Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3)

by J.K. Rowling

[thepunktheory]

Book vs. Movie:
I completely devoured this book. Impossible to put down. J. K. Rowling delivered a more than thrilling piece of writing. The story is so clever and I am deeply impressed how many little aspects add up to one bigger point. No chance to see it coming, you'll spend long parts of the book holding your breath, anxious to find out what happens next. I love the character developement and how complex every person and every story line is. The Prisoner of Azkaban is darker than the first two books, and for me this is a perfect fit. As Harry grows up, the story grows with him.
This is the first movie not directed by Chris Columbus but by Alfonso Cuarón and you can clearly tell that the film has a different vibe.
To be honest, this was my least favourite movie so far. Many aspect from the book have been left out and the movie lacks a lot of background information. Especially towards the end of the film, many things were brought up without giving them time to unfold or explaining them properly. Therefore, not only the story appears a little flat, also the characters are shallow. I missed a lot of the character developement from book, it just wasn't really transported into the film.
Furthermore, the first parts of the movie didn't do the darker atmosphere justice. The incident with the floating aunt was a bit to exaggerated for my liking. And professor Trelawney simply annoyed me. As teacher for Deviation she was depicted as a bit strange in the book. In the novel she wants to surround herself with a mystical atmosphere and her subject itself is not taken seriously by most people (including teachers). But in the movie this women is outright nuts. This character is over the top and just didn't fit in with what I expected.
However, in general the actors did an amazing job and I need to highlight once more how brilliant the cast is.

All in all I have to say that the third movie lacks many aspect of the book and therefore failed to impress me. With so much depth missing the movie is okay, but if you read the book you will be really disappointed. The film just doesn't have the same intensity.
A little tip: watch the movie before you read the book. This way the film is far more enjoyable and the book will still surprise you.