Official Discussion: Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban

[Hollywood Heidi]

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Release Date: June 4, 2004
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Summary: It's Harry's third year at Hogwarts; not only does he have a new "Defense Against the Dark Arts" teacher, but there is also trouble brewing. Convicted murderer Sirius Black has escaped the Wizards' Prison and is coming after Harry. (IMDb)
Trailer: 

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Discuss the movie!  Below are some ideas of discussion points to get you started.  Feel free to simply copy and paste and insert your thoughts or write out your thoughts however you like.  Constructive comments make for better and more interesting conversations so feel free to elaborate and explain your thoughts, conclusions, and opinions.  Repeat Viewers, answer these as if watching for the first time or what your original answers would have been when you first watched:

What did you think of the movie?

What expectations or theories did you have that either ended up right or wrong? 

Who was your favorite character and why?  Least favorite?

What scenes or situations did you like best?  Least? 

What were some of your favorite quotes?

How do you rate this movie compared to the rest in the series? (Not really applicable to very first movie but feel free to compare to the trailer)

If you've read the book, how do you rate this movie compared to the book?  What did they leave out?  What did they change?


 
Repeat viewers
Be mindful of the first-time viewers and give fair warning of spoiler comments by putting spoiler tags (directions below) or keep them at the bottom of your post with a big texted SPOILERS before it.

[spoiler]spoiler text[/spoiler]
What do you think of the movie now that you've seen the whole series? 

Did you find anything new you didn't catch the previous time(s) watching?

How did the movie stand the test of time?

[Hollywood Heidi]

What did you think of the movie?

I gave it 4 stars because Alfonso Cuaron took too many liberties with this one.  I know that Rowling had to tell him 'no' to many ideas that popped into his head (tiny people dancing on a piano?  Really dude?).  I really liked the darker tone but he wasted a lot of time on these extended scenes with flute-like music while a leaf or bird floated by the Womping Willow.  Things like that.  Also, that was the worst looking werewolf I've ever seen, lol!  It was like an overgrown hairless rat.

I'm also still not sure how I feel about the complete overhaul of Hogwarts castle and grounds.  It looks neat and all but it kept taking me out of the movie because it was so drastically different from the first two.  I wonder why they decided to do that?


What expectations or theories did you have that either ended up right or wrong?

I expected to love it.  It let me down just a little because of the things I said before, but I still did really like it.  I didn't have any theories as my cousin told me pretty much what happened in the book.


Who was your favorite character and why? Least favorite?

Lupin and Sirius were my favorite.  Maybe Lupin slightly more since we got to see more of him.  I really liked how you could feel that he cared for Harry just because he had cared so much for Harry's parents.  He was good to him, taking the time to teach him to defend himself against Dementors and sharing with him information about his parents.

Least favorite?  I can't think of any I didn't like or that annoyed me.


What scenes or situations did you like best? Least?

Hermione punching Draco.  Immensely satisfying!

After the time turner reveal, watching all the things that had already happened and seeing how they had done those things themselves.  They did a great job of showing it from two different angles.

Least favorite, those wasteful scenes of watching a leaf or tree fluttering on the wind with the flute music.  Pretty to look at and all that but a waste of time and took me out of the movie.  Frivolous and attempting to be overly artsy.  I don't know.  It was just weird and unnecessary.


What were some of your favorite quotes?

Sirius Black: It's cruel that I got to spend so much time with James and Lily, and you so little. But know this; the ones that love us never really leave us. And you can always find them in here.

Harry: I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.

Harry: Mischief managed.

Sirius Black: Normally, I have a very sweet disposition as a dog. In fact, more than once, James suggested that I make the change permanent. The tail I could live with. But the fleas? They're murder.

Dumbledore: Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher for many years, has decided to retire in order to spend more time with his remaining limbs.

Professor Trelawney: Look at the cup, tell me what you see!
Ron: Oh yeah... well, Harry's got a sort of wonky cross... that's trials and suffering. And, uh, that there could be the sun, and that's happiness, so... you're gonna suffer... but you're gonna be happy about it...


How do you rate this movie compared to the rest in the series?

I really love watching the story progress.  It would have been my favorite so far if it weren't for the things I'd mentioned at the beginning.


If you've read the book, how do you rate this movie compared to the book? What did they leave out? What did they change?

I didn't read the book, only had my cousin tell me what happened and it's been so long that I don't remember if they left anything out or changed anything!


What do you think of the movie now that you've seen the whole series?

I still really like it.  They do a great job bringing the story and the world to life.


Did you find anything new you didn't catch the previous time(s) watching?

Nope!  Seen it too many times to catch anything new at this point.


How did the movie stand the test of time?

I think it's stood the test of time very well!  So hard to believe it's 12 years old!  Special effects and everything still look great and nothing feels dated.

