Lost in Adaptation: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

This was also the last HP film I saw in theaters, for the same reason as you. Cheers and keep up the great reviews!

Amy B

im pretty sure the harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban video game was more fathful than the film if you want to start review book to video games sometime soon?

arthur D. gonzalez-martin

I keep things secret for dramatic effect when I'm teaching...

Jo and Gareth

I hope at some point Dom that you do an episode about the Conan movies because you make a very stylish barbarian.

Kim Huett

LOL @ the typo. You even repeated it four times, which is extra amusing. :) Also, "Stuplify"??? There's no "l" in in that spell's name, dude.

coredumperror

Sorry, The Dom. Similarly to how you hate the changes made for the first Percy Jackson film largely because it reeks of arrogance--of thinking they can tell the author's story better than the author can--I could really tell that the director felt HE could tell J.K. Rowling's story better than she could (even before I saw him confirm that he thought such in interviews). Like you said, Dom, to me this film is "death by a thousand little cuts." Every time I watch his film it feels like every second I'm being slapped in the face by little changes that say, "Oh, you liked the book? Well, MY FILM is better!" And I just want to scream, "No, it's not!"

Okay, petty as I am, I'm glad that you didn't like this film. Personally, the third Harry Potter book has always been my absolute favorite, so all the insulting little adaptation changes (like you said, the director wasn't planning on reading the book and made little changes just to leave HIS mark) drive me crazy. What really gets my goat is that, when you add it up, there's literally five minutes of footage of a CGI owl flying around Hogwarts and the Whomping Willow showing off the seasons, but they couldn't take 30 SECONDS to explain who Moony, Prongs, Padfoot, or Wormtail were, explain Lupin's childhood and their subsequent Marauding and Animagi forms, or explain why Harry's Patronus is a stag??!! Was the director so full of himself that he felt his personal little CGI owl showing off the seasons deserved more time and focus than the backstory and motivations of this book's entire roster of main characters? F U, Shitty Director!

Good review. This was the first movie I really noticed the changes they made. In your review you did miss pointing out that everyone around Harry tried to tell him to stay away from Black and he was like, "Well ya, I'm not stupid!" He couldn't figure why they kept at it till the reveal about Black being his Godfather.

David Phillips

It's been a while since I read it, but I have a strong recollection of Snape being just absolutely awful to Hermione. This was the first book where I felt he was an actual villain.

Devon

I will fully admit that Alan Rickman is the #1 reason I love these movies. Also, when you finally get around to doing The Stepford Wives, you've got to find a way to work in the wig. I don't care if none of the characters are redheads. The wig must play a starring role.

For me this was the beginning of the end. While yes the movies are better directed, POA was the first film where I felt they were cutting so much from the books, the overall plot was beginning to suffer.

Ghilz

Yay! I'm glad to see the original Dom back in his fancy new duds. Excellent review, too--your ability to separate (but still acknowledge) your emotional reactions to changes from your incisive analysis is developing at a marvelous pace; every review gets better and better. ALSO, love that you included the outtakes again, those always make me smile. :)

Amy Reynolds

Right?! I hate how these films display Ron! And Hermione for that matter. Ive been waiting for someone to rip this film a new one. Thanks Dom!

Lovinight

Yeah, as a movie it was good, but compared to the book, it failed. Great review

Felicia Angel

Close enough

Dominic Noble

*Azkaban

Harry Thornton