Review - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

        Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, it's time to discuss not only my favorite film of the Harry Potter series, but a favorite among a majority of the fans. This is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. 

       So, Harry is back with the Dursleys once again, and they are about to have a visitor: Vernon's sister Marge. Everything seems to go well until dinner, where Marge mouths off against Harry's parents, infuriating him in the process. Harry inadvertently, and unintentionally, uses his magic to cause Marge to blow up like a balloon, and she floats out the back door and up into the air. Harry then grabs his gear and runs off. 

         Shortly after, Harry is picked up by the Knight Bus, a blue triple-decker bus to transport witches and wizards to where they need to go at high speeds. Harry boards the bus and is taken to the Leaky Cauldron in London. During the ride, bus conductor Stan identifies a man in a picture on the front page of the Daily Prophet newspaper. The photographed man is Sirius Black, who was locked up for twelve years in Azkaban for murder, and has recently escaped. Upon arrival, Harry is greeted by innkeeper Tom, who takes Harry into the Leaky Cauldron, and to meet with Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge. Fudge informs Harry that the Accidental Magic Reversal Department had located Marge, punctured her to deflate her, and erased her memory of the incident. He also presents Harry with the books he'll be needing for his third year at Hogwarts. 

      The next morning, Ron and the other Weasleys have arrived at the inn, as has Hermione. Harry is pulled aside by Mr. Weasley, who wants to warn Harry that he might be in danger due to the escape of Sirius Black, who allegedly remains loyal to Voldemort, and may seek to finish Voldemort's work and kill Harry. Later, while on the Hogwarts Express, Harry relays this to Ron and Hermione, who show much needed concern for Harry's well-being. The train is stopped, and a cloaked figure boards, nearly sucking Harry's soul out, only to be stopped by the only other individual in the train compartment with Harry, Ron, and Hermione: Professor Remus "R.J." Lupin. Lupin casts a spell to force the cloaked figure to flee, and Harry passes out hearing a woman screaming. Upon awakening, Lupin gives Harry a piece of chocolate to eat, and identifies the cloaked figure as a Dementor, one of the guards of Azkaban. 

       At Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore introduces Lupin as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, announces that Hagrid will be teaching Care of Magical Creatures, and informs the students that the Dementors of Azkaban will be guarding Hogwarts until Sirius Black is caught. The next day, Harry, Ron, and Hermione attend Divination class with Professor Sybill Trelawney, who teaches the art of reading tea leaves. Harry's teacup has the image of a dog, called the Grim, inside of it, which is a very bad omen. At Care of Magical Creatures class, Hagrid introduces the students to a Hippogriff called Buckbeak, and Harry gets to ride on his back. However, Malfoy makes an ass of himself, and Buckbeak attacks him, which later leads Lucius Malfoy to sentence Buckbeak to death. At Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Lupin teaches the class about the Boggart, a dark creature that feeds on fear, but is weakened by laughter. 

         For third years, students of Hogwarts are able to visit Hogsmeade village, but only with the signed permission of a parent or guardian, which Harry was unable to get. Harry spends a lot of time with Lupin, who was friends with Harry's parents. Throughout the movie, Lupin becomes an individual that Harry can confide in whenever he can't turn to Ron or Hermione. One night, the castle is placed on lockdown, as the painting of the Fat Lady, who protects the entrance to Gryffindor Tower, is attacked by Sirius Black. However, all searches for him are fruitless, as Black is gone. 

       Some days later, Snape takes over teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, and he teaches about werewolves, and Hermione breaks down the difference between a werewolf and an Animagus. Animagi are witches and wizards that transform into animals through the use of powerful magic and can shape shift at will, whilst a werewolf cannot control its transformation. The next day, during a stormy game of Quidditch, Harry flies high to get the Snitch before the Hufflepuff Seeker, but passes out due to the Dementors, while his Nimbus 2000 flies into the Whomping Willow and is destroyed. Later on, Lupin agrees to teach Harry a means to defend himself from the Dementors once the holiday season passes. During the winter trip to Hogsmeade, Fred and George present Harry with a gift: the Marauders' Map, which is an active magical map of Hogwarts, and all of its secrets. Harry uses the map to find a secret way to Hogsmeade, arriving in the cellar of Honeyduke's Sweet Shop, 

        Harry, after meeting up with Ron and Hermione, sneaks after Minister Fudge and Professor McGonagall, who discuss how Sirius Black was responsible for the death of another wizard, Peter Pettigrew, and most shocking of all, Sirius Black is Harry's godfather. Some time later, Lupin uses a Boggart in the form of a Dementor to teach Harry the Patronus Charm, which needs a happy memory to produce a shield to protect the caster from a Dementor. 

