Harry Potter and the Wonderful Vision of Cuaron

After two serviceable movies, in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (henceforth HPPA) the Harry Potter franchise is finally given an injection of wonder by director Alfanso Cuaron. This is not to say the Chris Columbus who directed the first two movies was an incompetent, visionless boob. This third installment is merely significantly better.

The story is fairly simple: Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) finds out that Sirius Black (Gary Oldman), a most dangerous criminal and follower of Lord Voldemort's, has escaped from Azkaban, the infamous wizard's prison. When he hears that Sirius is the one responsible for the death of his parents, Harry vows revenge. Of course, as in all Harry Potter stories, not everything is as it seems and the Harry's eventual confrontation with Black yields some decent surprises.

The movie contains the usual cast of characters: Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), Harry's stalwart friends; Professor Severus Snape (a well-used Alan Rickman), Harry's antagonistic potions professor; Professor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon having fun with Richard Harris's old role); and new the scene Professor Lupin (David Thewlis) as the mysterious yet likeable teacher of Defense Against the Dark Arts. And let us not forget Robbie Coltrane as the giant Hagrid. For a movie about children, HPPA has an incredible cast of adult actors. Daniel Radcliffe, while much better than he was in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" seems still to be struggling with finding the right emotional balance in Harry. Watson and Grint are, as usual, excellent supporting characters who manage quite well with their character's budding chemistry.

HPPA is, as everyone has been saying, a much darker tale than "The Sorcerer's Stone" or "Chamber of Secrets". Harry, who is starting to really grow up, is also full of intense anger. This anger is obvious from the start of the film, when Harry literally blows up his uncle's sister after she insults his parents. Whereas before he might have felt powerless against the Dursley's taunts and ridicules, magic has now empowered him. This apparently is not always a good thing.

The rest of the story plays out over an occasionally too long 2 hours and 20 minutes. What makes this Harry Potter movie stand out is not the plot but the visuals. Cuaron's other famous movies include the erotically charged "Y Tu Mama Tambien" (2001) and the more family-friendly adaptation of "A Little Princess" (1995). Both of these movies were beautiful to look at (even if you weren't particularly interested in the subject matter). HPPA is gorgeous and repeated viewings make that even more obvious. Harry's ride on Buckbeak, the Hippogriff is a thing of utter beauty. It's hard to believe it's actually all CGI.

Peppered with such scenes, HPPA is just a lot of fun. Harry's late night trip on the Knight Bus (a lovely pun on a London transportation institution) is an exciting zip through London that places the movie very obviously in our world, and makes the possibility of the wizarding community seem all the more real. Professor Lupin's class about boggarts is played out against some wonderful swing music, making a lesson about transforming one's greatest fears into something utterly ridiculous, a joy. Instead of dwelling on the Quidditch scenes, Cuaron throws us right into a game in the middle of a violent storm, giving the game a nice urgency and danger.

This is not say that the movie is perfect. It's far from it. The story lags, important information from the book is left out making the plot less rich than it should have been, and the Dementors, Azkaban guards who suck out your soul, are scary but too visually similar to the Lord of the Rings Nazgul. But these problems are not as troubling as the overall lack of spark in "Chamber of Secrets". Even the werewolf at the end of the movie is no where near as painfully fake as the bathroom ogre in "Sorcerer's Stone".

As Harry and his friends get older, the producers of these movies would do well to continue hiring directors who are adept at more adult fare. Perhaps not as adult as Cuaron's "Y Tu Mama Tambien", but a bit more sophisticated than Columbus's "Home Alone". Mike Newell ("Four Weddings and a Funeral" and "Mona Lisa Smile") is taking the helm of the next movie, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire". As long as Julia Roberts is no where near the set, everything should be fine.