Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Alfonso Cuarón

Writers (WGA):

J.K. Rowling (novel)
Steve Kloves (screenplay)

Release Date:

4 June 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Family | Fantasy | Mystery

Tagline:

Something wicked this way comes.

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Magic | Wizard | Dark | Muggle | Serial Killer

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 10 wins & 31 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sat. July 11	8:00 PM	FAM
Sun. July 12	4:30 PM	FAM

US Showtimes:

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Cast

Daniel Radcliffe	...	Harry Potter
Richard Griffiths	...	Uncle Vernon
Pam Ferris	...	Aunt Marge
Fiona Shaw	...	Aunt Petunia
Harry Melling	...	Dudley Dursley
Adrian Rawlins	...	James Potter
Geraldine Somerville	...	Lily Potter
Lee Ingleby	...	Stan Shunpike
Lenny Henry	...	Shrunken Head
Jimmy Gardner	...	Ernie the Bus Driver
Gary Oldman	...	Sirius Black
Jim Tavaré	...	Tom the Innkeeper
Robert Hardy	...	Cornelius Fudge
Abby Ford	...	Young Witch Maid
Rupert Grint	...	Ron Weasley

Also Known As:

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: The IMAX Experience (USA) (IMAX version)

MPAA:

Rated PG for frightening moments, creature violence and mild language.

Runtime:

141 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Malaysia:U | Iceland:L | India:U | USA:PG (certificate #40749) | Hungary:14 | Netherlands:9 | Germany:12 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:M (original rating) | Australia:PG (re-rating on appeal) | Brazil:Livre | Canada:G (Quebec) | Czech Republic:U | Finland:K-11 | France:U | Hong Kong:IIA | Ireland:PG | Israel:PG | Italy:T | Japan:U | New Zealand:PG | Norway:11 | Peru:PT | Philippines:G | Singapore:PG | South Korea:All | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Zurich) | Taiwan:GP | UK:PG | Greece:K

Filming Locations:

Dowding Way, Watford, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Alfonso Cuarón coached Daniel Radcliffe in one scene where the latter had to act awed: "Pretend you're seeing Cameron Diaz in a G-string". It worked.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: As Harry and the others run up the stairs to the Fat Lady picture for the first time, you can see the markers on the floor where characters have to stop for focus/lighting reasons. They're white crosses on the floor with gaffer tape.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Harry: Lumos Maxima!
[five times]

Movie Connections:

Featured in Boffo! Tinseltown's Bombs and Blockbusters (2006)

Soundtrack:

La Cumparsita

A new director who proves equal to the task.

Director Alfonso Cuarón has taken the images conjured by J.K. Rowling's magical words and created from her book, 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,' a film rife with visual symbolism and alive with inventive images beyond those established by the first two films in the series. Cuarón, a native of Mexico City and the acclaimed director of the completely compelling, frequently hilarious and sexually explicit coming-of-age film, 'Y tu mamá también,' was seen by many as an odd choice to follow heartland American Chris Columbus into the Harry Potter director's chair. The selection has resulted in a film darker and more mature than its predecessors, just as was the book, but it is also as approachable for young people as Cuarón's other internationally heralded work, 'A Little Princess.'

It is late in the summer. Harry (a decidedly more assertive Daniel Radcliffe, making his third appearance in the leading role) is at the Dursleys in Privet Drive, preparing for his third year at Hogwart's, when an obnoxious relative demeans his father's memory, causing Harry to lose his temper. As a result, Harry violates the rules of student witches and wizards, causing the offending aunt to inflate as a dirigible and float away into the night sky on an stream of invectives. It is a delightful opening to a film with far more serious issues to explore and frightening obstacles to overcome. Sirius Black (Gary Oldman), imprisoned at Azkaban for complicity in the murder of Harry's parents, has escaped, and is looking for Harry. The soul-stealing prison guards called 'Dementors' (Latin for mind-removers) are searching for Black everywhere, but when he and Harry meet, there are revelations which change everything.

The symbolism in the film is fascinating. Rowling is responsible for a lot of it, but Cuarón has used symbolism as a visual tool to alert the audience to impending danger and to keep tensions high. Traditionally, black-feathered birds such as ravens, crows, and vultures all have negative images associated with them; they are usually used to represent carnage, bloodshed and battle; they are thought of in terms of scavengers, messengers of the dead, and evil. Crows abound in this film, but Cuarón has extended their traditional roles, turning them into symbols of the Dementors, which fly around menacingly in black garments with feather-like hems. Even when the Dementors are out of sight (they are not allowed on the grounds of Hogwart's School) you can feel their presence in the crows.

Rowling's most obvious use of symbolism is in the name she gives the escaped prisoner Sirius Black. Sirius is a star in the constellation Canis Majoris (in mythology, Canis Majoris is one of Orion's hunting dogs; the Greater Dog), the brightest star in the sky. So, Sirius is also called the Dog Star, and everyone knows that the dog is distinguished above all other inferior animals for intelligence, docility, and attachment to man. Would she give such a name, with all its implications, to a villainous character? Not likely. But she would give it to a wizard who could change into a dog.

Among the new visual images are animal ghosts which wander the halls of Hogwart's Castle and the film's realization of Buckbeak the Hippogriff, like Sirius, falsely accused and condemned. Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and all of the established characters return. Led by Harry, all the students have matured considerably, as you would expect of 13-year-olds; they are more independent and self assured, more emotionally developed and far less childlike in their reactions and bearing. Michael Gambon is new and effective as Aldus Dumbledore, following the death of Richard Harris. Emma Thompson is wonderfully wacky as Divination Professor Sybil Treelawney; who leaps from the pages of the book and onto the screen as if Rowling had written the character specifically for Thompson. Also new is Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor Remus Lupin (David Thewles), who comes to Harry's aid in ways that might befit his Latin name. Remus was the brother of the founder of Rome. In mythology, he was nursed by a she-wolf; Lupin means wolf-like (wolf is Canis Lupis).

The unheralded thread of creative continuity in this marvelous series, as it moves from Chris Columbus to Alfonso Cuarón to incoming director Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, now in production) is Screenwriter Steve Kloves. He and the producers have been true to Rowling's works and to Harry's fans, in ways that have always enhanced, not diminished, the author's incredible achievement.