Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
 

Hey all,

Well my wife and I saw HP3 last night at a midnight show and it was sold out. Of being a fan of the books and first two movies, are hopes for the third was quite high.

I have to say that we were very dissapointed... :(

The acting of kids were great,the FX where extremely cool (hippogriff was awesome), but it seemed that the director jumped all over, the movie just did not flow. They were some major differences between the book and the movie and the movie seemed like it was rushed to be released.

When we were walking out of the theater, many people were talking that that they didn't like it and hopefully they will not make the same mistakes for the rest of the series.

Some say yeah, I am glad they made some differences between the book and the movie, but others like myself, it should had been more faithful to the book...

2.5/5.0

How about you?

Thanks for reading,

V.

Little sister and family are going to see it tonight. Should be fun. It really saddens me to see people change the plot from the book. And as the books keep getting longer, if i remembr right this movie is supposed to be shorter too.

The book, while nothing spectacular, was fun. Thats about all the hope i have for this movie... it should be fun.

I liked it a lot. Just as good as the other two movies, but I didn't read the books. I'm going to wait to read them until after all the movies come out, that way I can enjoy both, rather than just enjoying the book and be like "why is the movie different?".

just got back from watching it...

over all i thought was good and the effects where great. buckbeat was incredible along with the dementors. i give it 9.5

My husband and daughters are on there way to the theater's right now to watch it. And I get stuck going to my sisters graduation. I hope to rent it though.

It's getting way better reviews than the first two movies. Roger Ebert gave it 3.5 stars out of 4. He believes that it doesn't deserve 4 stars because some people that haven't read the books (and some younger people that have) may get confused during the movie. That's probably the jumping-around aspect you're talking about. 3.5 stars is still an incredible score, though!

Me and my girlfriend are seeing it tomorrow. I can't wait!

-Lasereth

I learned through watching the lord of the rings movies not to care when they stray from the book

some things just dont translate, and some things the director feels he needs to change in order to make it flow better in film form... you can't get caught up on changes... or you will end up being disappointed

after getting over the changes, two towers is my favorite of the three (well... i havent seen the third extended yet... so we'll see)

but im getting off topic... so yeah im gonna stop now

Geez, the movie's gonna be out longer than just this weekend. You shouldn't have any trouble catching it past this week. Hell, my city's got at least 5 seperate theaters (in the same building) showing it this weekend. Even if the count of theaters were to decrease by one per week, you mean to tell me that, if missing it in the first week, I stand no chance of seeing it in the next month. I'm sorry, but there's no way that I would ever let my life get so filled and complicated that I couldn't take a Saturday or any night of the week to go see a movie. Sorry. Not an attack on you, just stating my surprise.

Absolutely. The Spoiler: time-travel portion of the book can lose anybody who doesn't analyze it carefully. Hell, some of the people reviewing get the details confused.

Take for example, Rex Reed's review. He begins with this verbal assault on which, most people (89% of those who review on Rottentomatoes.com can't be wrong!) found the movie to be an enticing tale with a good plot, first class acting, and extremely good special effects. Beyond that, what can one want from a movie, apparently Reed must want something else.

I just disagree with him on this. It's called "suspension of disbelief", you ass. If he took a few minutes to stop projecting the world around him onto his opinions of the movie, maybe he wouldn't have not liked it so much.

Just what the hell is that?!? That's not even close to what the book has intended it's called a time-turner, pay a-fucking-ttention!!

Annnnnnngt, wrong, bitch. That's not even close. Not even remarkably within 100 miles of what was going on.

Well, Jesus! With all the incorrect plot details he spurned out, I don't think we have to worry about that!

some movie reviewers just dont have a clue at all

I can't wait for HPatPoA on dvd. :)
(no theaters for me)

Is this the same Rex Reed that had a cameo in Superman: The Movie?

bltzkriegmcanon, I cry with you... my God... that person is the reason why the term Ass-hat was invented, Jesus...

just saw the movie and got to saw it was amazing, probably the best of the three .

I say it was definitely the best of the three. It just seemed a lot more 'mature' of a movie. I really liked all of the transitions between scenes, cinematography, etc. Graphics and fx were really well done as well.

saw the trailer today before thoroughly enjoying Shrek 2 and would still prefer to laugh/grimace through Plan 9 from Outer Space again before I watch this.

