 30.

Only just, mind, since Azkaban is at No 30 and The Deathly Hallows - Part 2 will certainly knock it out of that top bracket even if the current released Transformers: Dark of the Moon doesn't.

I'll be looking at the box office stats in more detail later this week, but for now, here's the Birmingham Mail's review of The Prisoner of Azkaban.

Although I caught up with the film as soon as I returned from holiday, this assessment below is the one published at the time and written by my esteemed colleague in Midland film-writing circles, Mike Davies.

HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN (PG)
Birmingham Mail, May 31, 2004
Verdict: ****

DON'T be fooled by the certificate, writes Mike Davies.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (PG) has moments that could give grown ups nightmares let alone the thousands of young fans desperate to see the third instalment of JK Rowling's wizarding saga.

The first two films may have had dark moments, but as with his other films like Gremlins and Young Sherlock Holmes director Christopher Columbus always kept them for the dramatic set pieces.

Generally speaking both Philosopher's Stone and Chamber of Secrets were bright, colourful affairs with a strong vein of humour.

Not so this. Incoming Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron barely lets any light at all into Harry's world, filling it with brooding shadows and overcast skies.

And then there's the Dementors, spectral-like black monsters that can suck the very happiness out of their victims and leave them cold, desolate shells.

If they were scary in the book, they are absolutely terrifying on screen.

Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) is 13 now and finding it harder to control his temper.

Which is why, when Uncle Vernon's bullying sister Marge (Pam Ferris) insults Harry's dead parents she finds herself suddenly turning into a human blimp and floating away over Privet Drive.

By rights this use of magic outside of Hogwarts should earn Harry expulsion, but to his surprise Cornelius Fudge, the sly Minister of Magic, dismisses it as a trivial incident and wants him back at the school as soon as possible.

Could this perhaps be something to do with Sirius Black (Gary Oldman), a murderously dangerous wizard who has done the impossible and escaped from Azkaban prison?

Or perhaps that black dog with the burning eyes Harry glimpsed just before he was whisked away to the Leaky Cauldron in the triple decker purple merchandising opportunity that is the Knight Bus?

It's not long before Harry learns the answer to this.

And that Black is not only apparently the one responsible for betraying his parents to Lord Voldemort but also his Godfather.

And now it seems Black is coming to kill Harry.

All the more reason then to brush up on his Defence Against The Dark Arts courtesy of their new professor, Remus Lupin (David Thewlis).

But while Lupin may be able to train Harry in how to cast the Patronus Charm - the only spell that can drive off Dementors - he has his own dark secret too.

Indeed, there's a great deal here that is not what it seems. Lupin, Black, Ron Weasley's (Rupert Grint) rat Scabbers. And then there's the mystery of how Hermione (Emma Watson) manages to be in two lessons at the same time!

There's plenty of amusing and exhilarating touches.

The Fat Lady (Dawn French) who refuses to let the students in to Gryffindor common room until she's finished her song, Divination lessons with the shortsighted charlatan Professor Trelawney (Emma Thompson), Harry's encounter with and soaraway flight on Buckbeak, the half-horse half-eagle Hippogriff.

But each is balanced with its darker counterpart. Take heed, there'll be many a young sob in the cinema as Buckbeak is ordered to be executed for attacking the loathsome Draco Malfoy.

But then I daresay there'll be a fair few cheers too as Hermione smacks him one for calling her a Mudblood!

Although some (Alan Rickman resplendent as Snape in a granny frock and hat!) have more to do than others (Maggie Smith's McGonagall with barely a handful of lines), all the regulars are back and although Michael Gambon lacks the late Richard Harris's twinkle and sense of imposing authority in the role of Albus Dumbledore, he does well enough.

But the top marks go to Grint, Watson and especially Radcliffe who have come on immeasurably as young actors, bringing much more sense of inner emotions to their characters and delivering far more forceful performances.

Watch Radcliffe now and you can feel the churning that's going on inside him, the anger, the desire for revenge, the loneliness and, above all, the fear. It doesn't hurt that he's turning into a bit of a pin-up either.

Some fans have protested that the film isn't long enough to get every comma from the novel (and will protest more to discover that it's considerably less faithful to the letter than the first two).

But by keeping the camera on the move Cuaron has streamlined the story so that the pace never slackens (just over two hours whips past like 90 minutes) as it builds to the powerful climax with its clever and unexpectedly moving twist.

By far and away the best of the three Potter movies so far and the first truly deserving of being called magical, those fans would be well advised to start campaigning now to get Cuaron back for The Order of the Phoenix.

Grim and black and in need of a ruthless editor, it's going to need him.