..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..R.J. Matson
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Michael Wilmington

Harry Potter
& The Prisoner of Azkaban

The sloppiest of the Harry Potter movies, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, could well turn out to also be the most enduring. Based upon what is so far the best book in the series, Alfonso Cuarón took over the directorial reins from Chris Columbus, and while Columbus' work on the first two movies was slavishly faithful to the literal narratives and descriptions in the novels, Cuarón gives off the impression that he doesn't care about that, or that it has already been done. There is no wide-eyed delight in exploring the hero's world anymore, it is a little more of a grind, but then, it would be to the hero as well, who is becoming older and more jaded about his surroundings. Where Columbus' films made an excellent starting point for the film series and engaged younger viewers as well as adults, Cuarón edges his film toward a more mature engagement with the material. On the one hand, the 2004 movie is messy, with situations and ideas tossed out as if there had not been enough production time to really smooth out the kinks in the story (a supposed killer has escaped from prison and apparently poses a threat to the hero, who feels compelled to learn more about why this is so), or to get everything in that is needed for the series as a whole without making it look like an obvious plant. But on the other hand, you can watch the movie more than once. Columbus' efforts, though fully enjoyable, are so surface oriented that if you are beyond adolescence one viewing pretty much does it for you, at least for a couple years or so. Azkaban, however, has staying power. Everything is less immediately defined, more dependent upon the viewer to put together emotions and narrative points, to intuit how the characters are feeling, or to notice what is going on around them. Hence, the movie, though massively popular, wasn't quite the hit that the first two were, but got a lot more critical praise, especially in comparison to the second film. We would take issue with just two further aspects of its production. For one thing, Michael Gambon was hired to replace the late Richard Harris as the headmaster at the school of magic the hero attends, and he doesn't have the twinkle that Harris has, which is very frustrating. Anybody can do a twinkle - Ian McKellen does a great twinkle in the Lord of the Rings movies-so it has to be Cuarón's choice and not Gambon's to go without it, but it makes him seem way too dry and unengaging. Secondly, the 'dementors,' ethereal demonic beings that drain people's souls, are blandly executed, again as if Cuarón was not interested in getting the effects right. They ought not to fly, just hover, and they ought to be frightening. Instead, they're just a fuzzy story point, so conveniently ethereal that they pose no real threat to the hero, just some computer graphic annoyances.

The DVD has been released by Warner Home Video as a 2-Disc Widescreen Edition (28445, $30) and it also looks rather sloppy. Whether it was Cuarón and cinematographer Michael Seresin's intention, or whether it just came out that way in the transfer, contrasts are far too weak. There is no detail in shadows, and large solid black areas in the screen tend to unbalance the image compositions and distract you from the action. Mind you, we're speaking in relative terms here. One could look at the picture and not notice that anything is wrong, but the effect is irritating, if only on a sub-conscious level. The letterboxing has an aspect ratio of about 2.35:1 and an accommodation for enhanced 16:9 playback. Fleshtones are serviceable and the image is sharp. The 5.1-channel Dolby Digital sound has a reasonably nice dimensionality and a few good separation effects. The 142-minute feature has alternate French and Spanish audio tracks in 5.1 Dolby, optional English, French and Spanish subtitles, and a trailer.

The second platter holds somewhat more extensive and better laid out supplementary materials than the previous films offered, though they still aren't that elaborate and the menu is still rather annoyingly designed. There are 5 minutes of deleted scenes (watch out, because there is a 'continuation' arrow that gets you to two more scenes, but it is easy to miss), which were sensibly dropped from the film but still contain a few enjoyable details about life at the school. Cuarón and author J.K. Rowling sit together for an interview that is part of a passable 12-minute promotional documentary. There is a lightweight but enjoyable 45-minute sit down interview with various cast members, a 16-minute piece on the film's effects, a 5-minute piece on working with the animals in the film, a sing-along clip, several games of varying quality, two interactive examinations of sets in the film, and some text materials on DVD-ROM.

January 5, 2005

DVD Roundup: This Week's DVD Releases
The Review Vault

- by Douglas Pratt

Douglas Pratt's DVD-Laser Disc Newsletter is published monthly.
For a free sample, call (516)594-9304 or go to his website at www.DVDLaser.com