MovieChat Forums > Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) Discussion > Second favorite book, one of my least fa...

Second favorite book, one of my least favorite films in the series

posted 7 years ago by npiazza91
8 replies | jump to latest

I just don't get the love for this film at all. I am pretty open minded with the HP films and for all intents and purposes, I do love every film in the series, despite their flaws with the books. No film series has managed to capture the magic that HP does.

That being said, PoA is easily one of my least favorite films. Here is how I order them.

1. Deathly Hallows Part 2
2. Sorcerer's Stone
3. Goblet of Fire
4. Order of the Phoenix
5. Half-Blood Prince
6. Chamber of Secrets
7. Prisoner of Azkaban
8. Deathly Hallows Part 1

First off, I get that Alfonso Cuaron wanted to make the film his own, and I admit the guy's a good director. He handled the artistic aspect of this film very well. However, where this film loses me is on entertainment. The film is just boring to be quite honest. Nothing really interesting happens until the end, which...we have to see twice because we go back in time. I get that the book was the same way, but they took out a couple major points in the book that would have made it better. The backstory of Harry's dad and the Marauders was a big one. There just isn't really any conflict in this film. The werewolf thing and the dementors happens so fast it's ridiculous. Also, the Shrieking Shack scene was...so terribly rushed, it's almost funny. It's like they're going through the book on X10 speed without letting the scene breathe. As good as Alfonso is, he cannot direct dialogue very well. Many dialogue scenes feel rushed in this film. Overall, I just don't care for it as much. It's a bit dry, and it could use a little more excitement. I really don't get the praise for this one at all.

[–] HEYitzED 7 years ago

Yeah I don't get it at all. After how exciting the first two were this one is a bit of a bore. It's still good, but it could've used some more fleshing out of the scenes where there's a lot going on. They kind of just blow by. Also there's no real conflict at the end like there were with the first two films. Just kind of... ends.

[–] NotAmyMerrick 7 years ago

visually i think this is what JR rowling was hoping for in the series, as she wanted Terry Giliam to direct the movies and his style is very similar, lots going on in the background, lots of surrelism but also moments of comedy and so on.

Adaptation wise it basically strings the basic plot points together with a new story, missing the dark feel of the book almost entirely. The disadvantage of being written before the sequals came out made all adaptations from this point on a bit of a guessing game with what to remove, sometimes they get it right, other times they fail completely.

[–] AndrewGS 7 years ago

The movie is, in part from having a somewhat simple plot, the most moody and feels the most emotional in general and, in part because of that, the special effects and action feel particularly good. Radcliffe and Thewlis had great chemistry and the film conveyed enough of the relationships between the Marauders despite not identifying them.

[–] MovieChatUser497 (18943) 5 years ago

01) Deathly Hallows Part 2
02) Goblet of Fire
03) Deathly Hallows Part 1
04) Half Blood Prince
05) Order of the Phoenix
06) Philosophers Stone
07) Chamber of Secrets
08) Prisoner of Azkaban

[–] DracTarashV2 (4475) 5 years ago

1. Chamber of Secrets
2. Prisoner of Azkaban (actually the superior one)

The rest

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Prisoner of Azkaban is my favorite.

[–] TandyMan (10367) 5 years ago

This is the 3rd movie? Definitely the worst. Literally a transition film where it was obvious you could tell they were still figuring everything out. I think I only ever watched it the one time.

[–] TheArgentinian (6447) 4 years ago

The second worst one is your second favorite, lol