Review of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) by Cameron J — 09 Apr 2014

From the director of the controversially sexual "Y Tu Mamá También" comes yet another delightful coming-of-age affair that ought to be totally appropriate for the whole family. Well, Chris Columbus took his own train home, and one might say that, with Alfonso Cuarón, the filmmakers might be getting a little carried away with edging this series up a little bit. Now, that's not to say that Cuarón doesn't fit, seeing as how the Mexican left his heart so deep in England that he once adapted "Great Expectations", but he can get edgy... though not too much in this particular situation. Okay, I don't know if this film is all that substantially edgier than Columbus' contributions, but it apparently spooked folks enough to keep them out of theaters and make this the lowest-grossing of any of the "Harry Potter". Oh, it's not like it matters, because it could still see the $1 billion mark from where it ended up standing at the box office, and you know that they saved a killing by hiring a Mexican to direct this. They must have also saved some money on recasting Richard Harris with Michael Gambon, rather than Ian McKellen, because looking at the high that Peter Jackson must have been after "The Return of the King", you know that there would have to be some kind of legal matter tied to McKellen's playing another great sorcerer that quickly after wrapping as Gandalf. Really, with this installment, you can kind of see them putting this series on the path to being a much lighter "Lord of the Rings", and by lighter, I mean in quality, because even though this film is not simply good, but strong, Cuarón can't entirely clean up some of his messes, or even some of Columbus'.

While certainly unique in a number of ways, particularly as an edgier turn for the "Harry Potter" series, this film - whether it be because it's working with a formula whose freshness was starting to stale about this time or whatever - tends to devolve to conventions with certain plotting elements, including beats we had come to expect from this series by the third installment, alone. The film works so hard and very often succeeds at distinguishing itself as a more substantial note in the "Harry Potter" saga, which makes its formulaic moments as an installment in such a series pretty aggravating, especially the cheesier ones that are limited in quantity and severity, at least compared to the compelling, but nonetheless much more kiddy predecessors, but still overdo corning up fluffier moments, as well as more melodramatic moments for audiences who are either younger or less subtle. The film's tonal extremes sometimes get too extreme in their prominence, but when it comes to their shifts, I'm relieved to find that there's not as much of the tonal unevenness that plagued the predecessors, which isn't to say that the film's narrative doesn't jar, for although the film is much shorter than its overdrawn predecessors, and with more meaty substance to justify a hefty runtime, at just shy of two-and-half hours, it still meanders along much of its material, while sometimes getting so carried away with the filler that it either loses focus altogether or simply loses consistency to its focus. I mean, don't get me wrong, many aspects which initially come across as mere filler come pretty prominently into play within the plotting, but the fact of the matter is that their introduction as filler throws you off of coherency to the narrative's focal path, and it doesn't help that the plot itself gets to be too layered for its own good, jarring from plot aspect to plot aspect, until it becomes a tad convoluted, and even finds itself ultimately desperate to wrap up whatever it can. The final act is particularly, well, messy, dismissing certain major characters, taking the narrative into too different of a tonal and plot direction, and altogether slam-banging resolution, and then having the audacity to cop-out when it comes to the ending, and while such a segment remains compelling, it betrays a body that is more realized in focus, - even if for only so long - as well as weightier, even if only to a point. Really, no matter how much heavier this drama may be in comparison to its predecessors, there are certain natural shortcomings, through which inspiration draws enough meat for the final product to all but stand out, though not to where you can disregard the lighter elements that make the, by their own right, already pretty considerable issues of familiarity, cheesiness and structural unevenness harder to disregard as threats to the final product's effectiveness. I don't suppose the film stands out quite as much as many say, yet quite frankly, it comes close, reaching such a point through all sorts of questionable elements, but nevertheless standing as strong, both as a compelling young adult drama and as a blockbuster of high stylistic value.

