Widely regarded as the superior film in the Harry Potter franchise in no small part to the direction of Alfonso Cuaron, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the third film in the series takes a darker tone than the previous more kid-friendly entries.
In the film, Harry Potter’s third year at Hogwarts starts with a boom when he learns that psychotic killer Sirius Black has broken out of Azkaban Prison and is on a plan to find and destroy him. A flock of deadly Dementors are sent to guard the school against Black, all while Hermione’s cat torments Ron’s ailing rat, causing a split among the trio.
The Prisoner of Azkaban Is on the Loose
As the film begins, Harry Potter is lucky to have lived to see age 13, having previously escaped the clutches of Lord Voldemort numerous times. After all the chaos of the past two years, Harry just wants to be a normal student (albeit one with magical powers).
However, his plans for a peaceful school year spent focusing on Quidditch get nixed when a crazed mass murderer breaks free from the wizard prison of Azkaban. The breakout is accompanied by the arrival of the life-force sucking Dementors that guard the prison. These ghostly creatures descend upon Hogwarts to protect Harry and the other students from this dangerous criminal.
Like any other 13-year-old, Harry is beginning to develop a sense of self, including confidence and agency, an identity outside of the childish pursuits of his muggle years. And like any other 13-year-old, his journey toward self-discovery is filled with its fair share of standard teen angst. The resentment that an escaped con is depriving him of normal school experiences fuels that angst and builds an anger in Harry readers and viewers have not seen before up until this point.
Why The Prisoner of Azkaban is So Revered
Like the book before it, Azkaban is the point in the series when things begin to take darker, more adult turns. Which is not to say that all the familiar elements that made the previous films fun are missing. No, in fact, the mischievous trio of Ron, Harry, and Hermione are still roaming the halls of Hogwarts, and at least two of them are mostly “up to no good.”
But in this film, Potter is a somewhat different character than before. His anger over what happened to his parents has calcified over time and he’s just beginning to process it. And because he’s 13, he doesn’t always process it in healthy ways. And the addition of a crazed lunatic on the loose serves to exacerbate the tension both within Harry and inside the walls of Hogwarts.
With the previous two films being more kid-friendly, the choice of family film director Chris Columbus made sense. But in a risky yet clever move, the studio wisely let Columbus sit this one out in favor of acclaimed indie director Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men). Cuaron has just the eye to set the tone for the series’ transition into heavier and darker material, setting the stage for all the battles and deaths to come in the later films. Add into the mix John Williams’ fantastic scoring and you’ve got a film full of magic even before the first spell is cast.
Revisiting The Prisoner Azkaban This Weekend
Perhaps this installment is so much more powerful than earlier and later entries because it is at its essence a gritty coming-of-age story that uses the backdrop of Hogwarts and the menacing Sirius Black as a metaphor for what it means to grow up. As we age, we come to realize that the people and things we love are not always what we believe them to be.
Harry’s parents had their secrets, as do Dumbledore and so many of the other adults in Harry’s life. Even Type-A, rule-abiding Hermione is carrying around a pretty being secret throughout the school year, a secret that leads Harry, Ron, and Hermione on a treacherous mission back to the future. As Hermione reveals her secret ability to turn back time, Harry and the audience go on a heart-stopping race to make things right in the wizarding world, a journey that will change Harry, Hogwarts, and the franchise forever.
Take this time-bending journey with them; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is streaming now on HBO Max.
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