I saw it tonight
I liked the movie except for the way they altered the ending from the book. But oh well, shit happens.

Saw it tonight with my girlfriend. I havn't read any of the books and I didn't see the second of the films. However I enjoyed this film a lot. I guess I had really low hopes so it sufficed just fine. The story did seem to jump around though, especially nearing the end. Seemed desperate to me for a bit.

-T

I saw it as a screener on Thursday night.

I was underwhelmed. It was a good movie, entertaining, but not memorable in anyway IMHO just like the 3 books put together as I read them one right after the other, I found that this was only eh.

Visually it does not disappoint, and the movie had good pacing and screenplay. The marauders map was very very cool, and the credits at the end were worth staying for just to watch the feet walk about, and the very very ending, with HP saying something....

I saw it today. What a great movie! I agree with Roger Ebert, though...those that haven't read the books will be incredibly confused. Cuaron left out a bunch of the book's main plot to make the movie shorter. If you haven't read the book, prepare to have someone who has explain after the movie is over. :)

As for the directing and acting...superb. These actors are getting better, and that's saying a lot!

-Lasereth

Holy Jesus. I just got back from watching it tonight. A-fucking-mazing. This movie was better than the first 2 movies or books [b]combined[\b]. Damn, this is, for me, the best movie of the summer, easily. I can say with no ego that is the best of the Potter movies. Hands down. And I don't just mean the first 3, I mean of all 7 or possibly 8. This movie puts the first 2 to fucking shame. That's how good it is. Those first two can't hold a damn candle to this one. If I ever meet Cuaron, I'll skip shaking his hand and go straight to shaking his dick. Incredible. Everything about this movie captures the precise spirit of the book. Not every detail is captured, and that's no complaint. There are certain things in the book that are too complicated or not important enough that I think, for time's sake, can be left out.

**SPOILER ALERT FROM THIS POINT FORWARD**

Spoiler: Things like Snape hating Lupin and wanting to kill Sirius as 1) glory-seeking and 2)revenge for the shit that he pulled on him at Hogwarts back in the day. Or how Hermione came across Crookshanks, and why Crookshanks was always after Scabbers (Pettigrew), and how Crookshanks was in league with Black from the start.

While these events would have made the story perhaps even easier to grasp for those who haven't read the books, I still believe that Cuaron's storytelling abilities and directorial style enable him to make the story palatable, followable and damn well enjoyable.

I'm not the kind of guy who laughs or openly smiles during movies. I tend to internalize what I experience during the movie and then express my feelings on it afterwards. In the case of this movie, I was grinning almost the entire time. Everything about this movie tells me that it's going to be THE best movie that comes out this summer, and probably the best movie of the entire Potter series. That's not me bashing the first 2 movies, because they, in their own way, were good movies, but still, I say that those 2 movies just cannot, in any way, shape, or form come close to the quality that is The Prisoner of Azkaban. Damn.

The acting in this movie was far, far superior to the previous movies. The young people playing the roles of the main characters, and even side characters have made tremendous strides in their acting abilites.

The special effects in this movie are spectacular. Everything about the effects in this movie are done so subtly that there's never an obvious point where graphics are being showcased just for the sake of graphics, as is often the case in many big budget fantasy/sci-fi films. Cuaron, once again, influenced this process, making every effect apparent enough so that they are noticed, but they are not so apparent that they draw undue attention to themselves. That is the intention of anything in film however, and it is sad that people in the special effects field tend to forget that. However, things like magic, creatures, and even the Knight Bus are done effortlessly by Cuaron's crew, delivering just the effect that one would desire to see from a movie about magic. The effects are never so outrageous that one thinks "WOW!!! These are good graphics! So where's the real movie?" No. This is not the case with Azkaban.

All in all, if you can't tell by the length of my post and it's contents, I really, really enjoyed this movie, and not only was it "awesome" but it was "damn good" as well. Words like "awesome" are usually reserved for movies like The Day After Tomorrow and Spider-Man, which contain sequences that are just that, "awesome sequences", but these do not necessarily construct a "good" movie.

However, in the case of Azkaban, there are "awesome" effects, and "awesome" sequences, such as the Spoiler: dementor scene down by the lake where Harry repels them, the entire thing with the stag, the werewolf, all of it. But these effects are not so much that they overwhelm the content of the movie. Therefore, this is a movie that is a rare case indeed, in which it is both "awesome" and "good" in the same breath.

