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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban


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I just returned home from the 11:57 showing of it. I would be interested in hearing others reviews if you have seen it. I'll post mine later, as right now, I should be getting some sleep, or else I will be exahausted at ballet tomorrow morning! :yawn: I will say one thing though. It was...different. The changes in production staff (I can't remember exactly which position was different) was quite aparent. Good/Bad...I don't know. I still have to think about it.

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Besides being the most uniformly dark of the five Harry Potter books to date, the film of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was directed by Alfonso Cuaron, who also directed Y Su Mama Tambien and Great Expectations, while the first two were directed by Chris Columbus, who directed Home Alone and Mrs. Doubtfire. It's not surprising that the tone and production design are markedly different. Harry's ascent/descent into adolescence was written deliberately into the fifth book, but from the reviews I've read so far, it's one of the main themes of this movie. (Can't stop the actors' physical growth.)

BTW, the fourth film is being filmed now for release in 2005, and the announced reason for changing directors to Mike Newell, who directed Four Weddings and a Funeral and Mona Lisa Smile, was that pre-production for this movie conflicted with Cuaron's directing duties for Prisoner of Azkaban. The fifth movie is tentatively scheduled for 2007 according to imdb.com, but I haven't read who the director will be.

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I think I remember reading something about the 'trio' of the actors that play Harry, Ron, and Hermione being changed in either the 4th or 5th movie. With so much time in between each movie, I can see why that would be necessary. Do you know anything about that? Who will be replacing them?

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According to the page for the fourth movie on imdb.com, the cast that's listed as of today is:

Cast (in credits order)

Daniel Radcliffe .... Harry Potter

Emma Watson .... Hermione Granger

Rupert Grint .... Ron Weasley

rest of cast listed alphabetically

Robbie Coltrane .... Rubeus Hagrid

Frances de la Tour .... Madame Maxime

Michael Gambon .... Albus Dumbledore

Brendan Gleeson .... Mad-Eye Moody

Jason Isaacs .... Lucius Malfoy

Alan Rickman .... Professor Serveus Snape

Maggie Smith .... Professor Minerva McGonagall

They always have the caveat that any movie still in production could change, but it's filming now, and it's likely to have leaked if anyone had been replaced.

The only person who's listed on the site for the fifth movie is Jason Issacs, who plays Lucius Malfoy. But it hasn't begun production yet.

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I've also heard that the three lead actors may be replaced in the later movies simply because of their ages, but don't understand the reasoning here. There are countless examples of older actors playing younger characters in film. Actors in their twenties routinely play teens, so what's the problem with keeping the Harry Potter "trio" as is?

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Originally the studio had planned to replace the kids as soon as they outgrew their roles or if puberty wasn't kind to their looks, but now they realize that all three have made a connection with the audience and are eager to keep them for all the movies.

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Guest alescna

ooohhh! i just saw it last night!.. i love all harry potter movies, so 'm biased and will say i love it anyway!... but really, have a friend who absolutely disliked the first two, calling and it childish and for children, but liked this one... she said it had more substance and not so much of a kiddy thing!... and yes, hermoine is looking better and better with each movie.. i saw a picture of them at the premier and she looked so growned up! ... now, over to the movie... yes, it is darker than the others... and you get a few surprises , like the landscape on which hagrid's house is situated... i understand that alfonso cuoron wants the audience to be more familiar and able to explore the landscape around hogworts... the landscape was just breathtaking... and a few unexpected twists for ppl who have not read the book ( like my friend, who spent part of the movie with her mouth half open!) .. scotland was agood place to shoot this film and well worth the wait! ... and i also hope they don't change the actors!

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I just saw the movie last night, and I absolutely loved. I didn't find it that daark though, but that's probably because i read the book so many times, and i knew what to expect. I really hope hey don't change the cast, i think they're the perfect Harry, Hermione and Ron! Btw, did anyone else notice the chemistry between Ron and Hermione?? I bet they'll end up together by the end of book 7.

