Got To Believe In Magic

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was enjoyable, still quite faithful to J.K. Rowling’s book. That’s why it is ho-hum in parts… so what else is new?

Well, the kids are older and more fetching to look at, especially Daniel and Emma. Their acting can still stand a few more years of maturity (Daniel’s weakest scene was during his dramatic highlight in the snow, when he found out Sirus Black was his godfather.) The tone is darker and grittier, both in Privet Drive and in Hogwarts. Some of the characters from the first two movies were pushed back to give way to new ones.

To speed things up, the movie ended up choppier than the first two. But remember, the third book is longer than the first two, but the third film is the shortest of the three. No wonder transitions were nonexistent at times.

Luckily for me, I forgot to review the book before watching the movie. So I was puzzled: [1] who threw the stones inside Hagrid’s hut to alert the kids of the arrival of Buckbeak’s executioner? [2] how could Harry’s dad drive away the Dementors with a spell when he’s already dead?

So when the answers were revealed, I experienced the same sudden rush of thrill I had when I first read the book. And if only for that moment, I was enthralled—by Rowling’s magic, conjured with a wave of Alfonso Cuaron’s capable wand.

I really hated the freeze-fame ending, though. Ugh! (But the end credits roll using the Marauder’s Map was cool.)