So I saw Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban last night at the IMAX with and Partytom.
First off, I was SO glad to see a Harry Potter movie that wasn’t simply filming the book. I heartily enjoy reading the Potter books, but the first two movies left me a little…disappointed. said last night that the thing she liked about the first film was the “neat” aspect of it – it was pretty cool to see things in the books visualized. But the “gee whiz” factor wears off quickly.
The thing that I mostly took away from this movie was the “reality” of it – in the first two films, so much emphasis is put onto the mystical, magical, whoop-de-shit of the wizarding world that it is REALLY fantasy – you can’t possibly buy into the belief that this world exists. However, Curon’s interpretation made me feel as if there was something to it. The kids were true kids, acting like young people. They dressed in real clothes. They had real concerns. And the magic of the wizarding world was very matter-of-fact. If such a world existed, it would make no sense for the people inside of it to be knocked on their ass with amazement every time someone performed a Nandastic Charm or whatever.
Couple of interesting things that came out of this particular viewing – Partytom (who has never read the books) wondered if Lupin was gay. At first and I thought he was making a joke about the actor being effeminate, but he made some interesting points – there’s a bit of a clever parallel between being a werewolf and being gay – at least from a societal standpoint. He’s got a secret, parents wouldn’t want him to be teaching their children, etc. Made me wonder a bit.
Also, maybe this was more clear to everyone else, but Lupin never actually touches anything, if he can help it. He uses magic to do everything from open a door to pack his trunk. The only two exceptions I noticed were when he put the needle on the record, and when he took the Marauder’s Map from Snape. I don’t imagine that this would have been included if it didn’t mean something.
Which goes back to whey Curon is good and Columbus is a hack. There’s nothing in this movie that I don’t think is there for a reason – from the swing music that Lupin enjoys to Hermione’s rainbow belt, it’s there for a reason. The fun is figuring out what that reason is.
Of course, a lot of the people I’ve talked to dismiss this, and instead complain that the entire subplot of Harry whining that he can’t use his new toy was removed. Frankly, the whole Firebolt thing is one of the most annoying things in Prisoner, in my opinion. I’m glad it got short shrift. And leaving out the House Cup and the Quiddich Cup were smart moves as far as I’m concerned – Rowling seems incapable of writing a story that doesn’t involve every annual event that happens EVERY SINGLE FUCKING YEAR at Hogwart’s – how many more descriptions of the First Feast do we have to read?
Yes, things were left out. But from the perspective of making an interesting movie (as opposed to appeasing fanboys), I think they were choices that were done well.