Harry Potter (Prisoner Of Azkaban) DVD
Warner Home Video
Rated: PG
Genre: Family
Length: 142 minutes
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Year: (2004)
Britt Gillette's Harry Potter (Prisoner Of Azkaban) DVD Review
Another year has passed and it's time for yet another semester at Hogwarts school of wizardry… In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, everyone's favorite witches and wizards return for an adventure wrought with danger and suspense.
The film begins with Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) back at the Dursleys' house on Privet Drive where an obnoxious relative demeans the memory of Harry's father, causing the young wizard to violate the cardinal rule of student witches and wizards. With a vengeful gaze, Harry practices magic in the outside world, causing the offending relative to continually swell into an inflatable ball until she floats out of the house and into the night sky. Sick of the treatment meted out by his aunt and uncle, Harry leaves their house for good. When he runs away, he notices a dangerous, bloodthirsty wolf before escaping from the area on a magical bus. En route to Hogwarts, Harry is told of the escape of Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) from the infamous prison of Azkaban. Sirius Black is a known accomplice of Voldemort (a.k.a. he-who-must-not-be-named), and the fugitive criminal dominates the topics of conversation in Harry's world.
When Harry takes his usual train ride to Hogwarts with friends Ronald Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), the three encounter a deadly "Dementor" (Latin for mind-remover) which attacks Harry before the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, Remus Lupin (David Thewles), casts a spell that causes the Dementor to flee.
Meanwhile, the annual orientation at Hogwarts is peppered with a number of notable events and special effects. Among them are the usual game of Quidditch, Hagrid's presentation of Buckbeak the Hippogriff (a majestic, half-horse/half-bird creature), and the twins' delivery of the Marauder's Map to Harry in effort to aid in his evasion of pesky Hogwarts administrators.
When Buckbeak is falsely accused and condemned to death for attacking Draco Malfoy, Harry, Ron, and Hermione devise a plan to save his life. While implementing their plan, the three students run into Sirius Black and Professor Lupin who reveal the true object of Sirius Black's wrath - Peter Pettigrew (Timothy Spall). Pettigrew is the real betrayer of Harry Potter's parents, and years earlier, he pinned his own crimes on Sirius Black. Professor Lupin and Sirius Black are friends of Harry's parents and would never do harm to Harry. Since his betrayal of the Potters, Peter Pettigrew has been living in the form of a rat - the same rat that Ronald Weasley and his family have used at Hogwarts for years. With their mystery solved, the crew plans to return to Hogwarts, but they're delayed when Professor Lupin (a closet werewolf) is exposed to the light of the full moon. Sirius Black wrestles the creature away from Harry and his friends, but he incurs serious injuries in the process. As the Dementors close in for the kill, Harry attempts to save the life of Sirius Black, and does so with the aid of an extremely powerful wizard…
One of the best films of 2004, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third film in a continuing series which includes Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)...
Britt Gillette
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Posted on 22 November 2004