Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

The Harry Potter series takes a darker turn from the first two installments, and with the visionary director Alfonso Cuarón now taking control, he brings the blend of practical and digital effects to the next level. Numerous magical objects are rigged inside the set to move on their own, some of which were even consulted by real magicians. Other visual effects tricks included the hippogriff, which had both CGI and a mechanical figure used for the actors to interact with, as well as Professor Lupin’s horrific transformation into a werewolf. Also, the dementors were originally going to be puppets filmed underwater and then reversed, but this ultimately didn’t work out and was just used as reference footage for the CGI animators instead.
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The Hogwarts castle also looks much different from before with more detail, particularly in how the moving paintings are utilized. Plus, with this being an Alfonso Cuarón film, there are many long takes stitched together to look like an even longer seamless take. Yet the greatest symphony of practical effects in the entire film, or in all of cinema perhaps, is Aunt Marge blowing up, which was done with almost no CGI. This isn’t to say that the quality of the script or acting ever got better compared to the first two movies, but the wild magical tone marks Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban as the most ambitious movie in the series yet.

PG (LV)
Fantasy
2 hr. 22 min.

Watch it for FUN.
​Watch it to feel HAPPY and AFRAID.