[Ariel]

What did you think of the movie?


This movie is one of my favourites! It doesn't necessarily contribute much in regards to the development of the storyline between Harry and Voldemort, but that's also one of the many great things about this movie because it shows you that there's so much more depth to the series than just one plotline.


What expectations or theories did you have that either ended up right or wrong? 


When I was watching the Harry Potter series for the first time, I always had high expectations for each film that came out, and I was pleased by this one.


Who was your favorite character and why?  Least favorite?


My favourite in this movie was Hagrid! He's just such a loveable character with excessive amounts of care and compassion.

My least favourite in this movie was Peter Pettigrew. He's so creepy and we find out he's partly responsible for getting Harry's parents killed by telling Voldemort where they were hiding.


What scenes or situations did you like best?  Least? 


Scenes I liked the best:

- Care of magical creatures class where we get to meet Buckbeak.
-When Harry finds out that Sirius is his godfather and not the bad guy that the rest of the world has made him out to be.
-The entire time turner sequence with Harry and Hermione, going back and saving Buckbeak and Sirius.

Scenes I liked the least:
-The Buckbeak "execution" scene.
-The scene in the shack where we find out about Peter Pettigrew and what he did.


What were some of your favorite quotes?


Dumbledore: [to Professor Snape] For in dreams, we enter a world that is entirely our own. Let him swim in the deepest ocean or glide over the highest cloud.

Dumbledore: A word of caution: dementors are vicious creatures. They will not distinguish between the one they hunt and the one who gets in their way. Therefore I must warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. It's not in the nature of a dementor to be forgiving. But you know happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, when one only remembers to turn on the light.


How do you rate this movie compared to the rest in the series?

I really liked this movie because It introduces us to a character that turns out to become important in Harry's life and gives us a brand new plot to experience in their world.


If you've read the book, how do you rate this movie compared to the book?  What did they leave out?  What did they change?



It's been a while since I've read the books so I cannot remember.

What do you think of the movie now that you've seen the whole series? 


This movie makes me value and think about Harry and Sirius's family-like relationship and makes me wish that we were allowed to see more of that in the movies to come.


Did you find anything new you didn't catch the previous time(s) watching?


I did not.


How did the movie stand the test of time?



It stood the test of time excellently.

[Ariel]

This one by far is my favourite in this rewatch session!
I don't know if it's because I've gotten older and have grown to have a fondness for the Marauder's storyline, but I very much enjoyed and appreciated the reunion scene in the Shack between Lupin and Sirius. Even when Snape jumped in, I was just reveling in the old schoolmate connection between them all. I love Gary Oldman, so having him apart of the franchise as the perfect Sirius was such a treat. The godfather/godson connection between him and Harry instantly makes you wish that he hadn't gotten framed for his crimes so that Harry could have grown up in his warm care. Only thing that irks me about this movie is that in two scenes, they give some very well written lines to a reoccurring background performer instead of passing them off to another supporting character that deserved more screen time such as Dean Thomas or Neville. Also Pansy Parksinson!! She's right there with Draco but they never bother introducing her further as a reoccurring supporting character until Half-Blood Prince. Actually, they don't even name confirm her until DH2 xD. Though I understand that at that point, introducing Pansy Parkinson or any other further characters may have taken away from the plot points they were trying to get across. Gah, so much good stuff from the books never made it into the movies but that's okay. This is the first movie that Michael Gambon is introduced as the new Dumbledore, so although the softness of Richard Harris is definitely missed, Michael plays a more stronger and solid Dumbledore with excellent line delivery (even though he slips up in the next movie, I forgive him lol.).

[Hollywood Heidi]

The movies do get better and better with each entry. I loved the new characters and new difficulties they had to face. They did a great job with seeing different angles of time with the time turner. That was fun!

The only gripe I have about this one and this director is that Alfonso Curon wastes too much time on transitions that take me out of the movie. Like a leaf falling really slowly to the ground, a bird flying through the air. I also wasn't keen on how much they changed the layout of the ground of Hogwarts. It was also kinda jarring and made it feel disconnected from the first two movies in some way.

The other thing I wasn't keen on with Alfonso is that he tried to make it too much his own. That was the feeling I got and then when we watched the extra features, he even said he was trying to make it his own. That's find, but don't mess with the storyline.

I remember hearing that he had a bunch of ideas that JK Rowling shot down. Only one I can remember offhand is he wanted tiny people dancing on a piano and Rowling was like, there aren't tiny people in this world... He did get that random choir with giant frogs in the movie, which also was just more time wasted. I'd rather they put more of the things from the books into the movie rather than random fillers and way too long scene transitions. Maybe they could have used some of that time introducing Pansy!