Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a 2004 fantasy adventure film, based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. Directed by Mexican film maker Alfonso Cuarón, it is the third film in the popular Harry Potter series. It stars Daniel Radcliffe as the teenage wizard Harry Potter, and Rupert Grint and Emma Watson as Harry's best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Gary Oldman and David Thewlis joined the cast as the new characters Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. In this movie, the role of Albus Dumbledore was played by Michael Gambon who took over from the late Richard Harris who died of Hodgkin's disease. Steve Kloves returned as screenwriter, while Chris Columbus (the director of the previous two films) became a producer, alongside David Heyman. The film was released on 31 May 2004 in the United Kingdom and on 4 June 2004 in North America, as the first film released into IMAX theaters.
The film was nominated for two Academy Awards — Academy Award for Original Music Score and Academy Award for Visual Effects at the 77th Academy Awards held in 2005.
Plot
Harry Potter is at Dursleys for the summer, spending his time studying new spells. When Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, visits, Harry loses his temper when she insults his parents. He unintentionally causes her to inflate and float away. Harry flees, fearing punishment for performing magic outside school. The Knight Bus appears and delivers Harry to the Leaky Cauldron where Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge tells him he will not be expelled. Harry also learns that Sirius Black, a suspected supporter of Lord Voldemort, has escaped Azkaban prison and is likely intending to kill Harry.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione head back to school on the Hogwarts Express. They share a compartment with the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Remus Lupin. When the train abruptly stops, Dementors (the guards of Azkaban) board, searching for Black. Harry faints when one Dementor enters their compartment, but Lupin repels it with a charm. At Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore informs students that the Dementors will be guarding the school while Black is at large. In addition to Lupin, Hagrid is announced as the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher. Lupin's lessons prove enjoyable; he teaches practical spells and encourages less confident students like Neville. However, Hagrid's first class goes awry when Draco Malfoy deliberately provokes the Hippogriff Buckbeak into attacking him. Draco's father Lucius Malfoy has Buckbeak sentenced to death.
During a Quidditch match, several Dementors approach Harry, causing him to fall off his broomstick. Lupin teaches Harry to defend himself against Dementors with a Patronus charm. A Patronus is the opposite of a Dementor: as Dementors feed on depression and darkness, so a Patronus must be created with a happy memory. Because Harry lacks parental permission to visit Hogsmeade, Fred and George give him their Marauder's Map, a magical document showing every person's location within Hogwarts and secret passageways in and out of the castle. At Hogsmeade, Harry overhears that Black is his godfather and was his parents' best friend. Black was accused of divulging the Potters' secret whereabouts to Voldemort and murdering their mutual friend Peter Pettigrew. Harry vows to kill Black, but is astonished when he later sees Peter Pettigrew's name on the Marauder's Map.
In Divination class, Professor Trelawney enters a trance and predicts that the Dark Lord's servant will return that night. Harry, Ron and Hermione visit Hagrid to console him over Buckbeak's impending execution. While there, they discover Scabbers, Ron's missing rat. Fudge, Dumbledore and an executioner arrive at Hagrid's to carry out Buckbeak's execution, which the trio watch from a distance hill. When Scabbers suddenly bites Ron and escapes, the trio chase it. A large dog appears and drags both Ron and Scabbers into a hole at the Whomping Willow's base. Harry and Hermione follow them to the Shrieking Shack. Upon finding Ron, they discover that the dog is actually Sirius Black, who is an Animagus. Harry attacks Sirius, but Lupin arrives and disarms Harry. Lupin then embraces Sirius, his old friend. After being confronted by Hermione, Lupin admits to being a werewolf. Snape bursts in, intending to hand over Black and Lupin to the Dementors, but Harry knocks him out with a spell. Lupin and Black explain that Scabbers is Peter Pettigrew, an Animagus who committed the crime Black was convicted for. Lupin and Sirius force Pettigrew back to his human form before intending to kill him, but they are stopped by Harry, who says his father, James Potter would not want his two best friends to become killers. Pettigrew will be turned over to the Dementors. As the group head to the castle, the full moon rises; Lupin transforms into a werewolf, allowing Pettigrew to escape. Lupin and Sirius fight in their animal forms, until Lupin is distracted by another werewolf's howls. Dementors attack Sirius and Harry. As Sirius' soul is about to be removed, Harry sees a distant figure cast a powerful stag-shaped Patronus that scatters the Dementors. Harry believes the mysterious figure is his dead father, James.
