HARRY POTTER : A prisoner of Columbus no longer

The Harry Potter books have encouraged millions to have fun reading again.

( Note: I wasn’t going to write a review on the movie because there’s already 80 reviews on record here. I usually don’t read reviews before writing my own review of a movie. I started reading reviews for Harry Potter because I saw the film and didn’t have to worry about spoilers. After reading 7 or 8 well written reviews I still wanted to write my own review of the movie. So I have.)

The manufactured controversy over the Harry Potter books being ‘dangerous’ and ‘occult’ based by a fairly small group of strict Christians is nuts. They have however gotten Potter books banned from some libraries and many schools. You can’t have a meaningful conversation with anyone who wants to ban these books because they are already so far into their own paranoia and fear anything you say to them that disagrees with their view is obviously influenced by some agent of Satan. A lot of them sincerely believe this. So logic, common sense or anything else doesn’t matter… you are speaking words of Satan and your most compelling arguments are still twisted, sick and wrong. Those who are tolerant regarding these zealots should wake up and realize the zealots now believe everyone’s mind can be changed because there are a large number of people that appear to be.. well thinking about it. Narrow mindedness even when immediately identifiable as depraved and sick (as in say The Manson Family) remains narrow mindedness.

Whoops… to the movies.

Speilberg protégé’ Chris Columbus who has built a career on delivering safe, fairly successful films
directed the first two Potter films, surrounding himself with some of the most talented people in the business. He wanted to be very faithful to the books and had a screenwriter who was capable of delivering a superb adaptation. His name is Steven Kloves. He's done a great job adapting the books to the screen.

There was so much at stake, if Columbus could put the pieces together well enough he would then just need to connect the dots in a competent fashion and not screw it up. Then, he would have a hit on his hand and be a multi-millionaire set for life. There would be a successful series of films as a result.

Columbus’ direction of the first two Potters was safe and basically mediocre, but since on every level the film was above average—that’s all that was required. He had a great story and screenplay adaptation and he was smart enough to surround himself with the right people to get the job done. I’m not belittling Columbus and his success it takes insight and talent to do what he did. I think he basically should stick to producing rather than directing, but he didn’t screw up.

The problem with the first two films is that they are too faithful to the book and direction while mostly good is not exceptional. Good movies, but not magic. Shouldn't Harry Potter movies be magical?

The movies are so faithful to the books that reading or re-reading the books is like watching the movie with a few more details in very very slow motion. Those movies would not make reading the books or re-reading the books a truly pleasurable and fun thing to do. Where they deviated from the books was in making things a little less dark, a little more family friendly, and politically correct.

There are examples of movies overwhelming the book they are based upon. The most recognizable example of this would be THE WIZARD OF OZ. The movie is a very different animal than the book and you could make a strong and very convincing argument that the movie is much better than the book it was based on. However, the books still represent an experience very much worth having. Reading some of Baum’s OZ books are interesting, worthwhile and rewarding.

Ideally you would want to create a film series that would be a lot of fun to watch and make you excited about reading the books they are based on. Then you read the books and discover that the books are still more wonderful and magical then the movies—yet the movies are worthwhile and fun too.

I believe finally… with HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN you have that. A movie worthy and different then the book that created it, that also encourages audiences to read the book it is based on, knowing the audience will find a lot of rewards for taking the time to do so.

Is reading really that important? Yes, reading really is that important and I won’t argue the point at great length except that anyone who tries to make part of their argument against reading that it is boring, is simply missing a huge piece of life itself by not reading more. Yes reading is a little more difficult than flipping on a switch and watching television, but everyone should be as addicted to reading as they are to watching Survivor, American Idol and CSI. Our lives, our country, our education system would be so much better if more of us were addicted to reading.

(Pssst.. you’re a writer… you’re biased….) Prove me wrong. Get addicted to reading, watch less television and tell me you aren’t better for it in several ways.

