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Harry's Back and He's Badder Than Ever.
Date of Review: Jun 9, 2004
The Bottom Line: This is another great installment in the life of Harry Potter. Don't take my word. Go see for yourself.
Time travel. Horse birds. Hologram people getting ripped from their picture frames. Invisacloaks. Whomping willows. Unicorn. Black raggedy spirits. Your buddies getting beat up right along side you. Young wizards not only getting mad, but getting even. Sounds like Lord of the Rings on drugs. But we all know that this is the third installment of J.K. Rawlings more than famous line of Harry Potter stories.
This one vibrates with the teen angst experienced by Harry Potter. He is just fed up with the Dursleys and all the injustice he has suffered in his short life. This time when he gets angry, he doesn't hulk out, he gets revenge. Not evil revenge, but just enough to let people know who is boss. It makes you realize why God didn't give us these powers naturally. All of our enemies would be floating around in the atmosphere.
The movie, as usual, begins with Harry(Daniel Radcliffe) at his aunt and uncle's house. They have a somewhat rotund woman, Aunt Marge,(Pam Ferris) over for dinner that just can't seem to stop insulting Harry. Harry, of course is busing their table and serving food like a waiter at Friday's. He finally gets sick of her constant mouth and blows her up like the Hindenberg. She then floats out the window and over Privet Drive. Harry finally gets fed up and packs his steamer trunk to leave. He has no idea where he is going, but the Dursleys in not the place. As he sits on the curb in the dark thinking of his situation a purple bus pulls up that looks like its right out of Magical Mystery Tour. It seems that this bus is the emergency bus for wayward wizards and witches. Harry gets in and before you can say "Hogwarts" he's there.
Harry seems to hold his own a lot in this movie where as in the others Hermione(Emma Watson) kept bailing everyone out. That was refreshing because he was starting to remind me of a Jedi Knight. Power, but nothing to back it up. Here we see a young wizard on his way to showing the famous power he has been legendary for. Hermione still has the smarts when it comes to the books, but Harry has surpassed her in actual deeds. Ron(Rupert Grint), well, Ron is Ron. He's cute, but he has a lot to learn still.
I really missed Richard Harris as Dumbledore. He made the character more regal. This new guy(Michael Gambon, Gosford Park, Sleepy Hollow) seemed more hyper and moved too fast for Dumbledore. I also didn't like his beard. He tied it together with a rubber band. I just wished they had looked a little further for a Richard Harris match. I liked his deeper voice and slow, but wise demeanor.
There was also a lot more concentration on the story line than the usual pomp and circumstance like the other movies. We didn't have the usual quidich match and there were no points handed out or even mention of them. They didn't decorate Hogwarts for the holidays and the only sign it was near Christmas was that it snowed REAL deep. There were scenes filmed in classes, such as the fortune telling class and Hagrid's new Monsters class which had a testy monster for a textbook. Snape also got to show us his nastiness and pompous self as he taught his potions class. We also had another new teacher than helped people deal with wraiths and other not-so-wholesome spirits.
I did like the return of the old characters such as Hagrid, Hermoine, The Weasleys, Professor Snape(Alan Rifkin), Malfoy(Tom Felton) and his henchman, and Professor McGonigall(Maggie Smith). Gary Oldman makes his screen presence late in the movie as Sirius Black, an Azcaban prisoner. He is only seen before then as a hologram on the cover of newspapers and wanted posters. I guess in time I will get used to the new Dumbledore. I have seen many replacements in my favorite soaps and they have become second nature. Something new is always hard to get used to. Richard Harris was one of a kind, God rest his soul. He's also a tough act to follow.
This Harry Potter movie is ever bit as entertaining and wonderful as the others. It has all the charm and feel-good touch. It also has that ability to make you believe that somewhere in this world there is a real Hogwarts with a real Harry Potter honing his inherited skills to become a bigger wizard than Merlin. Now that's some great story telling.