Hermione reveals that she possesses a time-turner that she used all year to take multiple classes simultaneously. She and Harry travel back in time three hours, watching themselves repeat that night's events. They free Buckbeak and return to the Whomping Willow. As the Dementors descend to attack the "other" Harry and Sirius, Harry realizes that he cast the Patronus. Harry and Hermione rescue Sirius, who escapes on Buckbeak. Lupin later resigns, knowing that parents will object to a werewolf teaching their children. Shortly after, Sirius sends Harry a Firebolt, the fastest racing broom ever made.
Cast
Cuarón instructed Radcliffe, Grint and Watson to write an essay on their characters, explaining what they thought about them. In a case of life imitating art, Radcliffe was pleased with his short essay, Watson wrote sixteen pages and Grint did not even bother.[3]
In addition, several new actors joined the cast:
- Michael Gambon assumes the role of Albus Dumbledore, the Hogwarts Headmaster, after Richard Harris, who played Dumbledore in the previous two films, died on 25 October 2002.[4] Despite his illness, Harris was determined to film his part, telling a visiting David Heyman not to recast the role.[5] Four months after Harris's death, Cuarón chose Gambon as his replacement.[5][6] Gambon was unconcerned with bettering or copying Harris, instead giving his own interpretation, putting on a slight Irish accent for the role,[3] as well as completing his scenes in three weeks.[7] Ian McKellen was offered the role, but he turned it down having played the similar character Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. He also felt it would have been inappropriate to take Harris' role, as the late actor had called McKellen a "dreadful" actor.[8] Harris's family had expressed an interest in seeing Harris's close friend Peter O'Toole being chosen as his replacement.[9]
- Gary Oldman plays Sirius Black, an escapee from the Wizarding prison Azkaban and Harry's godfather. Oldman accepted the part because he needed the money, as he had not taken on any major work in several years as he had decided to spend more time with his children.[10] He drew inspiration from Cuarón, who he described as having "such enthusiasm and a joy for life,"[11] and compared Sirius to John Lennon.[10] He was "surprised by how difficult it was to pull off", comparing the role to Shakespearean dialogue.[11] Oldman suggested Sirius's hairstyle, while Cuarón designed his tattoos.[11] He had read the first book, and his children were fans of the series. The part made Oldman a hero with his children and their schoolmates.[3]
- David Thewlis plays Remus Lupin, the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts, who is actually a werewolf. He was friends with Harry's parents when they were at school, and teaches Harry to conjure a Patronus Charm to fight the Dementors. Thewlis, who had previously auditioned for the role of Professor Quirrell in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was Cuarón's first choice for the role of Lupin. He accepted the role on advice from Ian Hart, the man who was cast as Quirrell, who told him that Lupin was "the best part in the book."[12] Cuarón told Thewlis that he thought Lupin was gay, pitching him as a "gay junkie", although his idea turned out to be incorrect.[13] Thewlis had seen the first two films and had only read part of the first book, although after taking the role he read the third. He was excited about the prospect of making a children's film, and thoroughly enjoyed filming.[3]
- Timothy Spall as Peter Pettigrew, the man who was supposedly killed by Sirius, only to be found alive and well, masquerading as Ron's rat Scabbers.
- Emma Thompson as Sybill Trelawney, the inept Hogwarts Divination teacher, who unknowingly predicts the return of Lord Voldemort.
Additional cast members include:
- Alan Rickman as Severus Snape, the Hogwarts Potions master who suspects Lupin of helping Sirius enter the castle. Head of Slytherin House.
- Maggie Smith as Minerva McGonagall, the Hogwarts Transfiguration teacher and deputy headmistress. Head of Gryffindor House.
- Robbie Coltrane as Rubeus Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper and newly appointed Care of Magical Creatures professor.
- Tom Felton as Draco Malfoy, Harry's rival.
- Dawn French as the portrait of The Fat Lady, the Gryffindor house portrait who is attacked by Sirius when she refuses him entry to the common room.
- Richard Griffiths and Fiona Shaw as Vernon and Petunia Dursley, Harry's uncaring aunt and uncle.
- Pam Ferris as Aunt Marge, Harry's offensive great aunt, who he accidentally inflates in anger when she insults his parents.
- Harry Melling as Dudley Dursley, Harry's overweight cousin.
- Robert Hardy as Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic.
- Julie Christie as Madame Rosmerta, the owner of The Three Broomsticks
- Matthew Lewis as Neville Longbottom, the accident-prone classmate and friend of the trio. Neville was "clowned up" for the film, with Lewis wearing false yellowed teeth and oversized shoes.[3]
- James and Oliver Phelps as Fred and George Weasley, Ron's elder twin brothers who give Harry the Marauder's Map so that he can get into Hogsmeade.
- Mark Williams and Julie Walters as Arthur and Molly Weasley, Ron's parents.
- Lee Ingleby as Stan Shunpike, the conductor of the Knight Bus.