WE NOW RETURN TO THE REVIEW:

Okay with 80 reviews you can get a great synopsis of the film from the first 10 reviews that appear when you ask to read a review of this film. My brief one is this: Harry ends his summer holiday with his Aunt and Uncle and a disastrous family dinner occurs when the obnoxious Aunt tries to treat Harry worse than the family dog. Next thing you know Harry has a strange encounter with a snarling dog but is rescued in the nick of time by an inter-dimensional bus that will whisk him away to a safety zone. He’s forgiven for his uncouth use of magic and sent on to his 3rd Semester at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft. He has learned about the escaped of the dangerously insane Sirious Black (Gary Oldman) from Azkaban prison. Sirious it turns out is probably after Harry. The Dementors who are a lot like grim reapers are interested in getting Sirious back to the prison. The Dementors however are horrible creatures that suck all the joy out of everyone they encounter, leaving them a morbid, depressed, wreck of a human being. So while Dementors are the perfect creatures to be guarding a prison, they aren’t creatures that should be floating around having encounters with regular folks and up and coming magicians.

The first two films were overly faithful to the books they were based upon. This time parts of the book are chopped out completely and brand new ideas and scenes are introduced. The book gives us better developed relationships and deep conversations that reveal all kinds of details. That wouldn’t work very well for the film, so things are explained very quickly in the movie. I found this worked fine and only those who read the book will realize what’s missing and most will understand short of making a 4 hour movie it isn’t possible to include much more in the movie.

Because this film is directed by the extremely talented Cuarón, we get visual textures and scenes that foreshadow future events in subtle ways. Everything is a little darker this time. So instead of the bright sunshiny and colorful Hogwarts Castle we get less color, and more shadows. It seems like we are no longer in some version of Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle but a place that has existed for centuries. It has dust, is has pot marks, it has character, not just cute bickering ghosts. There isn’t just fun-house kind of thrills, but very real, very personal dangers lurking here. It’s very fitting for this episode because things are indeed very personal and things are deceptive and shadowy.

I found the previous films a little too safe and at times cartoony. Characters literally freeze and watch these cool things happening. They act with surprise at moving staircases, paintings that talk, ghosts, floating candles, magical wands and flying broomsticks. We don’t really believe anything bad will happen to Harry. This time, Harry and his classmates are used to magical props and sometimes are annoyed rather than amazed with them. That’s more realistic, that’s more interesting. We also know that Harry is growing up and losing his childhood and there’s a very real possibility he might lose even more than that. There are genuine moments of suspense to be found in this film. I also found the relationship between Professor Lupin (Thewlis) and Harry wonderfully developed ( it’s much less developed than it is in the book, but they do show a real relationship in the film).

We don’t need to explain that Harry is special.. we already know he is… so what does that mean? He’s treated a little differently than others—at least in private. And that is why when he is treated at times like just another student and can’t for instance go on class trips because his parents haven’t signed his permission slip, we identify with the pain and alienation and loneliness that Harry feels. He’s lonely because he is special and lonely because he is still in a child’s body. Cuarón, the director knows the power in the story is in the emotions and feelings and it has to connect to us in the audience. Harry can’t just be too cute or magical or special, he has to be both the hero and sympathetic fish out of water kid. He creates a more realistic world than what we’ve seen in the past and gives us more realistic real world relationships between all of the characters in the movie. He moves the plot along because of the relationships characters have with one another. When he can use what’s come in the movie before, he does so to short-cut the needed explanation. We can move everything forward without having to stop and explain. There is not even time to react to what is occurring in that gee-whiz ain’t this cool way that is quite frankly annoying in special effects driven films. There are moments of exhilaration in the film that are earned because they are set up properly by letting characters express embarrassment, uncertainty and fear which gives us contrast so we can then ‘FLY’ with the characters and feel like our breath is taken away. It’s tricky to get this kind of movie magic moment from something as calculated as a big budget third part of a series of revered books being brought to the screen—but it is accomplished here because we have a director at the helm who understands the ‘magic’ of film.

This is the kind of fantasy film that isn’t completely predictable and safe. Oh perhaps in the end you can say it is.. but not when you are watching it. There are small obstacles and huge seemingly insurmountable ones in Harry’s way. He’s trying to be a good kid still, he’s trying to follow the rules, he’s trying to be a good friend, but he’s also aware there’s more: More to who he is, where he has come from and more to life.

