Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Cuarón, 2004)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Alfonso Cuarón, 2004)

Random movie review time. I don’t know why, but I felt like today would be a good day to review my favorite Harry Potter film. Here is where the films become less about formula and making sure all plot points are covered and more about creating a world and becoming immersed in it. For the first time you can feel Hogwarts and the wizarding world, you can feel the effects of Harry’s past weighing on him, and you can feel bonds between characters. The large amount of screen time given to David Thewlis helps makes this movie was it is. He subtlety gives off the sense that life has dealt him a rough hand (both past and present) before we even know a thing about him, and the way his connection to Harry’s past acts as liberation to both characters is the most emotionally honest link in the entire series.

 

Additionally, this film is full of cinematic brilliance. Time is taken to focus on little day-to-day details which brings the fantasy world these characters live in to reality. Cuarón’s focus on telling the story visually gives the castle, the surrounding landmarks, and even the train to Hogwarts a feeling of depth – as if this world does exist somewhere in our own. He’s also not afraid to present the current bleak state of the wizarding world, and the combination of beauty and darkness is sublime.  9/10

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