- Jim Tavaré as Tom, the owner of the Leaky Cauldron
Production
Development
With Prisoner of Azkaban production of the Harry Potter films switched to an 18-month cycle, which producer David Heyman explained was "to give each [film] the time it required."[5] Chris Columbus, the director of the previous two films, decided not to return and helm the third installment as he "hadn't seen [his] own kids for supper in the week for about two and a half years."[14] Even so, he remained on as a producer alongside Heyman.[15] Guillermo del Toro was approached to direct, but considered the film "so bright and happy and full of light, that [he] wasn't interested."[16] Marc Forster turned down the film because he had made Finding Neverland and did not want to direct child actors again.[17] Warner Bros. then composed a three-name short list for Columbus's replacement, which comprised Callie Khouri, Kenneth Branagh (who played Gilderoy Lockhart in Chamber of Secrets) and eventual selection Alfonso Cuarón.[18] Cuarón was initially nervous about accepting as he had not read any of the books, or seen the films. After reading the series, he changed his mind and signed on to direct,[19] as he had immediately connected to the story.[15] Cuarón's appointment pleased J. K. Rowling who loved his film Y tu mamá también and was impressed with his adaptation of A Little Princess.[20] Heyman found that "tonally and stylistically, [Cuarón] was the perfect fit."[5]
Filming
Principal photography began on 24 February 2003,[6] at Leavesden Film Studios, and concluded in October 2003.[21]
Some sets for the film were built in Glen Coe, Scotland, near the Clachaig Inn. The indoor sets, including ones built for the previous two films, are mainly in Leavesden Film Studios. The Hogwarts Lake was filmed from Loch Ness in the Highlands of Scotland. Incidentally, the train bridge, which was also featured in the Chamber of Secrets movie, is opposite Loch Shiel and was used to film the sequences when the Dementor boarded the train. A small section of the triple-decker bus scene, where it weaves in between traffic, was filmed in Palmers Green in North London. Some parts were also filmed in and around Borough Market and Lambeth Bridge in London.
The Honeydukes set in this film is a redress of the set of Flourish and Blotts that was seen in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which, in turn, was a redress of the Ollivander's set from the first film.
Rowling allowed Cuarón to make minor changes to the book, on the condition that he stuck to the book's spirit.[19] She allowed him to place a sundial on the Hogwarts' grounds, but rejected a graveyard, as that would play an important part in the then unreleased sixth book.[19] Rowling said she "got goosebumps" when she saw several moments in the film, as they inadvertently referred to events in the final two books, she stated "people are going to look back on the film and think that those were put in deliberately as clues."[20] When filming concluded, Cuarón found that it had "been the two sweetest years of my life," and expressed his interest in directing one of the sequels.[19]
Effects
Cuarón originally wanted to move away from CGI toward puppetry. He hired master underwater puppeteer Basil Twist to help, using puppets to study the potential movement of the Dementors.[5] Once it became apparent that puppetry would be too expensive and unable to portray the specific elements of the Dementors, Cuarón turned to CGI; however, he and his team did use footage of Dementor puppets underwater as a basis for the flowing movements of the computer-generated Dementors.
The Knight Bus segment when Harry is being taken to The Leaky Cauldron uses the film technique known as bullet time, popularised in The Matrix series of films. This segment takes humorous advantage of the magic quality of the Harry Potter world by having the Muggle world go into bullet time while inside the Knight Bus, Harry, Stan Shunpike and Ernie Prang (and the talking shrunken head) keep moving in real time.
Music
The Academy Award nominated score was composed and conducted by John Williams and released on CD on 25 May 2004. In general, his music for this third film is not as bright as that of the previous films, with distinct medieval influences in the instrumentation. One of the new themes, "Double Trouble," was written during production so that a children's choir could perform it in Hogwarts's Great Hall in one of the film's earlier scenes. There are brief quotes of themes from the earlier films, but the majority of the material in this score is new, including statements of "Double Trouble" and several other entirely new themes.
Brand X Music scored the trailers, using the tracks "Anticipation" and "Progeny".