At this point I’m writing this mainly for people who have already seen the film but I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who insists on reading reviews before viewing the film. J.K. Rowling has taken bits and pieces from several classic books and legends to concoct the Harry Potter series. She’s made something innovative and interesting and very addicting with the parts she’s assembled. She knows how to weave a good puzzle and is an excellent story-teller. Now we have a director who knows how to tell stories on film. He can take the essence of the book and get it on screen intact. He can then use visual devices to tell the story in ways the book can not and let the book use words in ways the movies can not and shouldn’t.

This creates a film that’s a wonderful compliment to the book and a book that’s a great compliment to the movie. There are riches to explore and discover in both. You will enjoy the book more after seeing the movie and you will enjoy the movie even more after reading the book.

Yes, this third film is that good.

Perfect? No. It’s not perfect. We do after-all have to protect the franchise. We can get a little dark but we can’t get too dark. Heck, Chamber had creepy spiders and some moments that were pretty scary for the small fry. The problem was it was still too cartoony and clean. This time we wonder if something really unexpected and sad might suddenly happen. In fact it seems like it might a few times. And of course…. No no.. I can’t say any more….

Emma Thompson seemed to be in a different movie. Her performance is a little too showy and consequently condescending. It can go a little bit over-the-top because it’s for kids and it’s a fairy tale.
And because I’ve been watching a lot of SCTV lately I was thinking Emma Thompson was channeling one of Andrea Martin’s comic character performances. Still even though I consider Thompson’s performance flawed, it’s entertaining to watch. I was surprised at how little Michael Gambon was in the film. I missed Richard Harris, but Gambon will be able to take over the role I’m sure and perhaps it’s best he is eased into the role in this manner. Alan Rickman’s SNAPE isn’t as central and important this time out but Rickman makes the most of his appearances. He’s perfectly cast in the role. Some of the supporting characters that we see only briefly add some wonderful colorful to the preceedings. The hunchback who seems almost too gentlemanly in the beginning and then almost forgets his manners when he needs to rush things along a bit is a memorable character I’m appreciative is in the movie. I remember how glad I was when John Cleese appeared in the first Harry Potter movie and then how wasted his appearance felt a few moments later. You don’t get any of that here. Nothing feels like it is just thrown in or added, everything seems like it plays a part in the film. Every shot and moment either foreshadows something about to occur or is in the process of moving the film and story forward. There’s a fast pace, but good editing gives the film spaces here and there for it to breathe. The little bits, the talking shrunken heads, the lady in the picture, the hunchback, etc. etc. all feel not simply like cute little bits thrown into the movie because they were in the book but part of the legacy of the school and real characters. Finally the Roald Dahl parts of the story come out in full glorious bloom.

David Thewlis as Lupin I mention last because his contribution is the most welcome. He doesn’t cheat in his performance but gives us something that is part Robert Donat of Goodbye Mr. Chips and part Hamlet ( I don’t want to say more for those who don’t know the story or what happens). I love the steadiness of his performance even towards the end of the film.

Another strong part of the film for me was the hippogriff. It was still a CG effect but it was allowed to move in a manner that seemed to be a wonderful homage to the Ray Harryhausen creatures in films like Jason and the Argonauts and Golden Voyage (7th Voyage) of Sinbad. I wish another creature we see was more frightening than it is in the movie… but you can’t have everything. I like the Dementor effects overall as well. Oh there’s more in terms of effects and cool moments…but I really felt like I could look all over the screen and see lot of interesting details worth studying.

I liked the clutter of several of the rooms we are allowed into and I enjoyed the use of light, the storm clouds, the dark corridors and…. well you get the idea. There’s a lot of sub-text going on in this film.
The obvious things are how clocks are used and how we know Harry is getting older entering a new phase of his life and how time shifts and shapes shifts and reality shifts in this world of magic, but Harry is still very much human and still a child—but for how long?

I know there’s nit-pickers who don’t like what’s been done to the Willow and even complain about the darker motif that is part of the story and film. It all works very well as far as I’m concerned and I’m glad there’s a reason to both see the movie and read the book. That rarely happens. Books are usually much better than the movies that are made from them or once in a while a movie is much better than the book.

Here, then, is a case where book and movie offer their own pleasures and I highly recommend exploring and enjoying them both.