To my great surprise, this actually isn’t a bad film. In fact, as a piece of
film-making, and as a piece of cinema, it’s pretty bloody good. The acting,
casting, direction, and special effects are all excellent, and the styling of
the film is quite unlike the usual Hollywood-produced kids trash I had
expected – in parts, the film has a distinctly European flavour (particularly the Knight Bus chase sequence, which reminded me greatly of the manic style of some French animation). The director is especially good at bringing across the human aspects
of the characters, and it’s the first two acts of the film that really shine
through here. Unfortunately, all the action is crammed into the third act, and
it feels something of a letdown in comparison to the first two – in particular,
the use of magic is something of a Deus Ex Machina: the characters are often
led into desperate, tense situations, only to be given an escape route through
a wave of a wand and a magic word. In addition, the dialogue (especially where
it’s been lifted straight from the book) sometimes feels cliched and stilted –
although this is more a problem with Rowling’s texts than with the script; for
all her pretentions to modern social relevance, she still can’t help slipping
in the odd Blytonism here and there.

In fact, whilst the film wouldn’t exist without the book, it’s also the biggest
thorn in the side of the director: when you read a book, the best pictures are
always the ones in your head, and when the book is as hugely popular as Harry Potter
you’re never going to satisfy everyone. Also, Prisoner of Azkaban is (for a kids
book) fairly complex and densely plotted – and as such, in its transition to the
big screen large portions of it have had to be cut out – to the point that some
parts of the film may be incomprehensible to anyone who hasn’t read the book.
Similarly, though, die-hard fans of the book are likely to be sorely disappointed
that some key points are missing from the film – particularly the explanation of
Harry’s patronus, and the reason that Lupin knows about the map.

Ultimately, though, you can ignore these points and the film still holds
together. It’s a nice piece of filmmaking, and it’s a thoroughly enjoyable way
to spend a couple of hours. Pleasantly surprising.

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