Harry Potter and the 
Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

Preceded by: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
Succeeded by: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

	Directed by: Alfonso Cuarón	COUNTRY UK/USA GENRE Fantasy/Drama NORWEGIAN TITLE Harry Potter og fangen fra Azkaban RUNNING TIME 136 minutes
	Produced by: Chris Columbus David Heyman Mark Radcliffe
	Written by (based on the novel by J. K. Rowling): Steve Kloves

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Harry Potter	Daniel Radcliffe	½
Ron Weasley	Rupert Grint
Hermione Granger	Emma Watson
Sirius Black	Gary Oldman
Molly Weasley	Julie Walters	½
Professor Lupin	David Thewlis
Albus Dumbledore	Michael Gambon	½
Professor Snape	Alan Rickman	½
Professor McGonagall	Maggie Smith	½
Rubeus Hagrid	Robbie Coltrane
Draco Malfoy	Tom Felton	½
Professor Sybil Trelawney	Emma Thompson
Madame Rosmerta	Julie Christie
Peter Pettigrew	Timothy Spall

Review

With The Prisoner of Azkaban, the Harry Potter series moves another step away from simplified children's action to a story about real people in a fantastical world. The new director, Alfonso Cuarón (Y tú mama tambien), brings more space to his sets, making the ambience more tangible and the world of Hogwarts more vivid. Unlike Chris Columbus, Cuarón explores his characters as human beings, and compared to the two previous outings, The Prisoner of Azkaban pays far more attention to the everyday school life of our protagonists. Some of these scenes (like Lupin's training sequence or Hagrid's hippogriff training) are detailed and rewarding because they aren't rushed. It also helps that Steve Kloves has been more economical with his screenplay this time, narrowing down the running time to a more viewer-friendly 136 minutes.

It is a delight to have the likes of David Thewlis and Gary Oldman coming in and freshening things up with two highly interesting characters. The plot and structuring of the climax is more clever here than in The Chamber of Secrets, but still The Prisoner of Azkaban can't avoid coming off as 'another step towards something more important'. Voldemort is discussed and mentioned without ever having any importance to the film's plot. Such a structuring would have been unheard of in the good old pre-film-series days of cinema, but here it is completely natural – if you're a hardcore Potter-fan. Like the previous entry, The Prisoner of Azkaban lacks cohesion if seen in isolation – characters come and go within seconds and without further explanation.

The acting is fairly good, even though very few of the characters require too much of the thespians. Gary Oldman, Emma Thompson, Timothy Spall, and Rupert Grint have carefree fun with their roles, and Michael Gambon fills Richard Harris' shoes sans problems. As for Daniel Radcliffe, he is required to cry once, which he cannot quite. Hopefully, the filmmakers will avoid laying on too challenging scenes for the young actor in the future. Both he and the character seem more at home when things are kept fairly superficial.