Harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban full movie reddit

I like Alfonso Cuaron’s directing, but I honestly feel like this movie is tonally dissonant compared to the rest of the series. So many things are just added in for the sake of style, while simultaneously removing aspects of the Wizarding World, like the whole Lumos Maxima opening or the weird shrunken heads.

Alfonso’s intent was to make the world feel more realistic, with little details like the kid’s clothing, but I think he missed the point that the world isn’t supposed to feel down to earth; it’s literally a world of magic, and that’s why the kids wore robes, because Wizards had an entirely different style then Muggles. Having them wear normal clothes was just jarring.

Though I will agree that Hogwarts feels better realized in this film, then in the previous two, I don’t like how Alfonso completely changed the look of certain locations, like Hagrid’s Hut, as it disconnects the viewer from what was previously established in the last two movies.

This is probably an unpopular opinion, but the score for Prisoner of Azkaban is my least favorite of the Williams scores. It’s great on its own, but as someone who loves musical continuity (see Lord of the Rings for example), I hated that Alfonso told John Williams to get rid of every single musical leitmotif from the first two movies, (except Hedwig’s Theme) in order to make a completely different score, which in part led to the rest of the series having no set musical identity.

Finally, my last gripe is characterization. This movie is where I believe the films started to fall apart from adapting the books, as Harry’s emotional connection to Sirius is underdone, Hermione becomes really annoying, Ron begins to become much less important, and Dumbledore is honestly creepy, rather than caring and wise. It’s odd to me that people think this is the best movie in the franchise, when at the same time it doesn’t even explain the Marauders at all, forcing the subsequent movies to course correct to fix this.

Overall, I used to like this movie, but having rewatched it last night, I found it to be one of my least favorite films in the series, due to the fact it was more of a Alfonso Cuaron movie, rather than a Harry Potter movie.

Edit: And what was up with that pasty Malfoy lackey that just took the place of Goyle, or that random black kid saying all the most foreboding dark stuff?

Snape, to me, is a complex character and a very real one. To have as much abuse that was piled on him, of course he would turn out in his adult life to be a bully towards people who can't really protect themselves...think of it as projecting. Then you have his feelings about Lily, James, and Harry. He, of course, hates James for bullying him in school and for taking away his only true love. Even though Snape does come across as despising Harry and only protecting him because of his love for Lily, I think that may have been for a short while. I think Snape hates and loves Harry at the same time...not just because of his conflicting feelings for his parents but because he sees personality traits in Harry that remind him of his parents...so he hates and loves those traits. Snape is a very real character and I think one of the best JK Rowling has written to date.

Rewatching the movies with my wife, as she reads the books for the first time. It’s always so frustrating to me how many changes they made for this movie. Not from the book (of which there are so many) but from the previous movie! The actual sets changed so much. Hagrid’s hut is in a different part, so is the willow. The actual castle is very obviously in a completely different place.

I wish more than anything that they had kept the movies consistent.

From this movie onward, the series started to get more over the top and more campy/theatrical. Watching PS and CoS made me feel like I was watching a different, magical world. Watching PoA made me feel like I was watching a stage play about one, or a tribute to Tim Burton movies. In the same time, the series started to become less and less faithful to the books. The finale in the shrieking shack cut out the meat and bones of the big reveal and put the whole thing on speed run.

Overall, not a fan of the movie. Style over substance, and the excessive style detracted from the substance.

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I agree. From a plot perspective, PoA is pretty much like all the other movies. Plenty of plot points left out and several inconsistencies. But from a craftsmanship perspective it’s the best by far.

The movie managed to set just the right tone and thus is a perfect segway between the first two pretty feel-good and child friendly movies to the later pretty dark movies.

The camerawork is exquisite, with several pretty long scenes being shot in a single take with a single camera.

And Cuaron expertly worked in the movies overarching theme - the passage of time - into details throughout the movies. Clocks, pendulums, the whomping willow shaking of snow, etc. It’s a masterpiece from a technical POV.

But I’m a bit disappointed in how glossed over the marauders were, and the fact that nobody thought it was inappropriate to have Harry practice Lumos in his bed at the start of the movie, when the movie begins with Harry getting in trouble for using magic out of school.