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Template:Infobox Film

The film version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (released June 4, 2004) included the basic plot of the book; however, the story centred around the difficulties of becoming an adolescent. It was directed by Alfonso Cuarón and produced by David Heyman, Chris Columbus, and Mark Radcliffe.

Cast

Main Characters

Hogwarts staff

Hogwarts students

Dursleys

Ministry of Magic

Knight Bus

Plot

Harry Potter is, as usual, spending his summer at the Dursley's house. Uncle Vernon's sister Marge arrives for a visit and at dinner time viciously insults Harry and his parents. Harry's anger and unconscious magical powers cause her to inflate and float away. Expecting to have been expelled from Hogwarts for using magic outside of school, Harry flees. Suddenly, the Knight Bus appears and takes Harry to the Leaky Cauldron. There, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge tells Harry he will not be expelled. Harry learns that Sirius Black, who is said to be a supporter of Lord Voldemort, has escaped from Azkaban. He is also informed by Arthur Weasley that Black will likely come after him.

Harry journeys to Hogwarts with his best friends Ron and Hermione; they are now entering their third year. On the train they share a compartment with the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Remus Lupin, who is sleeping when they enter the compartment. Abruptly, the Hogwarts Express is stopped and a Dementor boards, searching for Black. The creature has a profound effect on Harry, causing him to faint. Lupin awakens and repels the Dementor. At school, Albus Dumbledore informs the Hogwarts students that because Black is at large, Dementors have been set up around the school as a protection. In addition to Lupin's appointment, Hagrid is announced as the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher. As lessons begin, Hermione frequently arrives at their various classes by appearing out of nowhere. Lupin's lessons prove enjoyable,; he teaches useful spells and helps less confident students like Neville. However Hagrid's class does not go to plan; on the first day, Draco Malfoy deliberately provokes the Hippogriff Buckbeak into attacking him. His father successfully has Buckbeak sentenced to death.

During a Quidditch match, several Dementors approach Harry, causing him to fall off his broomstick; Dumbledore slows his descent. Harry then decides to learn how to fight the Dementors. Lupin teaches him to cast a spell conjuring a Patronus to repel will repel a Dementor. A Patronus is the opposite of a Dementor which breeds on unhappy thoughts and bad memories. The happier the thought used to cast the spell, the more powerful the Patronus. After several tries, Harry manages to create a Patronus. Later, Harry attempts to sneak to Hogsmeade without permission, but is caught by Fred and George, who give him the Marauder's Map so that he can enter the village through a secret passage. At Hogsmeade, Harry overhears that Black was his godfather and his parents' best friend. Black is said to have divulged the Potters' secret whereabouts to Voldemort and murdered their mutual friend Peter Pettigrew. Harry vows to kill Black, but is later astonished when he sees Pettigrew's name on the map.

In Divination class, Professor Trelawney enters a trance and predicts that the Dark Lord's servant will return to Harry that night. Harry, Ron and Hermione visit Hagrid to console him over Buckbeak's impending execution. While there, Ron discovers his rat, Scabbers, which had disappeared earlier in the year. While trio is chasing Scabbers, a large dog drags both Ron and and the rat into a hole at the base of the Whomping Willow. Harry and Hermione follow, finding a tunnel leading to the Shrieking Shack. The dog is revealed to be the Animagus of Sirius Black. Lupin arrives as well and upon seeing Scabbers embraces Sirius as an old friend. After being confronted by Hermione, Lupin admits to being a werewolf. Snape appears, planning to catch Black and Lupin and hand them over to the Dementors, but is knocked out by Harry. Lupin and Black explain that Scabbers is actually Peter Pettigrew in his Animagus form. Everything that Black is accused was actually Pettigrew and the pair force Pettigrew back into his human form. Lupin and Sirius prepare to kill Pettigrew but are stopped by Harry, who tells them that it was not what James would have done. As the group head back to the castle the full moon rises, causing Lupin to transform and Pettigrew to escape. Lupin and Sirius fight in their animal forms, until Lupin is distracted, and Sirius and Harry are attacked by Dementors. As Sirius is about to have his soul removed, Harry sees a figure in the distance cast a powerful stag-shaped Patronus, scattering the dementors and saving their lives.

Hermione reveals that she possesses a time-turner, which is how she has been taking multiple classes at once. She and Harry travel back in time three hours, watching themselves go through the night's events. They set Buckbeak free and return to the Whomping Willow. As the Dementors are about to attack the "other" Harry and Sirius, Harry realizes that the person he saw was actually him and casts the Patronus. Harry and Hermione rescue a captured Sirius and give him Buckbeak to escape on, as time equals out again. At the end of the year, Lupin resigns, knowing that people will not allow a werewolf to teach their children. Later, Sirius sends Harry a Firebolt, an extremely fast racing broom.

