Harry Potter und der Gefangene von Askaban

Eine famose Form mit einer wunderschönen Ausstattung (die Umgebung der Schule, die Berge im Hintergrund), mit einer deutlich detaillierteren Musik von John Williams und individuellen Perlen in Form von konkreten Szenen. Zum Beispiel Harrys Flug auf der großen Henne erreicht die emotionalen Höhen der besten Dinge aus Der Herr der Ringe. Mit der Zeit war ich aber mit der Geschichte selbst nicht mehr so zufrieden. Ohne die entzückende letzte halbe Stunde wäre der Film ein bisschen langweilig geworden. Das ist aber keine Kritik von Alfonso Cuarón – der hat mit dem umstrittenen Drehbuch ein Wunder vollbracht. (18.06.2004)

I will repeat myself again, I know that as an ordinary Muggle I have no say in this, but fire Radcliffe for God's sake! Although there are slight signs of improvement, he is still very weak and unconvincing especially in details, for example his acting while crying is a tragedy in itself. Moreover, his awful acting stands out in comparison with, say, the talented Emma Watson. But now to the better bits. I'm not going to join the rest with the notorious opinion of what a loser Columbus is (I wouldn't see him as that bad, just an honest craftsman) and how Cuarón, on the other hand, is amazing; they are just two different concepts. Cuarón strikes a darker chord (also thanks to an increasingly dense source material?), the dementors bring a needed light touch of horror and some scenes can give little kids a case of the creeps (keep it up). The Whomping Willow is awesome, Michael Gambon is an excellent replacement for Richard Harris, the visual effects are fine, the werewolf is sad. That’s it. Well, there’s something else. My desire for the Nimbus 2000 has passed, now I'm lusting after a hypogryph, model Klofan. (15.01.2005)

Nicht einmal beim dritten Mal konnte mich Harry Potter verzaubern... Aber es war knapp. Filmisch ist dies definitiv der bisher beste Beitrag zur Trilogie - Cuarón arbeitet sehr gut mit den Charakteren, spart sich die kitschigen Farbkompositionen und hält sich mehr an die Suggestivität und Wirkung des Settings. Meiner Meinung nach wird Harry Potter und der Gefangene von Askaban jedoch durch seine zu dünne und fadenscheinige Handlung behindert, die sich in der Vielzahl der Episoden und Bonmots etwas auflöst. Die Kammer des Schreckens erschien mir aus dieser Sicht deutlich wirkungsvoller. Auf der anderen Seite müssen wir die ausgezeichnete und variable Musik von John Williams loben, die schauspielerische Leistung aller außer Michael Gambon (Dumbledore) und die Tatsache, dass Harry Potter aufgehört hat, ein unbedeutender Lehrling zu sein, und sich zu einem recht soliden und interessanten Charakter entwickelt hat. Der buchstäbliche und wenig überzeugende Kinderfilm beginnt sich zu einem beeindruckenden und düsteren Drama zu entwickeln... Cuarón hat hervorragende Arbeit geleistet, aber dennoch ist Der Gefangene von Askaban für mich nur ein "solider" Fantasy-Film, den ich mit einem Prozentsatz von 70 bewerten würde. (14.06.2004)

That is how things end up when fantasy material gets into the hands of a playful director with fantasy and his own vision. A crying shame that these movies weren’t like this from the very beginning. The change of environment and costumes improved the result. In the same way that part three was a turning point on its journey away from kids’ books to “more", this picture was crucial for the movie adaptations. It is a blessing that Chris Columbus’ boring and uninventive directing is a thing of the past. The only two downsides are the rendition of the werewolf and a certain absence of any link with past episodes. If somebody really liked the first ones, they might not get over the fundamental change in style and rendition. Even though it was a change for the better from all points of view. Thank god. P.S.: Every time we watched this again (lots), we were convinced again and again that SUCH GOOD, inventive and unique family movies come into being once in a blue moon. Proof of this is that now, more than a decade after the premiere I have still not come across any competition in the field of family movies. And by the way, this is the movie with the best and most tightly knotted time travel I have ever seen. (21.11.2010)

I won't damn Columbus and make a god out of Cuaron here anymore because the first half seems like a thematically precise continuation of the poetry of the first two parts, and a few camera tricks or zooms on a freezing flower (although they are formally perfect) don't change the atmosphere much. They may be beneficial for an unbiased viewer, but for me, as a staunch fan of the book, they are just a minimal decoration. The turning point comes when Harry and Hermione reach the Whomping Willow and an incredible massacre ensues, where the fascinating acting etude of the trio Thewlis-Oldman-Rickman is the least of it. And of course, the climax is in the long-lasting finale with time-playing and all the creatures that can only scare the viewer. The only criticism is aimed at the significant screenplay gap: an explanation of who the Scabbers are would probably help. Nevertheless, I've seen the third part probably the most and perhaps I understand its position as the favorite part. However, I prefer Yates' tricks by a hair. (24.02.2007)

