Harry Potter

[TheReaper316]

The film opens tomorrow, I think worldwide. Not sure if Ill see it tomorrow, but Im definetly going to see the movie sometime close to release. The Potter books are amazing, and the movies are really good to the original stories, just not adding as much detail and pointless(though good) moments.

The kid who plays Potter and the other who plays Ron got on my nerves in the first two movies, but Hermione has some talent. It may just be that I hate child stars though, most are highly untalented and rely on their cuteness, I guess. They appear to have improved a lot from the previews though.

So, whos gonna go get their magic on?

[Dyko]

For whatever reason, I was never really into the Harry Potter movies (probably just too much hype), but I'll probably end up seeing this one.

Saw the last one pretty much for Kenneth Branagh, because he's awesome, and I'd pay to see the new one because of Gary Oldman. Appearantly, this latest one is also much darker than the previus two, which is always a good thing.

Probably going to see this as soon as I can find someone else who'd be willing to, which might be a bit trickier than it sounds...

Dyko

[William_The_Bloody]

i'll probably have to take my cousins to see it, but i'll watch it anyway cos i'm a fan of Gary Oldman.

[TMM]

I'll be going to see this at some stage, because I've read the books this is the best one IMO. Every review says it's SO much better then the previous two, and as Dyko said, much darker. Should be good.

[Numbahs]

I gave both of the others 5/10, but I'm looking forward to this one. A new director and a darker story should make this a little more entertaining than the others.

[Stevie B]

I saw the movie the first day it came out in the UK, which was Monday. I will wait until it's been released worldwide i suppose before adding my two cents on the movie.

[supergrass]

Just got home from seeing them film, I personally enjoyed it. It's a lot better than the first two, the three main kids (Radcliffe, Watson, Grint) get better with each film.

I prefer the book as the film only has a set amount of time and has to cut some things out, but it's still good. The new actors fit in well with the old.

I guess if you like the books you'd like this. Otherwise it could be hit or miss.

[sirdavinator]

It opens today here, although I'll probably only watch it after it comes out on DVD.

[Guest Future Shock]

Aw fuck it, why not? I loved the books, and it's a relatively good way to waste an afternoon.

[Blehschmidt]

My wife is a HUGE Potter fan, and I enjoyed the other movies, so I will definitly check this one out.

The fact that it is being called "a little darker" is intriguing as well...

[Laice07]

I love the Harry Potter books,huge fan with anything out of this world. I enjoyed the first two(Being a huge fan and such) and I can't wait to see this movie. I've been waiting for almost 2 years!

[Gongsun Zan]

Bah. I used to like the Harry Potter series, until Book 5. It was just horrible. All the "IM AN ANGSTY ANGRY ALLMIGHTY POTTER AND IM ANGRY! RAGH!" crap was horribly forced and overdone, not to mention really annoying. In addition, we've got an anticlimatic ending, no plot twist at all, a cliched prophecy, and a dozen or so loose ends. The finished product just reeks of 'I'm a millionaire! Look at me! Who cares about quality, the people will buy whatever I write!'.

I'd give it ** out of five. Even though this movie is (supposedly) the best in the series, it's still going to be hard to like the show when you know it's going to become crap within a year or two.

Edited June 4, 2004 by Gongsun Zan

[Xand]

Bah. I used to like the Harry Potter series, until Book 5. It was just horrible. All the "IM AN ANGSTY ANGRY ALLMIGHTY POTTER AND IM ANGRY! RAGH!" crap was horribly forced and overdone, not to mention really annoying. In addition, we've got an anticlimatic ending, no plot twist at all, a cliched prophecy, and a dozen or so loose ends. The finished product just reeks of 'I'm a millionaire! Look at me! Who cares about quality, the people will buy whatever I write!'.

←

My feelings exactly - except I hope she bucks her ideas up for Book Six, and Azkaban is the best book ever written. Period.

[Skummy]

I haven't read the book of Azkaban, only Philosopher's Stone, and I haven't seen the other films, but I went to see this on Wednesday and quite liked it. Suitably dark and weird, but the bit before the ending made very little sense (don't want to give it away but...it's hugely illogical, even considering that this is a fantasy film about a thirteen year old wizard).

I wouldn't have thought of going to see it, but I was dragged along and someone else paid for me, and it wasn't too bad. The part of the whole experience that I found surreal was that I'm 16, my friend JD that was with me is 15 and the other two guys, Ben & Aaron, that were with us are 20 and...20-ish...and Ben & Aaron are the only two who read the books.

[AJ]

The third book is indeed the best. Let's not slate on the fifth too much though, bear in mind Rowling was being pushed by publishers to finish it and the 4 before it. The next two should be better as she's writing them on her terms.

