Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

[JeeberD]

Just came back from seeing this and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I reread the entire series over the last month or so, and I think that was a bad thing. The movie felt very choppy to me since they were forced to leave out a bunch of things that were in the book, and I was also disappointed in some of the changes that were made in the film.

My girlfriend enjoyed it, but since she hasn't read the book yet I had to do quite a bit of explaining to her since some important things were left out of the film. Has anyone else seen it yet that hasn't read the book? How did you like it?

[albionmoonlight]

I liked the movie but agree completely that a lot of the enjoyment comes from having read the book. A lot of gaps were left to be filled in.

[GrantDawg]

I enjoyed it, but it could have been better. There where at least two big things left out that needed to be there:

1) Explaination of who made the map and

2) What the importantance of the stag was.

Other than that, it was enjoyable. I agree not having read the books would probably make it better.

[JeeberD]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

I enjoyed it, but it could have been better. There where at least two big things left out that needed to be there:

1) Explaination of who made the map and

2) What the importantance of the stag was.

Other than that, it was enjoyable. I agree not having read the books would probably make it better.

Exactly. They never explained who Padfoot, Prongs, Moony, and Wormtail were. Inexcusible...

[Shkspr]

Why does that matter? It's a neat "aha" point for those who read the book, but from the standpoint of the movie, you're given all the information you need to know to enjoy the film.

[Tellistto]

This is why I don't like watching movies when I've already read the books. Ala Lord of the Rings and the Anne Rice books turned movie. I'd just rather keep my memories of those books intact, not tarnish them because of some director's vision.


Tell

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Shkspr

Why does that matter? It's a neat "aha" point for those who read the book, but from the standpoint of the movie, you're given all the information you need to know to enjoy the film.

It matters because:

1) That is why Harry thought it was his dad at the lake

2) It will be important in the other movies.

[Bearcat729]

The film had an amzing look, but I didn't like the changes from the story either.

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

It matters because:

1) That is why Harry thought it was his dad at the lake

2) It will be important in the other movies.

Two important scenes from the book, imo. But I guess it would have taken too much screen time to explain.

[Tekneek]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

Just came back from seeing this and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I reread the entire series over the last month or so, and I think that was a bad thing. The movie felt very choppy to me since they were forced to leave out a bunch of things that were in the book, and I was also disappointed in some of the changes that were made in the film.

My wife is out of town, but went to see the movie tonight. She called me and basically said the same kind of thing. She has read all of the books. Her aunt, who saw the movie with her (and has not read any of the books), apparently liked it.

[Celeval]

As a fan of the books, I think this was the one of the three movies I enjoyed the most. The look of Hogwarts, and of the filming itself was much darker, and matched much more what I picture while reading.

I agree about Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs - and with the shots at the end of the movie with Harry & Lupin in his office, I bet the explanatory scene was filmed and left out. The thing is... I wonder if there wasn't the book behind it, if there would be a connection made. Lupin obviously knows how to work the map and what it is, as does Sirius. Inferable, although not easily done, and I wonder if that's why it was cut. Not that I would agree if so, but just a thought.

Best addition: Gryffindor common room + magic candies
Worst addition: The whole REASON Harry was in so much trouble at the start was because he isn't supposed to use magic outside of school, and they know as SOON as he does. So what's the opening shot? Harry playing with his wand... er... practicing magic under the covers. Bleah.

[JeeberD]

Originally Posted by Celeval

Worst addition: The whole REASON Harry was in so much trouble at the start was because he isn't supposed to use magic outside of school, and they know as SOON as he does. So what's the opening shot? Harry playing with his wand... er... practicing magic under the covers. Bleah.

Yup, that scene had be shaking my head during the opening credits...

[Shkspr]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

It matters because:

1) That is why Harry thought it was his dad at the lake

2) It will be important in the other movies.

1) In the book, yes. In the movie, it's not a crucial detail. Given that we know that Harry looks like his dad (and that Harry sees some sort of dark fuzzy outline of a person before he blacks out) and that Harry has no way to suppose that the Time Turner exists at that time, it is logical to think that his father might have appeared even without the idea of James being an Animagus.

For those of us who read the book, of course, it's yet another fun little detail.

2) It is important in the other BOOKS. We don't know yet how they will adapt future movies to the screen and how important these things will be. If it's important (and if they haven't explained it in deleted scenes on the DVD by then), they'll let us know.

[Buccaneer]

Shkspr: I think your explainaton for #1 makes a lot of sense. It was probably one of those very long screenplay meetings that went round and round on that.

