WARNING! THERE ARE SPOILERS FOR THE THIRD BOOK THROUGHOUT THIS REVIEW. PLEASE DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Written by J.K. Rowling, Read by Stephen Fry.
The third Harry Potter book is widely acclaimed as one of the best in the series. I certainly always liked it and upon revisiting it I began to understand why. While the first book is mainly concerned with world building and the second with a bit of increase in stakes, the third story starts the emotional journey in a very significant way. The best parts of the earlier books were the parts about Harry and his family, the mirror of Erised and the book of photos in particular. So when the man that led Voldemort to Harry's parents escapes from the wizard's jail you know that emotion will be a key part of the book. And boy is it ever. The chapters towards the end of the book with the confrontation between Harry, Sirius and the others are pretty damn great. It's a lot of exposition and twisting in these chapters but it moves quickly and Rowling makes it work, mostly. My biggest issue is Ron, who doesn't believe that his rat could be a person, much less the real informant. He maintains his conviction for way too long for me to really believe. Not until he sees Scabbers transform from rat to rat-like-person does Ron believe what everybody is telling him. Rowling tries to get away with this by saying he's concerned about Scabbers throughout the book, but in both of the previous books he didn't seem to give a shit about him. It doesn't work and it makes him look like an idiot. Not a thing I like at all.
Again, there are new characters introduced here, way more than in previous books. Professor Lupin takes the position as the DADA teacher and is really great. He's in my top 5 non-kid characters of the series. He's a great father-figure for Harry and clearly cares about him and the students in general. It's great to see an actual DADA class, too, where they actually defend against the dark arts (though it seems a bit more like Care of Magical Creatures, but whatever, at least it's something). Going through the first three books this time the amount of mentions werewolves get is pretty crazy. There are at least a couple per book, and when you combine his name and the use of the word "lunatic" several times to describe characters I don't know how I didn't connect the dots when I first read it. I like the idea of a friendly werewolf (and one that's not super sexy, Twilight) and the revelation of a certain character later in the series gives him a good counterpart.
And Sirius, of course. What a character. Rowling makes him so evil throughout the book. First he's just a mass murderer, then he's a mass murderer that betrayed Harry's parents, then he's a mass murderer that betrayed Harry's parents even though he is Harry's godfather. And then he's nice. It's a great journey and the dialogue in the Shrieking Shack scene is wonderful for him. His words seem to be evil but they really aren't. And Peter Pettigrew is the epitome of slimeballness.
Finally, the Dementors. They are one of Rowling's greatest inventions. So evil and their inability to be reasoned with or talked to is what makes them terrifying. They only way to make them better is to see them in the movie.
In conclusion, there are several issues I have with this book, including Ron's sudden and brief dumbness and the one book only use of the time travel (though it was fun, the classic "why don't they use the time travel to make sure nothing bad ever happens" thing really isn't addressed here or in the later books). Other than that, the book is pretty damn great. Emotional and exciting way beyond the things that happened in previous books.
A+.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Directed by Alfonso Cuaron, written by Steve Kloves.
And finally, the movies match the books, and even surpass them. As good a book as POA is, it's a better movie. Nothing which is different from the book is different in a bad way (except for the fact that, rather than taking about three chapters, the Shrieking Shack scene takes five minutes) and Cuaron is able to elevate the world of the films way way way higher than they have been previously. Even the beginning, a scene that should enrage all Harry Potter fans as Harry blatantly flies in the face of the Restriction of Under Age Magic rules to practice a lighting spell in his bedroom at the Dursley house, is so well directed and humorous that we instantly know we're in better hands. Cuaron carries this playful attitude through the rest of the film, too. Whether it's the seasonal transitions using the Whomping Willow (which serves to remind us of its properties as well as be super awesome) or the introduction of Flitwick as the Hogwarts choir director (and damn is that song they sing a great way to reintroduce us to the world of Hogwarts) or Professor Lupin's use of a jazzy little record as they fight the boggart in the first DADA class (a little detail which elevates an already great scene from the book into an amazing scene in the film, even though it, too, changes the story path quite a bit), Cuaron is a master in this universe. And we can even see some scenes where he's working on his long takes with a fluid camera that were so loved in Children of Men, including the discussion between Mr. Weasley and Harry in the Three Broomsticks where the yelling poster of Sirius Black is always in view and the post-Shrieking Shack scene back on Hogwarts school ground. This isn't the rote translation from page to screen that Columbus gave us, this is a true artist adapting as it should be.
Like I said in the book review section, the Dementors are terrifying in theory. In practice they're even scarier. That scene on the train still gives me chills as I type this, and I watched it weeks ago. The sound, the visuals, everything works. This carries through the new casting, too. David Thewlis is perfect as Lupin, he imbues the character with the same love that Rowling wrote him with, and you really care about him for the duration of the film and beyond. The scene where he packs his things at the end is as touching as the scene with Hagrid at the end of book 2. And his once and future friend, Sirius Black, is played as perfectly as possible by Gary Oldman. He's an obvious choice for the character because his reputation as a scary dude plays into the character wonderfully. It's the post-revelation Sirius that Oldman is so good at. We haven't seen much of Oldman being normal and even loving but he does it so well. And there's one more new cast member, and, even though it's sad that Richard Harris had to be replaced, I really like Michael Gambon as Dumbledore. I don't know if it's the direction or the script or Gambon or a combination of the three, but in Dumbledores two or three scenes he glows. Part of it is that from book 3 on Dumbledore gets more to do, but I think Gambon brings some of the playfulness that Harris missed for me.
As Bondo said, this is probably the worst adaptation in terms of getting the plot of the book right, but it's the best in getting the mood. Everything works. The frog croaking accompaniment in the Something Wicked This Way Comes song (and that song's use throughout the rest of the score), the look of the animal transformations and the shifting dimensions of the Shrieking Shack. And I didn't even talk about Hagrid's new position and Harry's ride on Buckbeak. It's a superb film and likely has a spot on my top 100 list.
MILKSHAKE!