Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Harry Potter Month: EXPECTO PATRONUM! The Prisoner of Azkaban Film

Harry Potter Month is hosted by Faith at Geeky Zoo Girl and Micheline at Lunar Rainbows Reviews. This awesome event runs all through July, and you can find more information about it here.

Harry Potter Film Rewatch 2016 has been wonderful so far (and will require a part 2 to be continued next year, I think, due to lack of time to watch the remaining movies). We've arrived at my favorite out of all eight films: Prisoner of Azkaban. Even if PoA weren't already my favorite book, too, I'd still rank this movie #1. To me, it just absolutely nails the tone of the book and reflects the evolving maturity of our beloved trio. Oh, and let's not forget the brilliant introductions of two of my all-time favorite characters from the books: Remus Lupin and Sirius Black.

I love how gloriously unruly Harry's hair is in this one. What can I say? It's the little things with me, LOL. The Knight's Bus sequence is pretty cool, too; I wish I could navigate my car through such tight spaces like that!

It's a good thing that PoA has some humorous moments in it because AAAHHHH—the dementors! Man, those creatures are scary! Even though I knew Harry and Sirius were going to be OK, I still felt on edge watching the dementors close in on them. Harry yelling, "EXPECTO PATRONUM" with such fierce determination is one of my favorite scenes across all of the films.

Other highlights of the PoA movie for me are the appearance of the Marauder's Map—and Harry's snarky response to Snape when the latter catches Harry roaming the halls at night with it—and, of course, two of the Marauders themselves. Lupin is very much the inspiring teacher and kind soul I pictured in the books. As for Sirius, damn if my heart doesn't splinter every single time when he reminds everyone inside the Shrieking Shack how long he spent in Azkaban. Something else that I think the film captured perfectly is Sirius's rather quick transformation from extremely dangerous criminal to wrongly imprisoned man. All of the acting performances in the Shrieking Shack scene are so top-notch; I would've given anything to be a prop cobweb just to be in the presence of such fine acting.

I love rewatching all of the films, but this is the one that I could put on permanent replay. Does anyone else feel the same? :D

14 comments:

  1. All out HP books are back home as in the Phils. And since I have barely any space left in my shelves, movies are my best bet. I should invest on the movie series and watch it with my niece and nephew, turn them into Potterheads like us. They love the park so far, I'm sure they'll love the story much more.

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    1. Yes, you should totally turn them into Potterheads! The movies are a great way to get them into HP; that's how I started! :D

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  2. I can vouch for that: my favorite book is DH (followed closely by PoA and HBP) and PoA is without a doubt my favorite film! The tone, visuals, performances...ALL of it fit exactly what I envision the books to be. And YES Harry's hair is gloriously perfect in this one ♥

    I get chills every time Harry finally produces his full bodied Patronus ♥♥ It's just such a telling moment for his character and the series as a whole.

    The Dementors are such nightmares though, thankfully the story has humour and intrigue to balance it out, otherwise it would have been SO DARK O.O

    Love the appearance of the Map and the Marauders themselves of course! There's just so much to love in PoA :D

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    1. Harry producing the Patronus is just one of those epic moments that you never get tired of rereading or rewatching. I love EVERYTHING Marauders-related in this film: the map, Moony and Padfoot's reunion, and a special appearance by Prongs. ♥

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  3. PRISONER OF AZKABAN. It was my favorite movie and second-favorite book.
    That scene between Harry and Snape in the halls is gold. XD

    Ellie | On the Other Side of Reality

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    1. I love sassy Harry, LOL! I also love when the map insults Snape!

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  4. I couldn't agree more! PoA has definitely been my favourite film for a long time, even though, I must confess, I am starting to have similarly strong feelings for GoF, despite all those things that I find not right with it. But that's a different story, so maybe I'll leave it for the next year's HP Month.

    Anyway, the first time my friend and I went to see PoA, we found it so great that after leaving the cinema, we looked at each other, grinned, came back in, bought the tickets and watched it again right then and there. In fact, I've seen PoA at the cinema more than all HP films combined, considering that I watched each film at the cinema at least twice!

    I like to watch the first three films in a row, because then with PoA you really get the feeling that the trio is growing up (in fact, it's quite startling to see how much they've changed and matured), and how everything is getting more darker and more sirius - sorry! couldn't resist:D

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    1. PoA definitely feels like a darker film compared to the first two, and I love seeing how much the trio has grown as actors. I also love that you and your friend went back into the theater and watched PoA again! I wish I had done that! And LOLOL- I say "siriusly" all the time! XD

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  5. Ah yes Gary Oldman is acting magic. I love seeing his full ride in this movie! He goes from psycho death eater to Godfather rather well. I really enjoyed getting to see the map come into play. The scene in the hall with the 'spare bit of parchment' is one of my favorite scenes. I love how well they played off each other and the sass is strong from both characters! I really loved learning about patronuses as well.

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    1. I was ecstatic when Gary Oldman was cast as Sirius; I knew he was going to be brilliant in the role, and he was! I love whenever Harry is sassy, especially with Snape lol.

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  6. Ah I wish I had enough time to participate in this event! I really want to re-read the Potter books and watch the films after. Hopefully I will do that with my blog sometime. I know alot of people think of PoA as the best film, but since GoF is my fave book, I have more of a fondness of that one. It would be interesting to go back and rewatch PoA though and look at it, as a film on it's own though. The story and the atmosphere is so good in it.

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    1. You should definitely join in on the fun next year, Charlene! I've loved participating the last two years. :D I didn't get to do a reread this year, but I'm determine to next year because I'm long overdue for one.

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  7. Prisoner of Azkaban is my favorite book, I absolutely love it. The movie got quite a bit of it right too. The thing that kills me most is when Sirius extends his offer for Harry to come live with him. -- We know what's to come and how just out of reach this really is and it's heart breaking every time!

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    1. My heart aches so much every time I watch that scene! They were so close to being a family, and they really don't have much time together after that moment. :( At least Harry learned the truth about his godfather, though.

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