As for the movie, well... if you haven't read the books, it'll be an okay movie, if you have, you'll probably spend most of it pointing out (and complaining about) how they've added some shit in and missed other shit out. I was disappointed not to have seen Sir. Gadabout, who was supposed to have been played by that guy (I forget the name, the one who's Ted the farmer) from the Fast Show.

[Xand]

Paul Whitehouse?

[Laice07]

The lineups were huge, but I got in opening day! This review contains Minor spoilers

As a big harry potter book fan, particularly, the prisoner of azkaban, i was really excited to watch the third installment to the movie adaptation of the book. after listening to several people and news claiming that this movie is really good, better than the first two, i started to have high expectations for it. and gladly to say, i wasn't disappointed with the outcome.

storywise, the movie sticked to the major plot points of the book, made do without the nitty gritty details and subplots, and gave the audience a good adaptation of the main storyline of harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban, and this time delivered it with a faster pace than the first two installments. first time viewers MIGHT get lost at the start of the movie especially if you have absolutely zero background on harry potter at all since as i said earlier the story doesn't dwell in introducing and explaining every character and incident. with that said, is the storyline perfect? for me, as a harry potter fan, there are some points and explanations that i would love to have seen in the movie, ie. the explanation of harry potter's patronus' form and the explanation of the marauder's map's original owners. other than those few important points, the storyline's okay. don't expect a good defeats evil storyline because that one comes in the seventh book and seventh movie.

with this third installment comes a new director, alfonso cuaron. i personally believed that he did a good take on the movie, making it into a darker one compared to the first two. i like several things he did with the movie: his use of muted colors (no vibrant and bright colors which is in contrast to the first two films), his vision of the dementors, werewolves, the grim, buckbeak the hippogriff, the marauder's map and the portraits. ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) did a good job of creating the creatures and the effects. the dementors were really scary. also the presence of a werewolf and the grim might scare some really young audience so parents should keep an eye on that one. i particularly enjoyed the marauder's map and seeing those tiny footsteps walking.

as for the acting and characters, one thing that kinda irked me was that other characters weren't given as much screentime as i would have wanted. but then again, this is a movie about harry potter and his friends ron and hermione, so i guess all the attention really fell at their feet. but with the small screentime some of the characters have, there are really some that stand out. from the old cast we have rickman as snape (he always did a good job on snape) and felton as malfoy (i always liked how felton acts as malfoy).

four new actors in this movie made some impressions with me: thompson as trelawney, thewlis as lupin, gambon as the new dumbledore and oldman as sirius. thompson did great as the eccentric professor of divination, babbling some oddities under those thick glasses of hers. thewlis did a good job with the new dark arts teacher and as a mentor for potter. as for gambon, for me, it seems that he can't live up to harris' wonderful job as dumbledore in the first two movies. he did a good take though but not something up to par with the former headmaster. it seems like he lacks the kindness and gentleness that the late harris' exuded in his character as dumbledore. and now with oldman... he was great, absolutely worth to be a sirius black for me (even if i didn't picture him like that from the books). what do you expect from a great actor like him who can shift from one role to another in a minute, in this case, from an almost lunatic escapee to a concerned character explaining his emotions and feelings the next.

as for the three main actors, they've really grown up. even if ron (grint) didn't have that much screentime, his dialogues and expressions are still enjoyable like in the earlier movies. potter (radcliffe) did a good job too, in fact better than the somewhat almost deadpan acting from the first movies. hermione (watson), i believe, was the one who had grown up the most of the three giving us a peek at the maturity that her character is experiencing.

all in all, would i recommend this movie? definitely. it's entertaining, enjoyable and definitely magical.

8.5/10

Edited June 4, 2004 by Laice_

[Mortis]

Prisoner of Azkaban was a great movie. I reccomend it to anyone with 2 and a half hours of nothing to do.

Also on the angsty teen thing. I'm 15 and was going through the same phase as Harry during when it came out. Sorta helped me realize I'm not the only person who acts like that.

I thought the fifth book was good and alot darker. Adapted as the fans got older.

Eh just my oppinion. 5th book>The others.

[Corizzle]

Friday Estimates are in & Harry Potter has broken the record for biggest opening day with $40,800,000. Chances of a $100 million opening is almost certain and there is a possibility of breaking Spider-Man's record of $114 million

[TheReaper316]

*SPOILER*

In addition, we've got an anticlimatic ending, no plot twist at all

Depending if the movie has a happy ending that doesnt really fit with everything else, the final moments of the story (at least in the book) were very twisting. I mean common, the Rat is a human being! He's the one who's working with Voldemort, not Sirius Black. I thought it was twisting anyways :-/