h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Young wizard Harry enters his third school year with a dark shadow hanging over him; the man who betrayed his family to the evil Voldemort has escaped from the prison of Azkaban, and the Ministry of Magic believe he’s looking for Harry. When the demonic prison-guards known as dementors seem to take an interest in Harry, he discovers it may not be simply his life, but his very soul that is at risk.

The best of the five Potter books written so far gets the Hollywood treatment under director Alfonso Cuaron, instead of Christopher Columbus, leaving a niggling change-in-style feeling in the viewer’s mind which fades after five minutes or so. Once again, the world of Harry Potter is fantastically well-realised from a visual point of view: hippogriff Buckbeak is perfect, and the Dementors send the same shivers down your spine on screen as they did from the pages of the book. Although many people would place this third film above the previous two, it’s more equal with the ‘Chamber of Secrets’ movie. The feel is the same, although the darkness is more complete; there’s slightly less time to recover before being plunged into murk again, but the time in the light is refreshing.

Whilst much has changed for film three – including some of the settings, and even, apparently the lay-out of the castle (has anyone seen that pendulum before? Anyone?) and grounds (was Hagrid’s hut really on a steep hill last year?), some things have not. Rupert Grint still displays a stubborn inability to act, and screen-writer Steve Kloves is still mis-judging slightly the back-story he chooses to cut out. The biggest change of all is possibly Dumbledore’s metamorphosis from Richard Harris to Michael Gambon. Though Gambon makes the effort, the feeling of wisdom and concealed power is lacking. This is, however, possibly due to the very small part Dumbledore is given in this movie, and something that may be rectified in future. Other new faces fare considerably better, especially Emma Thompson, whose portrayal of Professor Trelawney is spot-on.

Director Cuaron also has a go at wedging a theme into the film, in the form of mirrors and reflections, as Harry gazes at himself in windows and lakes. The contrast of appearance and reality is an important one for a film whose turning point should fall on the existence of shape-shifting animagi, though, strangely, little time is actually devoted to bringing out this facet of JK Rowling’s Potter mythology. Instead, it is one of a series of reflection-based points, to be linked loosely with the fear-mirroring ability of the boggart, and Harry’s vision of his father in himself.

Overall, ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’ is a hollow victory – a great story tears along, and never drags, but the depth of Rowling’s world has been snatched out from underneath it. Trying hard to reflect the intricacy and imagination of the novels, the film succeeds more fully in reminding us that a reflection is not the same as the real thing.

R25968 20:52 1/6/04