With this film, John Williams returns for one last contribution as score composer to this series, and, of course, his efforts aren't as refreshing as they were in "The Philosopher's Stone", and yet, with that said, this is barely arguably Williams' strongest composition for the series, boasting much more extensive thematic diversity, while retaining and sometimes augmenting much of the whimsy that brought life to the predecessors' sense of magic, until incorporating weightier tones of sweeping passion and biting intensity that give the artistic tastes of this film a more haunting sense of maturity, with the help of cinematography by Michael Seresin that is utterly stunning in its uniquely heavier emphasis on sparse lighting which makes the bleaker visuals rugged and the brighter visuals breathtaking, and immerses about as much as impeccable framing and slick camera plays whose style has to be seen in order to be believed. At least mature enough in its artistry to aesthetically stand out well beyond many other young adult flicks, this film is a little more musically sharp than its predecessors, and substantially sharper in its visual style, which is, of course, complimented by Alan Gilmore's, Andrew Ackland-Snow's, Neil Lamont's, Gary Tomkins', Alexandra Walker's and Steven Lawrence's lavish art direction, as well as by visual effects that are brought a little more to prominence, as well they should be, being that they're richly dynamic and phenomenally creative, with a rendering sleekness that remains mighty convincing to this day, to where you're far from being taken out of this world like you were in the technically innovative, but still somewhat dated predecessors. Even though this installment is less focused on the sheer entertainment value of the wizard world whose darker depths go pretty extensively explored from here on out, when the fluffier elements come into play, this film actually manages to even do a better job of capturing a sense of fun than its more lighthearted predecessors, for it's even aesthetically sharper with its musical and visual artistry, and production and technical value, and that, alone, makes this film a formidable challenge to predecessors who relied more on style. Needless to say, it's the quality of the substance on which this film thrives as a superior sequel and compelling drama by its own right, for although this series is still not so far from its fluffiness that it escapes natural shortcomings which the final product tries a little too hard to compensate for through bloatings to layered plotting, when the fluff that enriches this saga's mythology settles, there's more consequence to this drama as a mystery thriller and human character study, done justice by a script by Steve Gloves that carries both a wealth of wit to its dialogue, humor and lighter set pieces, punctuated by more thoughtful dramatic elements to characterization that, despite being thorough to the point of momentary aimlessness, really sell the greater deal of depth and subtlety to this opus. The cast anchors the greater depths of this affair with performances of greater depths, with each member delivering memorably distinguished and colorful performances, particularly standouts which include the thoroughly charismatic David Thewlis, the effectively disturbed-seeming Gary Oldman, and young leading man Daniel Radcliffe, whose trademark subdued charm is met with some near-revelatory dramatic beats that provide more insight into the titular Harry Potter character whose intrigue was limited in the predecessor, and is pretty rich here, thanks largely to Radcliffe. Through inspired scripting and acting behind a worthy edgier dramatic narrative concept, this film sees more depth as a character drama, just as it sees plenty of, if not more color as a pseudo-fluff piece, and yet, the overall strength of this film can be truly defined through the inspiration of director Alfonso Cuarón, who is nothing is not inspired, constantly delivering on style to secure thorough entertainment value, flavored up by some pretty well-structured action sequences, while still keeping pace steady enough to beget a thoughtfulness that Chris Columbus didn't bother too much with and probably isn't even skilled enough to produce, keeping the tonal layers smooth in their transition, while drawing on the heavier tones in such a way to draw tension and even a hint of resonance. Really, I don't know if there was ever to be all that much bite to this drama, so the status of excellence that many are saying this film achieves cannot be met, at least in my opinion, but for what this is, as a blockbuster with a solid hint of depth, the final product sinks its teeth in pretty deeply, with style and substance that meet in enough realized conjunction to craft a final product which is highly entertaining, thoroughly intriguing and mighty rewarding.

In the end, among the many familiar aspects of this film is a bit of this series' classic cheesy spots, whose breaking of heavier moments is not quite as jarring as the inconsistencies in pacing and focus that shine enough light on dramatic limitations to this narrative to prevent the final product from achieving excellence, which is impressively flirted with by the haunting score work, breathtaking cinematography, lavish visuals, stellar effects and thoroughly intriguing substance that, when backed by a clever script, genuine performances, and stylish, thoughtfully well-paced and all around inspired direction by Alfonso Cuarón, drive "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" as a blockbuster so fun, intriguing and compelling that it transcends natural shortcomings and stands as the first strong installment in a strong, modern classic saga.

3.25/5 - Strong.