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ALL actors wanna have a big death scene! But Emma Watson just gets prettier and prettier, and stronger and stronger as an actress, and Rupert Grint, unquestionably my favorite, goes from strength to strength. Tom Felton acquires subtlety, and chinks in his character's armor to a better nature are suggested. (Playing stinkers is SO much more fun than playing sympathetics! :innocent: )

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I saw this movie over the weekend. Not having seen either of the first two nor having head any of the books, I wasn't sure what to expect, although it is probably not possible to have lived in the English speaking world for the past decade and not know quite a bit about Harry Potter and friends. Cultural osmosis is unavoidable.

Very well plotted--the story actually made sense, which is generally not the case for big movies released in the USA during the summer. The special effects served the story--things didn't blow up just because they could be blown up on film--and the production design was terrific. Even the score by John Williams, whose biggest fan I am not, helped knit the entire movie together.

I missed a lot of course--including some of the smaller roles played by very skilled and experienced actors.

Among those are: Aunt Petunia, played by Fiona Shaw, Lily Potter, played by Geraldine Sommerville, Mrs. Molly Weasley, played by Julie Walters, Cornelius Fudge played by Robert Hardy. I will see it again, but if someone could point out approximately when these chacters show up, what they do or what they look like (whichever is more distinctive) I would appreciate it.

Some nice cameos--Dawn French as the Fat Lady in Painting; and funny bit parts--Lenny Henry as the Shrunken Head.

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To the best of my memory:

Fudge is best seen in a short scene after the Knight Bus deposits Harry at the Leaky Cauldron. To Harry's great surprise, Fudge welcomes him; Harry expects to get booted from Hogwarts for having performed magic outside the school.

Mrs. Weasley also appears briefly at the Leaky Cauldron, as the family swoops into breakfast.

Lily Potter is, I think, only seen once or twice waving in a photograph.

Aunt Petunia shows up in the opening scenes with Aunt Marge.

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I don't believe that Hardy/Fudge has had a very large role in any of the movies yet, but in the ones that are to come his role will be much bigger, I think. Shaw/Petunia has a significant role in the beginning of the movies and then dissapears for the rest of the film, because then Harry goes to school. Walters/Mrs. Weasly is a larger character in the other books as well. Much more than in this one. Since Lilly Potter is dead, Sommerville doesn't really have a very significant part in any of them.

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Don't forget that the lure of the Harry Potter movies has an almost irresistible lure for some actors; I mean Kenneth BRANAGH as the hammy and addled Gilderoy Lockhart? The attraction is a lot like "The Muppet Show". Everybody and his brother and mother and cousin in the UK was trying to get on that show, including Nureyev!

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The blurb on the back of the French edition (yes, I'm sorry, I've read all five in both English and French) says that the series covers the life and death of Harry. I'm not sure how the publishers know that.

Harry Potter in French has given me some odd vocabulary, but I'm finding Lord of the Rings hard going!

Jane

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Mel, I believe the rationale many actors are giving is "I swear and take my clothes off in all my other movies. I'm doing this one for the kids". I'm just not sure whether they mean they can take their kids to see the Harry Potter movies or whether the Harry Potter movies are paying for their college funds!

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Whatever their motives are, I'm glad they're doing it, in order that the Potter flicks have the talent to match the kids'!

And I am thoroughly convinced that bookjacket copywriters never read the books they describe. Sometimes they fall into unfortunate clichés that don't reflect what goes on in the book they're describing at all, let alone future books of a series!

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My DD isn't 16 yet--so I am allowing her to post under my name:

Today I saw the movie for the 5th...yes the 5th time. I simply love everything about Harry Potter: the books, the movies, the actors/actresses, infact-my mom and I even purchased an obnoxiously large poster from the 3rd movie for my dorm room at camp. :rolleyes:

About two weeks ago Entertainment Weekly featured the movie. In their article they stated that Emma Watson is for sure going to be in the remaining 4 movies, however Rupert and Daniel may possibly be replaced. I hope they keep with the original three for all 7 movies, it would be very dissapointing if they were to change.

I'm leaving for my SI tomorrow morning...so I suppose I should go to bed. However, I'm counting down the days until the 4th movie is released November 18th, 2005 (16 months and 25 days) :wink:

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