Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban Film Review

Thankfully Harry Potter has been getting in the news again recently this time more concerning the upcoming TV show. As such I thought that it was about time to delve back into this world full of magic and wizardry as this is a world that alot of us did grow up and if HBO Max is smart they won't mess it up and so then join me as I review the film that introduced the concept of time travel to the Harry Potter franchise with the film in question being called simply just "Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban" enjoy.

The plot of this film is when a supposed killer escapes from Azkaban it's up to Harry , Ron and Hermione to try and find out what the killer's connection is to Harry before it's far to late. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad as the films plot was one that was alot more adult and mature then what we got in the previous two films which is something that does make alot of sense as while we the audience grow up so do the characters and therefor so do the stories that are told in these film with this films plot being a good example of that as we see Harry come face to face with the person who outright told Voldemort where his parents are which led to them getting killed off in the first place and we see him struggle to resist the argue to have him killed which is a more mature plot line and something that the previous two films wouldn't have been able to get away with with this films plot also being one that does get alot more focus then you'd expect from a Harry Potter plot where even tho the plots themselves are usually really well done there nine times out of ten barely focused on whereas here in this film it does feel like that alot of the films scenes are all about advancing the films plot in ways that feel natural and organic with the plot of this film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter , Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley and Emma Watson as Hermione Granger. Also starring in this film is Sir Michael Gambon as Albus Dumbledore , Dame Maggie Smith as Minerva McGonagall , Alan Rickman as Severus Snape , Robbie Coltrane as Rubeus Hagrid , Dame Emma Thompson as Sybill Trelawney , David Thewlis as Remus Lupin , Warwick Davis as Filius Flitwick , David Bradley as Argus Filch , Dawn French as The Fat Lady , Paul Whitehouse as Sir Cadogan , Timothy Spall as Peter Pettigrew , Peter Best as Walden Macnair , Bonnie Wright as Ginny Weasley , Matthew Lewis as Neville Longbottom , James Phelps as Fred Weasley , Oliver Phelps as George Weasley , Chris Rankin as Percy Weasley , Ekow Quartey as Bem , Alfred Enoch as Dean Thomas , Devon Murray as Seamus Finnigan , Tom Felton as Draco Malfoy , Jamie Waylett as Vincent Crabbe , Josh Herdman as Gregory Goyle , Genevieve Gaunt as Pansy Parkinson , Bronson Webb as Pike , Robert Hardy as Cornelius Fudge , Mark Williams as Arthur Weasley , Gary Oldman as Sirius Black , Dame Julie Walters as Molly Weasley , Julie Christie as Madam Rosmerta , Jim Tavaré as Tom , Lee Ingleby as Stan Shunpike , Jimmy Gardner as Ernie Prang , Richard Griffiths as Vernon Dursley , Fiona Shaw as Petunia Dursley , Harry Melling as Dudley Dursley , Pam Ferris as Marge Dursley and Sir Lenny Henry as The Voice Of Dre Head.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. Which isn't something that's not only all that that surprising as alot of this films actors at the very least the adult ones are a bunch of really good actors in there own right and these films always have some really good acting in them irregardless with the same thing also being true for the Fantastic Beast films as well with the acting in this film really proving that the younger kid actors can more then hold there own when it comes to acting against the more established adult stars as while yes yes granted the previous two films did have the kid actors acting with the more adult actors as well they never really got alot of screen time to show what they can do alot of the time and when they did most of the scenes were played for laughs where as here in this film not only do the film child actors get alot more screen time with the films adult actors but alot of the scenes that they are given to do in this film have a ton of weight to them thus giving the more younger actors of this film more of a chance to showcase just what it is that they can do as actors as well with the best actor in this film being Gary Oldman as Sirius Black as he has to go from being absolutely insane to this kind and loving person that you genuinely feel sorry for at the drop of a hat and he does it so well that you really do buy him as this kind of tragic figure who will now always be on the run be it in the wizarding world or in the muggle world as well with the acting that's in this film really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so good that all this films actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a  good performance will come out of them more naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

Doing the CGI for this film is Industrial Light & Magic , Moving Picture Company , Framestore CFC , Cinesite , Double Negative , Baseblack , Machine and Northern Lights Post. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us inn this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad as while yes there are some spots in this film where the CGI does look a little bit more dated that's more due to the fact that this film was made decades ago and the fact that the technology that we have nowadays when it comes to creating CGI for either film or TV shows just didn't exist back then and with that in mind this films CGI is as good as it was ever going to br with Buckbeak making for a pretty convincing CGI creature and the Dementors looking really creepy as well but at the same time tho this film does use alot of digital doubles for it's characters and those really haven't aged all that well as the film does make it painfully obvious when there using a digital double for a character instead of just using the real person and while the the backgrounds do for the most part look pretty good during the scene with Harry and Buckbeak flying there are certain shots that do look a little bit flat and a little less detailed then the ones that came before but like it was said before this is more due to the technical limitations of the time period and aren't a result f the film having bad looking effects as the film on the whole does have some really good looking effects as does the rest of this franchise as well.

This is the film that introduced the very divisive element of time travel into the world of Harry Potter and while films like The Time Machine and Back To The Future used this element really well. This film however just doesn't as while it's not used badly in the film with the characters reappearing exactly where they would do when they use it but at the same time it's not something that's all that well developed as it was only added into the plot of both the book and the novel to explain why Hermione was going to all of these classes at the exact same time and while the books did use more of these time turners the films however only used them once in this film and then got rid of them when they could have been used so many more times across quite literally any of the of the films as Harry himself could have used it to save the life of Cedric Digory in the very next film but for no given reason the makers of this franchise just ditched this idea after the one film which does make this film stand out for all of the wrong reasons as now we are left with something that's never going to be fully developed or explored any further when they actually could have done not only in this film as they very easily could have had Hermione tell Harry all about during there trip back in time which would have been very in character for her to do so or they could have had Dumbledore himself say something about to the pair of them before they go back n time which would make no sense for Hermione as she would have known all about them anyway but you could argue that Dumbledore was actually telling us the audience all about them just something to make them feel more fleshed out would have worked and would have been more better then what we got in this film.

