Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: Y tu Potter también

Alfonso Cuarón darkens the franchise delightfully with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

By Tammy McMahan

Adolescence--for some, a time of lamenting grim realities and heavy responsibilities and clinging to childlike optimism and na•veté in the midst of dangers and darkness.

Generally, such teen angst is presented blandly and simplistically in mainstream movies. But with Mexican auteur Alfonso Cuarón at the helm, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban offers an edgy, entertaining take on the theme.

In the third Potter film, rebellion sets the stage. Thirteen-year-old Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) has had it up to here with the indignities visited upon him by his cruel, boorish relatives, the Dursleys (Richard Griffiths, Fiona Shaw, Harry Melling), who grudgingly took Harry in after his parents' death at the hands of evil wizard, Lord Voldemort. After dealing with insufferable Aunt Marge (Pam Ferris), by illicitly unleashing an extreme incantation, Harry runs away.

He's soon picked up by the triple-decker Knight Bus, transport for lost wizards. His lapse in judgment is forgiven by the Ministry of Magic, and he heads back to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, along with best pals Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson).

Their third-year challenges include the prospect of encountering Sirius Black (Gary Oldham), the titular escaped convict, who reputedly betrayed Harry's parents to Voldemort, and is now apparently determined to kill Potter too. Harry faces another danger in the form of Azkaban's soul-sucking guards, the Dementors, which lurk menacingly about the school.

In the first two films, Chris Columbus' Potter universe was mostly sweetness and light. Cuarón and screenwriter Steve Kloves follow the decidedly darker turn taken by author J.K. Rowling in the third novel, with a film at once grittier and more psychologically probing. The leads are afforded more license to elaborate upon their characters' alienation and awkwardness.

Radcliffe is superbly nuanced, showing that Harry desperately wants to be rescued by his dead parents, despite his awesome, ever-growing powers--which he can't always control. Watson's Hermione, overcompensating for her muggle (non-magic folk) heritage by becoming a super student, is less forced and more intriguing because of her understatement and a surprising girl power moment. Grint's Ron, one of the many redheads in a quirky, working-class wizard family, is solid comic relief--humor being Ron's coping mechanism for dealing with his fears.

Despite the trio's different backgrounds and personalities, their bond seems genuine and strengthens in a naturalistic way. Even the supernatural sequences parallel the characters' inner conflicts without excessive melodrama.

The young wizards' interactions with authority figures mirror the tumult of shaping their identities and making sense of the world. They seek out kindly but mysterious Remus Lupin (David Thewlis), the new instructor for Defense Against the Dark Arts, submit to imperious professor Severus Snape (gloriously arrogant Alan Rickman), ridicule ditzy divination professor Sibyl Trelawney (Emma Thompson as Stevie Nicks with Coke-bottle glasses), and struggle to understand the troubled Black.

Meanwhile, warmhearted headmaster Albus Dumbledore, serious second-in-command Minerva McGonagall and gentle giant Rubeus Hagrid, (Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith and Robbie Coltrane, respectively) offer varying degrees of indulgent support.

Although the tone is darker than before, Cuarón and company don't neglect the escapism. There's the wonderment of Hogwarts, with its moving staircases, live action paintings (including Dawn French as the proverbial singing fat lady), and a peek at magnificent clockworks. And magical beings and beasts, including the Hippogriff, an eagle/Pegasus hybrid, are imaginatively rendered.

Finally, parents, there's no need to worry that Cuarón has taken Y tu mamá también's graphic sex and racy language and transformed the franchise into "Wizards Gone Wild." The Little Princess director keeps the film comfortably within family-friendly boundaries, weaving fantasy, horror and humor with distinctive flair and ensuring that Potter's maturation is wonderfully provocative and playful.