        One night, Harry reads the Marauders' Map and sees a name on it that he initially dismisses: Peter Pettigrew. Harry goes to investigate, gets caught by Snape, but is bailed out of trouble by Lupin, who confiscates the map. Harry, Ron, and Hermione go to see Hagrid on the day Buckbeak is to be executed, and Hagrid returns Scabbers to Ron, who previously blamed Hermione's cat Crookshanks for the rat's disappearance. Harry, Ron, and Hermione head out, without being spotted, and witness the death of Buckbeak. Scabbers then bites Ron and runs off,.with Harry, Ron, and Hermione chasing him to the Whomping Willow, where Ron is nabbed by a massive black dog, who drags Ron into a tunnel under the tree. Harry and Hermione get into the tunnel and follow Ron and the dog to the Shrieking Shack, where they learn that the dog is an Animagus, and is none other than Sirius Black. Lupin arrives, and he and Sirius reunite, and a surprising truth is revealed: Sirius never betrayed Lily and James to Voldemort, but it was Peter Pettigrew that sold them out, leading to their deaths. Snape arrives and confronts Sirius and Lupin, but is knocked out by Harry, who wants to know about what happened with Pettigrew, who Sirius reveals cast the curse that killed many bystanders, cut off his own finger to fake his own death, and turned himself into a rat. Specifically, Scabbers. Scabbers is turned back into Pettigrew, who is confronted by Sirius and Lupin, who try to kill him, but at Harry's suggestion take him to Hogwarts to be handed over to the Dementors. 

      Unfortunately, one last secret is to be revealed: Lupin is a werewolf. During his transformation, Pettigrew turns into a rat and escapes, a recovered Snape is knocked out by Lupin, and Sirius turns into a dog to fight him off. Harry goes after Sirius, only for the Dementors to show up and nearly kill them. Across the water from them, Harry sees a mysterious figured drive the Dementors away with the Patronus. He later wakes up in the hospital wing, where Dumbledore tells him and Hermione, along with a bedridden Ron, that Sirius is locked in a cell atop the Dark Tower. Hermione then uses an object she has kept secret to send herself and Harry back in time. The device is called a Time-Turner, and Harry and Hermione follow in their footsteps to where they rescue Buckbeak from death, an wait until the events in the Shrieking Shack take place. 

      After the wolf attack, Hermione lures the transformed Lupin towards them, only for him to be fought off by Buckbeak, and Harry, who believes he saw his father cast the Patronus earlier, watches himself and Sirius get attacked by Dementors. It's at that moment that Harry, realized that he'd seen himself before, run to the edge of the water and cast the Patronus, driving all the Dementors away. Harry and Hermione then fly to the Dark Tower, where they break Sirius out, and he leaves, telling Harry that he'll be there for Harry. Harry and Hermione return to the hospital wing, where they tell Dumbledore of their work. 

       Some time later, Harry gets a gift, sent presumably by Sirius: a brand-new Firebolt broomstick. The movie ends with Harry testing the Firebolt out. 

       So, I definitely want to talk about the new cast members introduced in this movie. First is Michael Gambon as Dumbledore. Now, while I enjoyed the performance of Richard Harris in the first two movies, I personally feel like Michael Gambon is a much better Dumbledore than Richard was. His voice is much more commanding, and much more in line with who is considered to be one of the most powerful wizards in the world. As for the newcomers, I definitely enjoyed Gary Oldman as Sirius Black, David Thewlis as Remus Lupin, and Timothy Spall as Peter Pettigrew. Emma Thompson, who I've enjoyed in other films like Beauty and the Beast and Cruella, was definitely an excellent addition as Professor Trelawney. 

      I also really enjoyed getting to see the Knight Bus on screen, and seeing how fast.it careened through the streets of London was just cool. However, I will admit that the shrunken head, known as Dre Head, was a bit too much. I also enjoyed our first look at Hogsmeade Village, and getting to see Honeyduke's and the Shrieking Shack was really cool. The visual design for Buckbeak the Hippogriff and for the Dementors was truly spectacular, and its always just breathtaking when the scene of Harry flying on Buckbeak comes up in the movie. 

       Overall, for.his only film of the series, director Alfonso Cuaron did a terrific job adapting Harry's third year at Hogwarts to the big screen. I, therefore give Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban a rating of 5/5. Honestly, this was my favorite movie of the series, as it was for a lot of fans. Unfortunately, this Friday, I will be discussing the one chapter of the series that a majority of fans, myself included, didn't participate enjoy, and honestly thought it was the weakest of the movies: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.