SnitchSeeker.com - Fans love POA but critics are mixed

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  Fans love POA but critics are mixed -

Summary:
Some like it but some dont.

Article:

Thanks to Wizardnews

Quote:

Movie critics disagree about whether Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is better or worse than the original two. 

Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times concludes: "Not quite. It doesn't have that sense of joyously leaping through a clockwork plot, and it needs to explain more than it should. But the world of Harry Potter remains delightful, amusing and sophisticated." 

Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times argues that the film doesn't really come alive until the final hour. "The key difficulty that has to be overcome ... is that there is too much standard Harry Potter stuff the film seems compelled to include, material that both swells the running time to that counterproductive two hours and 21 minutes and detracts from the story's intrinsic drama." 

Ann Hornaday in the Washington Post gives the film its most negative review by a major newspaper critic, writing: "This is one long sit, made all the more so by a turgid story, a dour visual palette and uninspiring action." 

But A.O. Scott in the New York Times writes: "This is surely the most interesting of the three Potter movies, in part because it is the first one that actually looks and feels like a movie, rather than a staged reading with special effects." 

Geoff Pevere in the Toronto Star confesses that he found the original Potter movie "drab" and passed over the second film completely, but he found the new film "visually imaginative ... glorious." 

Christy LeMire observes for the Associated Press: "Purists may balk that this is an art-house version of Harry Potter -- and with any revered pop culture phenomenon, fans are likely to get riled about something. But Azkaban is by far the meatiest, most magical film in the series thus far." 

Much of the credit for the artistic success of the new film is assigned to director Alfonso Cuarón. "By portraying its central characters more realistically as adolescents with an array of serious emotional issues -- and even putting them in more contemporary clothes in some scenes -- Cuaron makes the magic that much more magical," writes Lou Lumenick in the New York Post.

Mark Caro in the Chicago Tribune says that Cuarón "shakes the candy coating off of the franchise without violating its spirit." 

And Joe Morgenstern concludes in the New York Post: "Alfonso Cuarón's style relies on trust. He trusts the intrinsic power of movie magic, and the eagerness that keeps kids scanning movie screens like astronomers searching the heavens for new stars." 

Wizardnews

Absolutely. I went for the movie prepared, after reading Jo Rowling's opinion of it. I knew it would be different, and exciting at the same time, so I wasn't disappointed, but I was very surprised. I must say I liked it! It was good fun to watch - I was in splits most of the time - the humour is really good. The visuals, with all due respect to Ann Hornaday's opinion, I found breathtaking. The only thing I was slightly upset about was the absence of a proper quidditch game, which I felt was one of the first movie's strong point. It was made up for, though, by the Hippogryff flight, the werewolf scene, the dementors...
All in all, I liked the movie best of the three, as I like the third Book the best so far, but the movie is quite different.

PS: first post!

Hey i've watched that movie and it was great.But some difference in that movie.I hope they make the movie more longer because the third book is my favourite.The best book i've ever read.And this third movie is different from the other 2 because of their school uniforms but i like the way Alfonso Cauron ways of directing.THUMBS UP!!

i have to agree. the movie was definitely better than the first 2. it was very very funny although some parts were extremely intense and scary. the direction is superb! i wish alfonso cuaron was doing the other movies as well!
the book has not been followed too strictly but on the whole the movie is cool.

Quote:

Originally posted by ruperts_babe@Jun 4 2004, 11:15 PM

Ann Hornaday in the Washington Post gives the film its most negative review by a major newspaper critic, writing: "This is one long sit, made all the more so by a turgid story, a dour visual palette and uninspiring action."*

What is her problem?! Arghhh!!!! >_<

Bah. Dont listen to critics, i never do. I went to the very VERY first showing at midnight and I can tell you I LOVED IT. It was SO Much better than the other ones. For instance, you get to see Harry, Ron, Neville, Seamus, and Dean just hanging out and being kids. You never really get to see that in the other movies. In the other movies it seemed that all they focused on was the serious stuff, in this movie, it showed the characters more...... well more rounded.