Harry Potter has always been a bit of a light rip-off of Peter Jackson's opus. It cleverly borrows various details, not very conspicuously, but I’ve found several very similar scenes or specific things in all three parts. In the third part, it is clearly the Dementors, who annoyingly resemble the breathtakingly executed Nazgûl. However, the truth is that this part is the darkest and least childish in the whole series. For the first time, there are horror elements, which will probably escalate further in later parts. It's not significantly better than the previous two parts, maybe just a little bit. (13.08.2006)

In vielen Rezensionen habe ich gelesen, dass Harry Potter erst jetzt, durch den Wechsel des Regisseurs, die echte Potter-Stimmung bekommen hat, dass er endlich düsterer wurde und so weiter. Nun, ich denke, dass diese Aussagen ziemlich irreführend sind. Wie konnten die beiden vorhergehenden Filme die Stimmung von Harry Potter und der Gefangene von Askaban haben, wenn in ihnen (so wie in ihren Vorlagen) nichts passiert ist, was diese Stimmung gebraucht hätte? Ich würde also sagen, dass die Stimmung eigentlich nicht das Verdienst von Alfonso Cuarón ist – er hatte einfach Glück, dass er gerade diesen Teil bekommen hat. Das hinreißende Tempo, die allgegenwärtige Verspieltheit (z. B. die Szene mit dem Gespenst, wenn die Kamera durch den Spiegel hin- und herfliegt), die spannenden und horrormäßigen Szenen mit den Dementoren, die behutsame Regie der Schauspieler*innen, deren Heldinnen und Helden gerade in der Pubertät sind (man mag sie aber trotzdem) – das alles ist aber natürlich sein Verdienst. Und dann gibt es noch die neuen Figuren. Es ist eine Freude, Gary Oldman und David Thewlis zu beobachten. Und wenn sich zu ihnen Alan Rickman in der Heulenden Hütte gesellt, ist klar, was die beste Szene des Films sein wird. Zum Schluss möchte ich noch die Musik von John Williams erwähnen – Harry Potter und der Gefangene von Askaban ist nämlich der letzte Teil der Serie, bei dem er die Musik komponiert hat. Und er hat eine tolle Arbeit geleistet. (07.09.2015)

"Is that really what my hair looks like from the back?" –– Even though I am watching the third installment in the Potter franchise for at least the twentieth time, I still cannot get over the Cuaron exaltation. Rather, I would say he was just lucky to have one of the best books in the franchise, which had the potential to appeal to the widest possible audience. I am not entirely satisfied with the result, though. For one thing, the credit goes to Mr. Dumbass Kloves, whose typical screenwriting trademarks – his classic "catchphrases", weird sense of humor (the cleaning lady scene - I still have not figured out what the hell that was supposed to be about!) and the insensitive reduction of the book, have of course taken their toll (The absolute bare minimum of information about Harry's parents' past is given, and nowhere is it explained that it was actually Lupin, Harry's father and co. who were the people who created the Marauder’s Map!). Plus, then the other thing I am not entirely happy with is the director himself. What disappointed me was the occasional absence of emotion. Some of the scenes that should have been really atmospheric in some way – Harry’s flight on Buckbeak, the meeting in the Shrieking Shack, or Lupin's transformation left me cold as ice, they felt devoid of emotion, and often even laughable. I do not know how much of this is the fault of the director, the cast, or possibly the special effects people, but I did not expect to be so bored in some places. However, now for the good points: there is a great soundtrack by John Williams, Radcliffe finally got a little better at acting (although the "I'll kill him!" scene still looks ridiculous), there are nice exteriors and, except for Buckbeak and the who looked very digital, very nice special effects. The Dementors are okay, the atmosphere is passable, too, and while it seems like I was really critical previously and did not like the movie, I was not - I actually did like it. I just do not get the general hype around this installment. I could understand it with the fifth installment, but definitely not with this one. (14.07.2008)

It must be excruciating to film a year-long story from the disjointed, ever-changing Harry Potter universe, no matter what the filmmakers prattle on about in the BluRay bonus features. Cuarón has thus proven himself a messiah, whose ability to maintain a unified storyline and focus on the details, particularly in individual scenes whose careful selection is the only saving grace keeping the entire adaptation from disintegrating into a series of clumsily pasted together visual sequences. It can be seen that script editing and pre-production played a significant role here. The individual episodes, then, not only make sense to readers of the book, who, in short, want to at least see some of the things they read, but are capable of assembly into a coherent story on their own. Each scene therefore has purpose and moves the plot forward. It was thanks to this meticulous preparation that it was even possible to focus particularly on the filmmaking aspects, and that's why the third installment of all the Potter films has the most interesting cinematography, mise-en-scene, and various small quirks and elements in the second and subsequent layers. (03.04.2016)

Alfonso Cuarón managed to mix exactly the right amount of tension, emotion, fairy tale, and thriller to create a film that is suitable for essentially all generations, captures attention with its story and characters, and is also skillfully directed. Although the last two films were not bad, "Prisoner of Azkaban" simply could not be surpassed by any other. (29.01.2014)