Rate Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (spoilers)

[DM_Matt]

An amazing thing I noticed is that a lot of people in the audience were confused at the end, regarding

Spoiler

Hermione and Harry's time-travel

.

Spoiler

I understooed what the movie said about it just fine, but the metaphysicas of this sort of time travel is illogical and circular. There are a lot of bad sorts of time travel, but this kind is singularly unacceptable.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

I think the issue with the

Spoiler

time travel

was that it wasn't set up as well as in the book. It would have been nice if we had learned what Hermione was up to before it became relevant to the overall plot.

 

[Crothian]

they do say what she was up to, it was short and in passing but it was there

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

I was amazed by at least one bit that was cut -

Spoiler

when Harry receives the explanation for who Mooney, Prongs, Wormtail and Padfoot (of magic map fame) were and why P., P. and W. became Animagi. It makes the visual of the glowing Patronus Stag make more sense, and helps Harry connect with his father in the book. I kept waiting for Harry to call out to Lupin as he's leaving, "How did you know how to work the map?" or something but it never came.

Seems like the whole issue could have been wrapped up with about 30 seconds of dialogue, and would have made a lot more sense to people who hadn't read the book.

I wonder if this was filmed? It would make a crucial addition to the DVD, and should probably be edited back into the film.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I was amazed by at least one bit that was cut -

Spoiler

when Harry receives the explanation for who Mooney, Prongs, Wormtail and Padfoot (of magic map fame) were and why P., P. and W. became Animagi. It makes the visual of the glowing Patronus Stag make more sense, and helps Harry connect with his father in the book. I kept waiting for Harry to call out to Lupin as he's leaving, "How did you know how to work the map?" or something but it never came.

Seems like the whole issue could have been wrapped up with about 30 seconds of dialogue, and would have made a lot more sense to people who hadn't read the book.

I wonder if this was filmed? It would make a crucial addition to the DVD, and should probably be edited back into the film.

Supposedly they are going to give some of this info in later films. What worries me is that there is already so much material that is going to have to be trimmed to fit books 4 & 5 into a 2-3 hour movie, adding stuff that should have been in earlier films will cause even more cuts.

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

I can't imagine why. Along with

Spoiler

Sirius escaping, the revelation about Harry's Patronum's form is one of the biggest emotional highs of the book IMO

. The movie suffered a bit for it's excising.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I can't imagine why. Along with

Spoiler

Sirius escaping, the revelation about Harry's Patronum's form is one of the biggest emotional highs of the book IMO

. The movie suffered a bit for it's excising.

I agree. I think the ommissions were damaging to the story. The more I think of it the more I think they screwed up.

 

[LightPhoenix]

I agree. I think the ommissions were damaging to the story. The more I think of it the more I think they screwed up.

See, I don't see it that way at all. I don't think the story was really hurt at all by the lack of either of those revelations.

Though I will admit, adding either of them in wouldn't have really extended the movie that much. It'd be a cool "Extended Edition" thing to throw in. Especially because I loved Lupin, and David Thewlis's performance.

If you didn't like this screen adaptation though, I wouldn't waste your time with the fourth and fifth, as the screenplays are being written by the same person (Steven Kloves). He also did the first and second, but then there was less to include.

 

[haiiro]

Saw it on Saturday morning, and at the moment I'd give it a 7. I say "at the moment" because I really disliked the first movie when I saw it in the theater, and thoroughly enjoyed it when I watched it again on DVD. Once I know what to expect, I know how to approach the movie.

I'd say PoA is about as good as the first movie, and not as good as the second. Not having Chris Columbus in the director's chair made a surprising difference, and I chalk most of the things that I liked more in the first two movies up to that -- and the difference in the length of the books.

One of the folks I watched it with commented that she hopes they break book four into two movies, given how much needed to be cut out of PoA. It still makes a good movie, but I'm not sure how they're going to handle things for the fifth one.

 

[haiiro]

Seems like the whole issue could have been wrapped up with about 30 seconds of dialogue, and would have made a lot more sense to people who hadn't read the book.

After watching PoA, my feeling was that they've moved solidly into the realm of expecting everyone who goes to see the movie to have already read the book.

I don't know if this is a good thing or not, but I agree that the part you're referring to should have been in the movie.