(B)adaptation Script: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Riley: What are your thoughts on the movie? Do you think it was a good adaptation of the book?
Royce: Out of the first three Harry Potter movies, I felt that the Prisoner of Azkaban mirrored the book the best. Many of the images I had developed in my head though reading were quite close to those portrayed on the big screen. Furthermore, I felt that the major scenes such as the battle with the dementors were very well done. What did you think about the film? Were there any disappointing parts that failed to live up the book?
Riley: This is by far my favorite Harry Potter film, but not in that it mirrored the book per-say as much as it managed to get the essence of the book across. Prisoner of Azkaban to me has to fill two tonal roles at the same time. It first needs to mark the moment where the Harry Potter books and films start getting darker and more nuanced, while at the same time keeping some of that residual optimism alive. If you think about it, the Chamber of Secrets, for example, is a slightly more complicated version of the first Harry Potter story, the Sorcerer’s Stone. Meanwhile, Goblet of Fire has the first and, in my opinion, most brutal on-screen/page death of Mr. Digory. Prisoner of Azkaban has to serve as the transitioning point between children’s and young adult literature, which is both the Books and the Movies is mostly marked by how credible the threat of real permanent consequence is. The movie does some great cinematic work on this end, incorporating visual motifs of clocks and dark shots of water and glass that are not really present in the previous films. The only thing I wished is that the shoe got to raise just that little bit more in this movie so that audiences can really feel the drop that comes in the Goblet of Fire. Enough of my thoughts though. Why do you think the Prisoner of Azkaban was more successful than preceding Harry Potter films?
Royce: I felt that the characters were much stronger as they were far closer to replicating what I had envisioned than the previous two films. The character of Sirius Black was especially accurate in my opinion as his personality, and physical appearance was spot on. Also, I recall the Prisoner of Azkaban being a scarier film than other Harry Potter films. The scare factor of the movie was essential to making it a successful adaptation as the book was focusing on portraying a prisoner on the run and ghost-like monsters attacking the main characters.
What do you think the movie could have done better?
Riley: While I think Sirius Black has a great heel to face turn in this movie, I really wish the film managed to get a little bit more of the lurking sense of danger that Sirius had in the books. When reading, Black is a shadow that never stops lurking
from the moment we see the Grim. He pops up in the castle, destroying portraits and doors, he scares students out of their rooms, he breaks into the dorms themselves and even when he makes himself scares for a few chapters the rumors and conversations about him never stop. The film, while successful in getting most of the book's tone across does not go as far in giving Sirius his omnipresent threat that he has in the text.
Royce: That concludes our discussion of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was not a perfect adaptation to the book. It had its flaws and imperfections but was still an enjoyable film to watch.
