Hmmm rather disappointed with the Prisoner of Azkaban. There was so much missed out, that it actually lost the main focus of the original story being Blacks apparent attempts to kill Harry. This meant that when we find out that Black is actually after Scabbers and not Harry, the impact and excitement is totally lost. For instance Harry gets the broomstick off Black for Xmas but isnt allowed it incase it has been cursed, thus adding lots of extra tension regarding the quidditch matches he wont have a decent broom for. But there was almost nothing about normal Hogwarts life in the film to give it that special HP-ness... only one short quidditch sequence, no end of year house points, no Xmas at Hogwarts, very little with Malfoy. Shame. It's my fav book so far and the film is now my least fav so far of the three released.
You mean that broom he got at the end is cursed? I thought it was kinda lame film but I havn't read the book. The child (about 4 or 5 years old) next to me blatently didn't know wtf was going on when they started time travelling. The time travelling was silly, I really think they shouldn't try stuff this complex in childrens stories. The script was also very bad ... just bad Better than troy tho tbh
I thought it was poor compared to the book as well, so many many things which, in my mind, were essential to the story and could easily have been included (such as who the mapmakers: Prongs, Moony, Padfoot and Wormtail were; How Sirius escaped from Azkaban; how he knew Peter was still alive; why Snape hated Harry's father). Trouble is (as with any book -> Film) there is just too much to cram into a 2 hours. God knows how they're going to butcher the next one...
Spot on. Harry was banging on about seeing his father, but it never actually explained his father was the one of the four friends that transformed into the deer so it lost its significance. On the time travel bit, in the book its given a lot more time (ahem) and importance as it is hinted at throughout and when they end up using the amulet it's explained a lot better and makes for quite a dramatic ending. Like most of the film it was dealt with poorly and in a very vague, wishy washy manner.
I think this is the first film in the series that assumes you've read the book - there was quite a bit of plot that was missed out and a few things that were out of sync. I absolutely loved the books - despite the fact I'm 26, and this was one of (if not) my favourites but desipte the omissions I actually thought the Film was better than the first two (COS is the worst book anyway IMHO), more cinematic somehow. I also thought that Hogwarts castle and the grounds used in this one was much more dramatic than in the first two films. Bizzarely I was on the train on the way home from work last week and there was a couple of kids messing around, obviously on the way home for the weekend from drama school. I went to see Potter on Monday and low and behold the kid from the train was sitting there chatting at one of the tables in the 'welcome to Hogwarts' sceen - Madness.
