| Mon May 31, 8:13 AM ET
By Larry Fine
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Harry Potter is growing up, and so are the Harry Potter movies. The young wizards of Hogwarts, now heading into their teens, solve another perplexing puzzle in "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," which opens around the world on Friday, but learn even more about themselves in the fast-moving adventure from director Alfonso Cuaron .
"Hormones are interesting things," said Daniel Radcliffe, who continues in the title role of the third film based on the hugely successful fantasy books by J.K. Rowling.
Cuaron has stripped the complex plot down to its essentials to streamline a dark, visually captivating film about identity and coming of age that takes the series to a new level. A convicted murderer who has escaped from the ultra-high security wizard prison of Azkaban is believed to be intent on adding Harry to his victims list.
Harry once again has his magical sidekicks, Hermione, played by Emma Watson, and Ron (Rupert Grint), by his side, joining together to save the day while traveling parallel paths toward self-discovery.
"That's the wonderful nature of this material. Everything is so archetypical, like great fairy tales," said Cuaron.
Among others reprising roles are Alan Rickman, as the sneering Professor Snape, Robbie Coltrane, as gentle giant Hagrid, and Maggie Smith playing the protective Professor McGonagall. Michael Gambon takes over from the late Richard Harris as sagely headmaster Dumbledore.
Continuing the Harry Potter tradition of mixing in other top British acting talent, "Azkaban" also features Gary Oldman as Sirius Black, David Thewlis (Professor Lupin) and Emma Thompson, who does a deliciously funny turn as divination teacher Sibyll Trelawney.
The special effects are also a notch above, especially Hagrid's half-horse/half-bird Buckbeak, the careening Knight Bus and the combative Whomping Willow tree. The soul-sucking prison guards of Azkaban, the dementors, elicit the appropriate dread.
For all the slam-bam action and effects, the core of the movie deals with the issues of adolescence.
To get 14-year-old Radcliffe into the proper mood, Cuaron turned the young actor on to a classic film made 45 years ago.
"The journey that Harry goes through is a process any 13-year-old goes through. That's the reason I gave Daniel Radcliffe right at the start 'The 400 Blows,' (directed by Frenchman Francois Truffaut). This is the Muggle version of Prisoner of Azkaban. The journey of this kid," Cuaron said.
"Because of hormones and everything he loses control."
Up to this point in the Potter saga, Harry has been preoccupied with finding out about his father and mother, who were killed by the darkest of wizards when he was just a baby.
Now the young wizard begins to understand his own "male energy," according to Cuaron, by recognizing the power he possesses.
"It is the rite of passage, when the boy becomes a man," said Cuaron, the Mexican maker of Oscar-nominated films "Y Tu Mama Tambien," and "A Little Princess."
"Harry thinks he was saved by his father, by his energy, by this great wizard that his father was. But he ends up realizing that he had the power inside himself."
The pace of the film is helped by constant camera movement by the director, who kept the action on course by eliminating most of the book's exposition, a necessary burden in the first two movies as the world of Harry Potter was established.
"Jo Rowlings asked for it," Cuaron said. "She said be faithful to the spirit of the book, but don't be literal.
"For me what was important was to nail the theme of the film and then just allow whichever elements of the book that stick to that theme."
Potter fans can fill in the missing story background for themselves, but the uninitiated few who will be exposed to Harry's world for the first time might find some of the goings-on a bit confusing.
Adding to the grown-up quality of the film is the maturing of Radcliffe, Watson, 14, and Grint, 15.
"Azkaban" producer Chris Columbus, who directed the first two Potter films, said when he watched their performances he said to himself, "My God, they're actually professional actors."
Even fellow actors appreciate their growth.
"It was more fun this time," said Coltrane. "The kids are so much more relaxed. They've grown into their parts and know what's expected of them." | |
