Given the nature of these characters being a bit older than in the first two films, it’s understandable that Columbus wasn’t able to tease these same notes out in The Sorceror’s Stoneor Chamber of Secrets,but Cuaron’s general interest in the rich, inner lives of Harry, Ron, and Hermione is a vast improvement on their earlier characterizations.Ĭuaron gives both these characters and the movie’s young audience more credit, asking more of his viewers than Columbus ever did. That last one is particularly important, as it would go on to play a much larger role in the franchise moving forward, most notably in the following film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, directed by Four Weddings and a Funeral‘s Mike Newell. He played with a variety of tones, infusing wonder, curiosity, humor, and teenage angst into the formula. He visibly darkens the movie, while also taking the time to indulge in the emotion of Harry, Sirius, and the countless other characters in this film in a way The Sorcerer’s Stoneand Chamber of Secretsdid not.Ĭuaron didn’t simply darken the world of Harry Potter with Prisoner of Azkaban, of course. This change in both scope and tone is reflected in Cuaron’s directorial choices. Their deaths not only affected their baby son but the countless others who loved them.įurther Reading: Harry Potter Movie Streaming Guideįor the first time in the series, Rowling isn’t afraid to widen the focus from Harry’s own life and perspective to a more comprehensive one, based around the other Mauraders. We start to more fully explore the legacy of James and Lily Potters’ murders, not simply as a tragedy for Harry, but as a tragedy for these people who had complex lives of their own. We meet the dementors and learn about Azkaban for the first time.

It plays with the concept of time - both in the form of Hermione’s Time-Turner and in an exploration of the previous generation’s influence on today’s youth - in complex ways, hinting at how important understanding the past would become in defeating Voldemort once and for all. In Prisoner of Azkaban,Rowling begins to expand this world by giving us the story of the Marauders, Peter Pettigrew’s betrayal, and Sirius Black’s tragic life story as a result of that betrayal.

Harry potter prisoner of azkaban