My final score: 10/10. Go see it, whether or not you've read the books is meaningless, you will most likely enjoy this film, and I mean that at least 90% of the time, this movie will be THOUROUGHLY enjoyable.

I saw it tonight. I'm not bothered by the changes. Some things work on the page that don't work well on film. Also, if there were no changes, we'd have at least a five hour movie. A few things could have been explained better for those who haven't read the book, but those parts were mostly minor details.

I am worried about the conversion of the rest of the series from book to movie. Book four is almost as long as the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, which was three three hour movies and still left parts out. It is not at all possible to condense it down into one movie and do the book any justice.

My wife saw it tonight and loved it. Neither of us has read any of the books.

As for Rex Reed, I've been convinced for a number of years that movie reviewers cannot physically see every movie in its entirety, therefore they base their reviews on info gathered from other sources (and sometimes they're glaringly wrong).

Not impressed. I don't care that the film is different from the book, as long as it is a good film. This isn't, I thought it dragged a lot and was quite boring. Did like the special effects. I would give this 4/10

Boring and anti-climactic. The best part of this series is the world that JK Rowling created, and it sure is fun getting to see more of it, but the plot in this one was tedious and dull.

The first two were much better.

Ughh... saw it the other night, but haven't had time to post.

Thouroughly dissapointed. I wasn't expecting much out of the movie... just to have a little fun with it. And i was let down even still.

I really didn't like how he changed around the geography of the school, at least from what i remember of the previous 2 movies. The whomping willow is now down some hillside tucked away, where in teh second movie it was surrounded by a green area near the fron of the school when the boys crashed in it. And Hagrids hut is now moved down a cliff into the middle of nowhere, clearly not near where it was in the first 2 movies.

As for the ending, i was reasonably impresed. Given how little time they put into showing the main plot, i thought they wrapped it up reasonably well.

Also, the third book was one of my most favorites of the series. It was a great mystery novel. A fun Who-dun-it book, whereas most of the rest of them were action/adventure type stories. The movie didn't portray that to me at all. I thought tehy needed to spend less time on scenes such as the Knight Bus, which has no real importance to the storyline, and spend more time on the plot and mystery aspect of it. I never once felt as if Harry was being hunted. Another run-in with Black or the dog and i would have.

Lastly, the "magic" the first two movies had. They were fun, magical movies. And not just in that there was a lot of spells, but the atmosphere. Granted, harrys life and part in this book is kind of dark, but with all the scenes in teh school, it never once felt magical to me.

They skipped through so many important story events that i found myself glad i had read the book, or i would have been thouroughly confused as to the plot of this film. I felt it had no real depth to it. There was tremendous growth of the character in teh book, yet in the movie there was very little character development throughout the school year.


Well, with all the ranting over, it still wasn't horrible. The visual effects and acting were far superior to the other 2. Great actors for Trewlauny (sp?), Black, and Lupin (even though he looked too...british... for my tastes). The new Dumbledore actor looked like he had potential to the perfect actor for the role, but was never given the chance to show it.

All in all 2.5/5 ... maybe a 3/5 if im in a good mood.

Just saw it last night, and I must say it is definitly my favorite of the three. Cuaron did an excellent job directing and getting the actors to actually do some acting. As for the comments about people not reading the books getting confused by the plot, I had no problem with it. I dunno, maybe it's my experience trying to figure out movies such as Mullholland Drive, but I didn't find it confusing in the least, and I've never touched a Potter book. I also enjoyed the little homage to Y Tu Mama Tambien, I couldn't help but laugh out loud at that in the theatre, I think I got several weird looks. Overall great film, 4 stars.

Just reminded me... i loved them throwing in a little reference to Steven Hawking near the beginning. The theatre kinda stayed silent, and I was just busting up.

eh, it was ok. Nothing great. The visuals in the movie were the best part imo. I would give it around a 2-2.5/5 only because my friend and I had a blast making comments throughout.

I am a new fan of HP, my fiance LOVES the books and finally convinced me to read them and see the first two movies...in the last 7 days I have read the 1st two books, started the 3rd and have seen all 3 movies, whew....I will never understand people who go to a movie expecting it to be exactly like the book...I dont honestly think I can come up with ONE book turned movie where the movie followed the book 100%...