To be frank there are elements and shots in this film that does feel like that they would belong in Hammer Horror film. Be it from the creepy designs of the Dementors to even the fact zoom in shot of when we the audience see Lupin transform into a werewolf for the first time there are plenty of things in this film that would feel right at home from a horror film from either the fifties to the early sixties with even the loom of the film as a whole taking on a more gothic look to it then what we had previously seen in any of the other films and while this look would be all but gone in the rest of the films it is something that does work well enough for this film as this film is basically a kid friendly horror film only with with witches and wizards thrown into for good measure and heck heck even the scene where we first Lupin in the film does kind of have this creepy and earie look to it and it's something that does make you wonder why the makers of this film went with this approach as while it is something that does work well enough for this film it's also something that feels put of place when you think of all of the other films as well as the all look like stereotypical kid fantasy films and yet with this film we have a film that does look so much like a horror film that nobody would have blamed anyone if they thought that they were looking at a horror film and not something from the Harry Potter films and while this could signify the fact that the films are growing up by taking on a more mature look and feel to them of that was the case then it makes you wonder why they didn't stick with this look when it came to all of the films in this franchise instead of just keeping to this one film as all that does is make this film feel like the odd one out in the franchise.

Believe it or not this film actually doesn't feature the series main enemy Lord Voldemort in any way shape or form with the films main villain instead being Peter Pettigrew. With the character being an ex friend of Serious , Remus , James and Lily but very quickly ended there friendship when he joined forces wit Lord Voldemort and told him where James and Lily and baby Harry where hiding which did result in the death of James of Lily while it was refreshing to have someone else play the role of main villain in this franchise the character doesn't really do anything evil all throughout the film due to the fact that he's hidden himself for decades as Ron's pet rat Scabbers so he really doesn't get the chance to do anything evil until he's found out and even then he very quickly runs away with him being presented more as a comic relief villain in all of his other appearances with Sirius being treated more as a main threat to the characters as we see him in his wolf form attack Ron near the start of the films third act and the rest of the films characters tell us how much of an evil character that he is and even when he has three of them trapped he still acts creepy towards Harry , Ron and Hermione which does make him seem like the better villain out of the two characters as even tho we technically get to spend more time with Peter thanks to the previous two films even then he's not in his human form and he doesn't do anything evil which is something that does make alot of sense as he's meant to be in hiding but at the same time given that he's meant to be the main villain of this film it would have been nice if the makers of this film actually showed us him doing some evil things as while all of the foreshadowing was nice like hearing how Hermione's cat Crookshanks attacked Scabbers for no reason something which we know now to be Crookshanks attacking the villainous Peter Pettigrew it still would have been nice to see him do something that's actually evil in the film instead of having him run away the moment that he gets found out.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly two hours and twenty one minuets and forty two seconds. Which to be fair to this film is a perfectly solid running time for this film to have as the film really does have more then enough plot there to really cover that amount of running time the issues is tho is that the film really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely as while the plot of the film does rightfully get alot of focus it doesn't get alot of development as we don't find out how Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban in the first place and nor do we find out why he was heading towards Hogwarts either as both of those things happened BEFORE the reveal of Peter Pettigrew so we know that it can't be to get revenge on him as at that point he like Remus would have believed him to be dead and yet because the film doesn't develop it's plot enough neither one of those two questions get answered with the film not even taking the time that it really did need to fully develop it's newer characters as while we do get to spend alot of Lupin before the third act we don't get to find out all that much about him and the same thing with Sirius as even tho both characters are meant to be main characters in this film we don't get to find anything about them with the worst one for this being Peter Pettigrew himself as he only shows up in human form for the last thirty minuets or so and even then he disappears not soon after after not to be seen again in this film which does make his inclusion in this film feel wasted as the makers of this film could have got alot more out of the character that would have helped to fully set him up as a credible villain to our heroes but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is an action film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. As while the film doesn't have that many action scenes in it the ones that it does have work really well within the context of the film with the best example of this being the scene where Hermione punches Draco right in the face which works because Draco is an a*shole not only in this film but in all of the films and therefor to him get a taste of his own medicine will always be satisfying no matter who it is that's hitting him in the face with the best action scene in this whole entire film going to the third act chase scene as that's where the main plot of the film not only comes to ahead but also splinters off in half as well as we get to see what would happen if Harry and Hermione don't save Buckbeak which does result in Sirius presumably being killed by the Dementors and then we get to see what happens when Buckbeak is saved by both Harry and Hermione which does lead to some really sweet character moments between the two of them as Harry tells her that he saw his father save them from the lake only to slowly realise that his father isn't coming back which was really sweet and we get to see Harry act like a true friend to Hermione as well with the films other action scenes being just as good as the one scene in the films truly wonderful third act as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. 

Overall this is a really good film and one that whilst it's not one of me own personal favorite Harry Potter films it does have alot of merit to it with the film being a solid entry point to the series as it's not that heavy on lore and is a fairly entertaining film in it's own right as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and a such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the image that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from X . Com , the official Harry Potter fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very film that I used in this very review being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very film with alot of them being better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.