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http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/HarryPotterandthePrisonerofAzkaban-1132921/reviews.phpAin't It Cool News:
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That’s my way of leading into the first genuinely great Summer 2004 film.
Alfonso Cuaron’s HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN.
In a magic world of real magic, it’s the little things that could be done that terrify, dazzle and enchant. Combining the magic of the really real, the nearly real and power of pixels, Cuaron brings to life J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter in a way we have yet to see fully before.
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This opening creates a genuine tone shift from the absurd, to the oh so real. This is an element that is continued with regular clothing and more honest emotional moments. There’s a scene between David Thewlis’ Professor Lupin and Harry on this gabled bridge at Hogwart’s, that really touched me. It wasn’t played broadly, but sweetly. In Thewlis’ face you saw such affection for Harry’s parents, while Potter had his back to Lupin, we could see the sadness upon his… Hearing about his parents, hearing how loved they were is so wonderful, yet painful at the same time. He can only know them through the words of others… cryptic descriptions about eyes and faces… of natures and laughs. He’s truly an orphan in this world where everyone knows his story, but him. There’s such a haunt about Harry… I love it. Daniel Radcliffe is fantastic in this edition!
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Cuaron really has such a light touch to this story, in the end it all feels so easy, so elegant and so effortless that I was left with a goofy smile and a dream as I heard the final incantation before the light last left the projector and I was returned to my theater. He understands magic more purely than anyone I’m watching make films today. The misdirection, the naughty nature of it and finally the pure joy of magic… it’s all here, thanks to the greatest wizard to help Harry along his quest for whatever it may eventually be.
From The Hot Button:
I am not a Harry Potter fan. I haven't read the books. I couldn't stand the first movie. I didn't much like the second one.
So why am I so taken with Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban? There is one central reason… Alfonso Cuaron. He makes this episode of the ongoing series into an actual movie, not just another children's toy in shiny cellophane.
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And Hogwarts itself has gone through a remarkable transformation. For the first time, it feels like a boarding school and not just like a series of remarkable sets, one after another. Cuaron's Hogwarts has dirt… it has hillsides that students use as apparent shortcuts… it has more realistic encounters between students. But best of all, it has context for the first time. Michael Gambon, who has no trouble handling the bittersweet task of filling Richard Harris' robes, is no longer just a wise old man who runs a school. He is a hippie with a kofi, newly purple robes and little rubber bands in his beard, running a commune for other freaks like himself. He is joined in this reflectivity by Emma Thompson's Professor Trelawney, a master of fortune telling whose classroom décor may well come out of her VW van each semester.
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But it is Gary Oldman who makes the greatest impression, in two different ways. First, he manages to steal a couple of scenes before he even gets in a word of dialogue. And then, when he starts to speak, he is almost unrecognizable. For whatever reasons, he decided not to rely on any of the magical tricks that we all know as Oldman's and instead voices his Sirius Black without being showy, but without any Oldman landmarks. Not many people will appreciate how much Oldman becomes an actor in this role (he's always brilliant, no matter the role) and not a movie star. I'm sure that it was Oldman's idea for the character, but again, the choice is part of Cuaron's signature on this film.
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Not only is this the best Harry Potter movie, it is the first Harry Potter movie that actually qualifies as cinema. I'll be going to see it again before it opens… not because the kids will drag me, but because I want to.