Differences Between Novel and Film

  • The movie starts with Harry performing the 'Lumos Maxima' Spell, well aware of the Restrictions of Underage Wizards and did not receive any warnings.
  • The spell "Lumos Maxima" is invented by the filmmakers.
  • The origins of the Marauder's Map are not revealed in the film. The whole storyline of the Marauders is left out, including that James Potter I was an Animagus that transformed into a stag. However, in the film Harry still makes the connection between the stag and his father. This actually causes a continuity error between this film and the fourth one, as in it, Harry does know that Peter Pettigrew is Wormtail.
  • Like in the previous films the majority of the Quidditch season was cut out, aside from the first match, and Gryffindor winning the Quidditch Cup was also omitted.
  • In the book, Harry received his Firebolt for Christmas right after his Nimbus 2000 was destroyed. Eventually, Sirius Black revealed he had sent the broom. In the film, Harry recieves the Firebolt at the end of the film, and although there was no note, Harry knew that Black had sent it after seeing one of Buckbeak's feathers enclosed with it.
  • Crookshanks' role is deminished.
  • The scenes of Harry and Ron not being on speaking terms with Hermione because of the problems she caused towards their possessions (Harry's Firebolt and Ron's rat Scabbers), as well as Hagrids stern lecture towards putting them ahead of their friendship with Hermione have been omitted from the film. However, some of Rons initial arguments with Hermione were left intact.
  • In the film, Harry's two visits to Hogsmeade are combined into a single trip.
  • In the film, Harry throws snowballs at Draco and his cronies while under the Invisibility Cloak. In the novel, he throws mudballs. Additionally, the scene of Draco finding out about Harry's unauthorized visit when the hood of the cloak accidentally fell off of Harry's head was omitted from the film.
  • In the film, when Harry and Hermione go back in time, Hermione throws an ammonite fossil at Harry to get his attention, so he can see Fudge and Macnair coming to Hagrid's hut. Hermione later howls like a wolf to call Lupin away from fighting Padfoot. In the novel, neither of these two events occur.
  • The scene with the Dementors, where Harry, Hermione and Sirius all fainted was changed in the movie where Hermione was not present.
  • In the novel, Harry only brought his Cloak on his second trip to Hogsmeade. In the movie, he brought it every time.

External links

J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series
Philosopher's Stone book film games film soundtrack game soundtrack
Chamber of Secrets book film games film soundtrack game soundtrack
Prisoner of Azkaban book film games film soundtrack game soundtrack
Goblet of Fire book film games film soundtrack game soundtrack
Order of the Phoenix book film game film soundtrack game soundtrack
Half-Blood Prince book film games film soundtrack game soundtrack
Deathly Hallows book film 1 games 1 film soundtrack 1 game soundtrack 1
film 2 games 2 film soundtrack 2 game soundtrack 2
Cursed Child script play
Fantastic Beasts film series
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them book screenplay film game film soundtrack
The Crimes of Grindelwald screenplay film   film soundtrack
The Secrets of Dumbledore screenplay film   film soundtrack
Other written works Other games
Quidditch Through the Ages Wonderbook: Book of Spells / Wonderbook: Book of Potions
The Tales of Beedle the Bard Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup
Harry Potter Prequel Harry Potter: Find Scabbers
Encyclopaedia of Potterworld (potentially cancelled) Harry Potter DVD Game: Hogwarts Challenge / Wizarding World
Pottermore Presents Harry Potter: Spells
The Harry Potter Wizarding Almanac
Harry Potter Page to Screen: The Complete Filmmaking Journey / Harry Potter Limited Edition LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 / LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
LEGO Harry Potter: Building the Magical World LEGO Dimensions
LEGO Harry Potter Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Motorbike Escape
Harry Potter: A Pop-Up Book Harry Potter: The Quest
J. K. Rowling: A Bibliography Harry Potter for Kinect
Harry Potter: The Character Vault / Harry Potter: The Creature Vault / Harry Potter: The Artifact Vault Wizard's Challenge
Harry Potter Film Wizardry Fantastic Beasts: Cases from the Wizarding World
The Case of Beasts: Explore the Film Wizardry of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Harry Potter Trading Card Game
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Art of The Film LEGO Creator: Harry Potter / Creator: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
The Archive of Magic: The Film Wizardry of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
The Art of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
Harry Potter: The Wand Collection Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells
J. K. Rowling's Wizarding World: Movie Magic Volume One: Extraordinary People and Fascinating Places / Volume Two: Curious Creatures / Volume Three: Amazing Artifacts Harry Potter: Magic Awakened
Hogwarts Legacy
Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions
Other canon Other films / documentaries
J. K. Rowling's official site Harry Potter and Me
Pottermore / Wizarding World The Queen's Handbag
J. K. Rowling's Twitter account J. K. Rowling: A Year in the Life
Harry Potter: The Exhibition Magic Beyond Words: The J.K. Rowling Story
The Making of Harry Potter Harry Potter: Beyond the Page
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
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