Prizoner of Azkaban

As some of you may know, Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban comes to movie theatres on June 4th, 2004 (It will be June 4th in Canada, the UK, the US, Brazil, Italy, Iceland, and others- you'll have to check other online sites to find the release date if you don't live in one of the previous mentioned counrties). I've been scanning the Harry Potter websites and there have been reviews of the movie by people who have been to screen tests; interviews with Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint; and many, many theatrical trailers (many that you can download and view). There have been television specials upon television specials on Harry Potter and the magical actors who play the wonderful characters created by Madame Rowling. It seems that Harry Potter is springing up everywhere. Not all of this media is exactly good media. But I try to avoid negative things to get on to the good reports (There are many more good reports than bad ones about Harry Potter- Or at least that I've seen).
We know that Chris Columbus (the director of the first two Harry Potter films- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/ Philosopher's Stone, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) did his very best to work with all of the actors, young and old, to bring JK Rowling's amazing world to the big screen. Now, Harry Potter (3) is going to the BIG screen. IMAX theatres around the world will be presenting the work of director Alfonso Cuaron (Y tu Mama Tambien). All actors will be returning to their part in the third movie this summer (We can't say the same for the fourth movie- Goblet of Fire, but we do know that filming for the production has already started a very short time ago, or is going to be in progress soon).
The thrid movie will contain much, much more visual affects, when dealing with dementors and patronum, the Whomping Willow, much more active Defense Against the Dark Arts and such. This movie will be full to the very brim with action and thrills. Harry, Ron, Hermione and even Draco are going to be going through more "teenage" feelings and emotions. Some posts on various sites around the web have reported that the third movie will have more teen angst. There will be relationships that didn't appear in the book that the movie is based on. In an article with Dan Radcliffe (Harry Potter), he reports that the movie will be a lot darker, and more scary.
I'm looking forward to the third movie. And although the previous two movies haven't exactly been up to my standards, they were quite good. I think that portraying such magnificent characters, thought up by such a fantastic writer would be a rather hard task on the actors; and getting the whole world of Harry Potter correct and good enough for the fanatic Harry Potter admirers, would definitely be a troublesome effort for the crew also.
And so, I wish them the best of luck. The first two movies were great. I want to know how the style of the third will change. Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban is my favorite of all 5 of JK Rowling's Harry Potter novels. I hope they impress all of us!

By Morgan Mielnick

Want to react on this column? write your reaction to Morgan