[chinaski]

tried to see it last night, but the incredibly intelligent theatre oversold tickets and we couldnt get a seat. grrr.

[bosshogg23]

I thought it was a very good movie by itself. The lack of detail compared to the books has to be expected even though it is somewhat annoying. Movie 4 & 5 are definitely going to lose alot more details. The Dursleys arent even in Movie 4 & most of the Quidditch in the beginning is cut out.

[GrantDawg]

BTW, I went to see it in an IMAX theatre, and I'll never pay the extra money (not mention travel time) again. Not worth it.

[Archer219]

Word is that they cut the map explanation for time and put it in the next movie.

[JeeberD]

But GoF is an even longer book than PoA. So that means that they're going to have to cut stuff from GoF so that they can include stuff that should have been included in PoA? Insane...

I've also heard specualtion that OotP is going to be split up into two movies, but that's just speculation at this point...

[Barkeep49]

I work in a children's department at a library and a librarian and I were discussing GoF today. Eseentially we agree that there is a lot of stuff that could be taken out of GoF without losing something meaningful. For instance, most of the Quidditich World Cup stuff could be removed leaving just the Death Eaters bit. GoF was a book that could have been edited more to tighten it up and thus despite its bulk could be adapted fairly well to the screen.

[Buccaneer]

Barkeep, what you said reminded me of an earlier post I made here http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/for...ad.php?t=23893

However, when I got about half or 2/3 the way through Goblet of Fire, I thought this would make a boring movie or at least a tough one to screenplay, unlike the first three. There was really no suspense – just a bunch of set ups. The first half of the book pretty much focuses on the World Cup. But with such an elaborate (and expensive setup to film), we really didn’t learn much (just the appearance of the Death Eaters, a new elf and the image of the skull). With no Quidditch, you have a three part Wizard contest which the first two doesn’t add much suspense (just neat special effects). So now we have 1 ½ hours of the movie gone and we don’t know much and what we have seen we don’t care too much about (imo). Once we get into the maze (more special effects), then we have the climax with another showdown. Then, we know what the book was about because the imposter (or Rowling) uses the well-worn device of having a character then summarize everything in the book, filling in all of the holes. I think this is a controversial literary device and would make a difficult movie to watch. Fortunately, they have started filming just now and it will be out next year (instead of waiting 1 ½ years for PoA).

[digamma]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

Just came back from seeing this and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I reread the entire series over the last month or so, and I think that was a bad thing. The movie felt very choppy to me since they were forced to leave out a bunch of things that were in the book, and I was also disappointed in some of the changes that were made in the film.

My girlfriend enjoyed it, but since she hasn't read the book yet I had to do quite a bit of explaining to her since some important things were left out of the film. Has anyone else seen it yet that hasn't read the book? How did you like it?

My wife and I had the same reactions.

And I asked the same questions that have been raised in this thread regarding the fourth and fifth books.

[oliegirl]

I love the HP books and movies, I took my son to see PoA on Friday...I thought it was great, but was disappointed that they didn't explain the map and the stag bit. I thought they could have had Harry ask Lupin at the very end when he was in his office and Lupin gave him the map back. It wouldn't have had to be a long scene, just Harry asking how he knew so much about the map and Lupin explaining it was the 4 friends and then Harry could have asked why his Patronus was a stag and had Lupin explain it, then have him leave Harry in the office to reflect/think about everything.

I am looking forward to seeing GoF and since there is only the one main story line, they should be able to do a lot of character development and explain some stuff that has been left out of the first 3 movies. I hope they don't cut the Quidditch too much though, even though it's not that important to the story - it's so much fun to watch and the effects are amazing. I always look forward to the Quidditch scenes! I am just wondering who they are going to get to play Krum, Fleur and Cedric...

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

1) Explaination of who made the map and
2) What the importantance of the stag was.

For whatever it's worth, I saw the movie tonight and have never read the books. I was able to follow things just fine without those two pieces of information (although when my wife, who does read the books, explained them afterwards it did add something to the story).

[JeeberD]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Barkeep, what you said reminded me of an earlier post I made here http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/for...ad.php?t=23893

[/size]

Don't forget about the Christmas Ball and Harry's infatuation with Cho Chang. I think Cho needs to be a BIG part of GoF...

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Two important scenes from the book, imo. But I guess it would have taken too much screen time to explain.

Expect to see these scenes in the 'directors cut' DVD version around 3 months after you've been suckered into buying the original DVD version

[Bearcat729]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

Don't forget about the Christmas Ball and Harry's infatuation with Cho Chang. I think Cho needs to be a BIG part of GoF...