They were more than just their stereotypes. This movie was SOO much darker, i loved it for it! And it was more of a dark comedy, I think. I laughed more in one scene than i had at the other two movies combined during a certain scene involving Ron waking up and raving about spiders on roller skates. Lord that was funny.....

Don't listen to the "professionals" just see it for yourself and judge. I was impressed, because it was so much different, so much more REAL than the others. Go see it everyone! ^.^

it doesn't really matter to me what the critics say...all that matters is that are the fans satisfied?? And the answer is yes :lol:

Quote:

Originally posted by SeraFaerun@Jun 5 2004, 08:50 AM
Bah. Dont listen to critics, i never do. I went to the very VERY first showing at midnight and I can tell you I LOVED IT. It was SO Much better than the other ones. For instance, you get to see Harry, Ron, Neville, Seamus, and Dean just hanging out and being kids. You never really get to see that in the other movies. In the other movies it seemed that all they focused on was the serious stuff, in this movie, it showed the characters more...... well more rounded.

They were more than just their stereotypes. This movie was SOO much darker, i loved it for it! And it was more of a dark comedy, I think. I laughed more in one scene than i had at the other two movies combined during a certain scene involving Ron waking up and raving about spiders on roller skates. Lord that was funny.....

Don't listen to the "professionals" just see it for yourself and judge. I was impressed, because it was so much different, so much more REAL than the others. Go see it everyone! ^.^

Yeah, that part with Ron with the spider on Rollerskates was Hilarious, I laughed really loud in the cinema and completely embarrassed my Mum - the funny this is, I'm actually 26! :lol:

Quote:

Yeah, that part with Ron with the spider on Rollerskates was Hilarious, I laughed really loud in the cinema and completely embarrassed my Mum - the funny this is, I'm actually 26! 

Me too, I went with my Mum and was throughly amused by some scenes and burst out laughing. I'm 21 and she thought I was having a quarter-life crisis.

Lucky you! I have to watch the film on the 9th of June. It is relesed at that date here. And i cant watch it coz I have my exams on the 8th. How unlucky could I be?

bah! who lissens to the critics all they do is cricitcize well duh theya re critics as long as the film goers and fans liked it who cares

hey guys! i just got back from watching PoA, and i can honestly say i was dissapointed. I was too excited for it, and I was let down. I had the counter on my desk-top since day 72!!!!... on thursday night i watched it count down to one second! I watched every special on t.v. I went to the theater an hour and a half before it started. I was the first one in. And I really feel sad.
It was great, it was different though. Ginny had one line. Alot of the details were mixed up. It skipped alot of parts.
But this movie was really based on the book.
That's just my opinion... :/

I'm no professional film critic but I just got back from the theatre and I still don't know exactly how I feel about the film. Visually, I loved the new style and the characters do seem more real but I can't help but feel that some of the important details were left out. Azkaban is my favorite book of the series because it delves into the backstory but it seemed this was way too glossed over. I went with a friend who had seen the other movies but not read the books and he was completely confused. I enjoyed the film because having read the books I automatically plugged the missing information in where needed. Maybe as a result even more people will be inspired to read the books so as to put the pieces together. :sorcerer:

:star: I've seen the movie the first day it came out here, I was all excited too, waited for a long line... lol, the movie is better than the first 2, it may seem that it was short but it wasn't...probably because the book is longer than the 2nd one, i was quite disappointed that there were some mistakes (like the details mixing up and some scened cut so short) and few changes and most of all many cuts... but I still have to agree that it's the best among the three... :star:

It's natural that there is disagreement amoung critics- they're probably torn between knowing it's a pretty bad movie and realizing that it's a lot better than the last two.

saw the movie last night. it was good, but i feel that they left out and changed to many things. i would like to go see it agian( with out my daughter to talk through it.lol).
the spec.fx in this movie were awesome.
they did a pretty good job replacing dumbledore as far as looks go, but the voice just wasn't the same. all in all not what i expected, but good just the same.