Having seen all three movies back to back I have to say I enjoyed the 3rd one MUCH more...the other movies to me seemed more disjointed than the new one...I loved the outside shots of #3 (since it was filmed in the scottish highlands, which is one of my favorite places in the world).

I do think they might have expanded on the explanations of a few things more but on the whole if I rate it agains the other two I give it a 10/10

I'm a huge Potter fan, and having pretty much memorized the plot details of each book (yea, I've read them all quite a few more times than just once :D), I can say that this movie can be enjoyed to a much greater extent if you've read the book and can suspend your disbelief, and let your imagination fill in the missing plot pieces - after all, they are all there, just not shown in the movie!

I thoroughly enjoyed it, but at the same time did notice plenty of missing or oversimplified parts, which did not bother me at all. The special effects were top-notch, and the new Dumbledore is perfect. I can't wait for the DVD!

PS: For those who never read PoA - I consider this THE BEST Potter book out there, so use this opportunity to start reading :D

Pfft.. fifth book, fifth book! ;)

PoA premieres in two days, but I have my ways. I'll be seeing it tonight. ;)

My favorite so far is number four, The Goblet of Fire. ;)

can't wait for the fourth/fifth movies. wow :lol:

I'm just pretty much dittoing everthing Peryn said.

Almost down to the last syllable...damn, that's really weird for me!:crazy:

I've enjoyed all the movies, but this one was my favorite, probably because, like Nefir, the third book was my favorite. Though a significant amount of business is left out of the film, the particulars are there and put together in a coherant and visually beautiful way. - I'm happy...

I liked it alot. I honestly don't think it "jumped around." It all built up to a nice ending as well. I also enjoyed it because there were actual character growth. It wasn't another episode of "crazy harry and his magical friends adventure hour."

I like them all. I think Columbus did a good job creating the fantasy and the ambience of the place, and I think cuaron did a good job with the actors. I liked Lupin, I want to see more of Gary Oldman as Black, and I liked the new dumbledore. I must admit, I had a little tear in my eye when Harry cast "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

Okay, now I've seen it. It was too fast IMO. I felt stressed watching it.

Saw it last night. It was at least as good as the other two. I haven't read the books so staying true to them doesn't matter to me.

Overall an excellent movie well worth the $30 we spent to see it.

I saw it the other night, and I too felt it a bit rushed. Maybe it's because this was my fav HP book, and I just wanted more. Visually, it was better than the first two. I think I just need to see it again. Can't wait until it comes out on DVD!

I must say this: It was without a doubt the best of the three. And it gave me goose bumps watching it on IMAX!!! Trust me - it is a totally different experience viewing this movie on an IMAX screen. Its like comparing VHS in analog sound to HD progressive scan DVD with 7.1 THX digital. To those of you who understand (and those who just loved the movie) go find an IMAX screen right now. Just a small warning: it was a little pricy. I live near San Francisco and tickets are usually 8-9 bucks. But IMAX per person is now $14!!! Yeah it sucks....but the movie still rocked.

how do they not stay true to it? I'm going to see it tonight...

Wow, I wish I hadn't seen it, It wasn't worth it at all. It didn't stick to the story at all and some parts they just made up. I was disapointed to say the least about how they jumped everywhere and I'm a much much MUCH bigger fan of Chris Culumbus' films. 4/10

I thought it was the best of the 3 films, but not only that, I thought the screenplay was actually SUPERIOR to the book! The screenwriter did an amazing job adapting that long story to the amount of screen time he had to work with. What was left out was for the most part, trivial. And they changed the subplot of the Firebolt to happen at the very end of the story, which occurs in January....NOT the end of the school year, thereby leaving a place for the parts that were left out of the movie (the quidditch season, etc.) to occur off-screen.

Rowling said that the screenwriter had added a couple of things on his own, that coincidentally, foreshadow some things that will happen in books 6 and 7. She was very pleased, and I must agree.

**Possible SPOILER**


I liked it alot,I would say I enjoyed it as much as the other two.
The only complaint I heard from my friends (who are generally dubious about the Harry Potter movies) was the very last part of the movie,where Harry receives a new broomstick.(and flying at the screen with a huge smile).My friend thought of it as cheezy.



I havent read the book,but Im wondering why Harry looked like some sort of stag or moose when he saw himself casting the spell?

Friends and I kind of boggled at that.