Actually for time reasons and the fact that they are only making one movie I have a feeling that Cho could be cut out of the movie altogether.

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by Bearcat729

Actually for time reasons and the fact that they are only making one movie I have a feeling that Cho could be cut out of the movie altogether.

I fully agree with this. In considering both GoF and OotP, Cho would be a screen waster in term of time and advancing the plots.

[JasonC23]

Entertainment Weekly has a big Potter writeup this week, and in the article, it indicates that A) GoF will be one movie, not two, although they originally planned to make it two, and B) the filmmakers thought that the backstory of the map would work better in the next movie. So there you go!

I haven't read any of the books. I have really enjoyed all of the movies, but I think this one was the best so far. I especially liked the time-travel bit--I'm a sucker for time travel and thought it was really well done here. But was it just me, or did Ron do next to nothing in this film? Is that representative of his role in the book?

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

Exactly. They never explained who Padfoot, Prongs, Moony, and Wormtail were. Inexcusible...

Maybe The Lord of the Rings has made a new trend fashionable, and there will be an "extended edition" DVD.

[Celeval]

Cho has been cast, so she's not going to be completely cut.

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by JasonC23

did Ron do next to nothing in this film? Is that representative of his role in the book?

No but it has been representative of the three movies: just an actor with a constant horrified look on his face.

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by Celeval

Cho has been cast, so she's not going to be completely cut.

I guess I am biased because she kept getting in the way of the great Harry/Hermoine couple.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

I guess I am biased because she kept getting in the way of the great Harry/Hermoine couple.

Hermoine and Ron are the couple, silly.

[JeeberD]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Hermoine and Ron are the couple, silly.

Damn straight. And it's gonna be Harry and Ginny hooking up in the end, though I know there are some crazy folks out there who think Harry's gonna get with "Loony" Luna Lovegood...

Oh, and I'm very glad that Cho's going to be in the movies. One of the major themes of the series is Harry's growing up. How could you cut out the boy's first love?

Edit: Just found this pic of the gal who's going to be playing Cho...

[INDalltheway]

I will chime in and say that I haven't read the books at all, and enjoyed the movie very much. I recieved some information from a few friends I went with, but I followed along with it pretty well... I love the endings of these books/movies.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

Edit: Just found this pic of the gal who's going to be playing Cho...

Hmm. She seems to have a strange appendage to her right ear. Odd, that.

[Marmel]

Sorry to bump this 'old' thread back up to the top. I have not read any of the books, but have seen the first two movies. Loved the first one, didn't really care for the second one (though I did not hate it).

I can easily say this third movie was one of the worst movies I have ever seen. EVER. I understodd everything perfectly, it just didn't do it for me at all. The movie was about 2:30 long. It seemed to me that the first 90 minutes were to explain that Black escaped and was after Harry. The next 20 minutes was the whole climax(?) of the movie, and then the next 20 minutes was the climax of the movie all over again, just from a different point of view. That had to be the most tedious 20-30 minutes in film ever. I got the point after the first 2 minutes of the time travel, did we really have to watch it all? Is anybody that clueless that they couldnt put it all together?

The rest of the time was some decent effects, and a lot of filler. I guess I just don't get it. Even bad movies I can put up with for the most part. I actually left the theater today in a bad mood for wasting 7 bucks and 3 hours of my time.




The wife loved it, of course (she would like it if it was a 3 year old's crayon drawings pasted together on film). This was her second viewing. She thought I would like it knowing I disliked the second one, and the fact that I like 'darker' movies. She was wrong, so I made her buy me lunch afterwards.

[Buccaneer]

Thanks for bumping this, I now remembered that I was going to add my comments. I saw it last Saturday and I liked it because I am absolutely nuts about time/space continuum (sp?) plots in movies and books. I thought it was pretty clever how they did this. Other than that, my favorite thing was how they completely redesigned the landscape - making the school and the grounds much, much more realistic and fascinating.

By the way, any one catch the photos of Emma at the MTV thing? Here's one which probably plays up to the MTV-inspired fashion (or plays down, take your pick).

Ms. Watson

[Blackadar]

Ok, I need a spoiler here...

WARNING, SPOILERS BELOW:

I went to see the movie earlier this week (took my 4 year old) but had to leave 1/2 way through it to get on a conference call. So the family got to see it and explain the rest of the movie to me.