Marketing
Reaction
Critical reception
Prisoner of Azkaban achieved highly positive reviews, garnering an 89% "Certified Fresh" approval rating with a 90% "Top Critics" ranking at Rotten Tomatoes[22], being the most critically acclaimed film of the series. The film also recieved a score of 81 out of 100 at Metacritic garnering "universal acclaim".[23] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film three-and-a-half out of four stars: "Not only is this dazzler by far the best and most thrilling of the three Harry Potter movies to date, it's a film that can stand on its own even if you never heard of author J.K. Rowling and her young wizard hero."[24] The Hollywood Reporter called the film "a deeper, darker, visually arresting and more emotionally satisfying adaptation of the J.K. Rowling literary phenomenon", especially compared to the first two installments.[25] Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half out of four stars saying that the film "is not quite as good as the first two", but still called it "a delightful, amusing and sophisticated installment".[26] Claudia Puig from USA Today praised the film as "a visual delight",[27] while Richard Roeper called the film "a creative triumph".[28] Sean Smith from Newsweek said: "The Prisoner of Azkaban boasts a brand-new director and a bold new vision", he also called the film "moving", praising the performances by Radcliffe and Watson,[29] while Entertainment Weekly praised the film for being more mature than its predecessors.[30] Some of the negative criticism came from The Washington Post: "Put delicately, this is one long sit, made all the more so by a turgid story, a dour visual palette and uninspiring action".[31] Rex Reed, of The New York Observer, also pointed out some over the top style changes, calling it "The silliest, as well as the most contrived -- and confusing -- of them all".
Box office
The film opened in the United Kingdom on 31 May and on 4 June in the United States. It broke numerous records upon its worldwide release. It broke the record for biggest single day in UK box office history making £5.3 million on a Monday.[32] It went on to break records both with and without previews making a stunning £23.9 million including previews[33] and £9.3 million excluding them.[34] The film made $93.7 million during its opening weekend in the United States, achieving, at the time, the third biggest opening weekend of all time.[35] It went on to make £46.1 million in the UK.[36]
The Prisoner of Azkaban made a total of $795.6 million worldwide,[1] which made it the second highest-grossing film of 2004 behind Shrek 2.[37] In the United States, it was only the sixth highest-grossing film of the year making $249.5 million.[38] Everywhere else in the world, however, it was the number one film of the year, making $546 million compared to Shrek 2's $478.6 million.[39] Despite its successful box office run, Azkaban is currently the lowest-grossing Harry Potter film (all the other Harry Potter films have grossed more than US $875 million worldwide). Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is currently the 21st highest grossing film in history.
Awards
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was nominated in the 77th Academy Awards held in 2005 for two Oscars.
Prisoner of Azkaban was also nominated for Favorite Movie at the 2005 Kids' Choice Awards, but it lost to The Incredibles.
The film also ranks at number 471 in Empire magazine's 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time.[40]
Differences from the book
Prisoner of Azkaban was, at the time of publication, the longest book in the series. The increasing plot complexity necessitated a looser adaptation of the book's finer plot lines and back-story. The film opens with Harry using magic to light his wand in short bursts, in the same scene in the book he uses a torch as performing magic is illegal for minors. The connection between Harry's parents and the Marauder's map is only briefly mentioned,[41] as is Remus Lupin's association to both the map and James Potter.[42] Some exposition was removed for dramatic effect: both the Shrieking Shack and Scabbers the rat are mentioned only very briefly in the film adaptation, while they receive a more thorough coverage in the novel.[41] Most of the back story of Sirius Black is also cut, with no mention of the manner of his escape from Azkaban.[42]
On account of pace and time considerations, the film glosses over detailed descriptions of magical education. Only one Hippogriff, Buckbeak, is seen, and only Malfoy and Harry are seen interacting with the Hippogriff during Care of Magical Creatures lessons, and most other lessons, including all of Snape's potions classes, were cut from the film.[41] The complicated description of the Fidelius Charm is removed entirely from the film adaptation, with no explanation given of exactly how Black betrayed the Potters to Lord Voldemort. Many of the lines in this scene are redistributed amongst Cornelius Fudge and Minerva McGonagall; in compensation, McGonagall's exposition of the Animagus transformation is instead given by Snape.[41]
The embryonic romantic connection between Ron and Hermione is more prominent in the film adaptation than the original book; in response to criticism of the first two films for sacrificing character development for mystery and adventure, the emotional development of all three lead characters is given more attention in the third film.[41] However, some critics and fans thought that the result was a murky plotline. That said, any mention of the beginnings of Harry's crush on Cho Chang is removed.[43] Cedric Diggory also did not appear in the films until the following film, and thus, his father Amos is a much nicer person in the next film than in the book of that film as Cedric did not beat Harry. In the film, the Hufflepuff Seeker, who is not named in the film even though it was Cedric in the book, is struck down by lightning. Malfoy, in the film, is made into more of a character to laugh at than he was in the novel. (For example, he was far less capable of composing himself in the scene where Hermione hit him, walking away in tears, rather than merely frustrated. Also, Harry and Ron did not take him as seriously, telling Hermione "he's not worth it" when she pulls her wand on him, rather than rushing to hit him themselves.) The darker side of Harry, first seen in Prisoner of Azkaban is glimpsed in this film, when Harry proclaims, "I hope he [Black] finds me. Cause when he does, I'm gonna be ready. When he does, I'm gonna kill him".[41]
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External links