If you haven't read the book, you wouldn't know about the stag.

but think on the following clues that ARE in the movie:

1. The magic map is written by Mssrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs.

2. Lupin knows how to work the map when Harry gives it to him.

3. Sirius calls Pettigrew "Wormtail" in the movie.

4. Lupin says that Sirius and Peter became animagi to keep him company when he became a werewolf back in the old days. Sirius changes into a dog.

5. According to McGonagall, Sirus, Pettigrew, and Lupin were best friends with James Potter.

6. Harry's spell assumes the form of a stag.

7. Harry mistakenly thinks his dad cast the spell at first.

Chris Columbus is boring. First two were kids movies.

Loved the movie. I read the book once when it first came out, so I don't know the story down word for word. I LOVED the direction and feel of this movie. If I saw one more cookie cutter "oh, here's when this part is" and one more fucking long ass boring quidditch match that meant nothing, I was going to rush the screen.

The scene that immediately grabbed me when I knew I'd love the movie was in the kitchen at the very beginning where the camera pans back as the uncle is on his knees looking up at the sky and the cousin is watching TV and there's just silence except for the TV audio. That scene is lightyears beyond the tired filmmaking that plagued this series from the beginning as is far above the level of filmmaking than everyone was reduced to accepting before. And that makes it fantastic.

Don't care much about story changes. See exhibit A - Lord of the Rings for why it doesn't matter. I've watched it a few times now and the second time it was better than the first.

Those who liked the first two better, congrats, it doesn't take much to please you.

Excellent. I couldn't agree more. There wasn't anything really holding my attention for the first 2 books or the first 2 movies. They're the kind of things critical movie watchers and critical readers "go through" because they know there's better beyond it. Azkaban was the defining book in the series, creating an entirely different chain of events that actually felt like they mattered beyond the tiny tot crap in the first 2 books. A series of events is began in Azkaban that will inevitably play out through the rest of the books, and the movies will reflect that change in both importance, tone, and needed delivery. One can only hope that Mike Newell captures this change properly, continuing what Cuaron began. Although there are some story-telling devices that Cuaron almost overuses, i.e., the circular-wipe effect, that I find almost distracting, overall, I believe that Cuaron captured the spirit of the book, despite his washing over of some details. Like clockworkgreen said, He's right, there aren't big enough changes in the major, overall story for anyone who's read the books to get up in arms over.

In defense of Chris Columbus, he was tackling the earlier books as source material, and honestly, they were less involving and entertaining when compared to Azkaban.

I dont know about this movie

It was very very jumpy, and at the end of the movie I was left with a huge WTF feeling... I didn't really enjoy it... Not my favorite harry potter movie.

6/10

I thought this one was much better directed then the first two movies. But, given the producers were the same..it still had the same feel, which was nice. The kids finally felt like real kids rather than something totally outside of reality.

I liked it far better.

I finally got around to seeing this on the IMAX giant screen (which is quite an experience, by the way) and I was pretty disappointed. Very choppy. There was too much of the book to fit into a 2 hour movie. If they had cut the divination stuff they would have had more room and would not have had to rely on rushed exposition. The book was my favorite of the first three, and the movie did not live up to my considerable expectations. I saw it with two others who had read the book and one who had not. The one who had not was not as upset, but did express confusion about various things, such as Harry's attack on Snape (which, as edited, made little sense) and was frustrated by the time-travel, which I'll admit was weak in the book.

sorry if this was already answered in previous posts but in the book:

Spoiler

James was an animagi, his animal form was that of a stag or elk or something to that effect in order to help keep lupin in check while in his werewolf form. The spell Harry summoned to ward off the dementors was supposed to be that of his dad's animagus form. But they didnt seem to mention that in the movie.

that is the only problem that i had with the movie, other than that i loved this movie. It was by far better than the other two.

I liked it, I would probably say its the best movie so far. I didn't really like some parts of the acting. Those kids, especially the one playing Harry, need to be able to perform on a higher level.

*spoiler*



When Harry ran outside after finding out the truth and he was crying. It was really bad, he wasn't crying. He did a pretty good job of being angry, but he couldn't pull off a scene requiring that kind of emotion. I would say he is better in this movie than the last two, but I just hope he refines his acting for the next movie.

With that little bit of complaining out of the way I wanted to say my favorite part was when they went and rescued
Sirius from his cell and flew away. I couldn't help but smile, I couldn't control it. :D

8/10