If I understand correctly, it turned out that Black was protecting Harry from the foozle, who was Ron's rat and had been the rat for some years. If that's the case, why didn't the rat-baddie come back a couple of years ago when Ron first met Harry and killed him then? Did my Wife get this wrong or did she miss something (which is very possible)?

[Nyarlahotep]

Originally Posted by Blackadar

Ok, I need a spoiler here...

WARNING, SPOILERS BELOW:

I went to see the movie earlier this week (took my 4 year old) but had to leave 1/2 way through it to get on a conference call. So the family got to see it and explain the rest of the movie to me.

If I understand correctly, it turned out that Black was protecting Harry from the foozle, who was Ron's rat and had been the rat for some years. If that's the case, why didn't the rat-baddie come back a couple of years ago when Ron first met Harry and killed him then? Did my Wife get this wrong or did she miss something (which is very possible)?

That rat was afraid to reveal himself because Voldemort isn't around to protect him. In this one he is scared because Black is trying to get to him and is foced to reveal himself.

[Buccaneer]

Plus Peter will be around for the next two movies doing Voldemort's dirty deeds, if I recall.

[Blackadar]

Originally Posted by Nyarlahotep

That rat was afraid to reveal himself because Voldemort isn't around to protect him. In this one he is scared because Black is trying to get to him and is foced to reveal himself.

Seems a wee bit thin, don't you think?

Scared of a 10 year old boy? Whom you could surpise in his sleep because you're the pet of his bunkie?

[Nyarlahotep]

Originally Posted by Blackadar

Seems a wee bit thin, don't you think?

Scared of a 10 year old boy? Whom you could surpise in his sleep because you're the pet of his bunkie?

Scared of being found out that he was alive and getting sent to Azkaban for being a Death Eater.

[Nyarlahotep]

dola-

And with that character, yes I wouldn't be surprised if he was scared of a boy.

[TRO]

Peter Pettigrew (the rat Scabbers) was the Wormtail of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot & Prongs. The back story on the map would have helped explain this a bit more as well.

Peter betrayed his long time friends and gave up Harry's parents (Padfoot being his father) to Voldemort. When Sirius cornered Peter, Peter blew faked his own death, killing a bunch of Muggles and severing his own pinky when he transformed into his rat form.

He faked his death because A) He was afraid of Sirius, B) He didn't want to go to Azkaban. I don't remember if he can freely switch between human and animal form without his pinky now, in the movie he only turns back into the rat with the help of a wand. Even if he could, his character isn't one that would seem to want to kill Harry at the risk of being caught and sent to Azkaban.

As for my impression on the movie, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Sure it didn't fill all my wants from the book, but I see movies as a different medium, not a replacement for reading the book. The direction of this movie was top notch and really made for a fun movie. My two biggest complaints were Dumbledore where I really missed Richard Harris, though I appreciated the new actor more the second time I saw it. And second, the ending with the broom flying scene was very anti-climatic.

[ISiddiqui]

I can easily say this third movie was one of the worst movies I have ever seen. EVER.

No way! I thought this was easily the best Harry Potter movie, by far! There are only a couple things I missed: One was at the end Lupin should have explained who Moony, Padfoot, Prongs, and Wormtail were... but IIUC that will be revealed in the movie for OotP. Another was Sirius Black being on Muggle news as a serial killer (showing how the magic world and non-magic world can work together at times).

why didn't the rat-baddie come back a couple of years ago when Ron first met Harry and killed him then?

Like said before, Pettigrew (Wormtail) was scared of going to Azkaban. If he became Peter again and killed Harry, he may be found out and then people would realize that Sirius didn't blow up Peter in that crowded street, and Peter would be spending more than a few choice years with the Dementors.

[TRO]

Originally Posted by Blackadar

If I understand correctly, it turned out that Black was protecting Harry from the foozle...

It should also be pointed out that Black is not PROTECTING Harry, he is wanting to get REVENGE on the person that betrayed him and Harry's parents and framed him for it.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by TRO

My two biggest complaints were Dumbledore where I really missed Richard Harris, though I appreciated the new actor more the second time I saw it.

Having now read the books, I think the new Dumbledore plays the part better, based on how the character is portrayed in the books. Harris played him too much as an old wise man, and the new guy (too lazy to look up the name) added a certain element that made him the funny old (and still wise) man that I read about.

[ISiddiqui]

I enjoyed the new Dumbledore as well, once I stopped thinking about Harris in the role. He plays it much more subtlety, I thought. He knows what is going on, but doesn't give the super obvious wink.