It’s almost a universal consensus that Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the best story by J.K. Rowling. It brings in more new characters than its predecessors and drastically shifts in tone to start Harry’s descent into the dark corners of the wizarding world. It highlights even more magic than we thought possible while bringing the backstories of the central characters into better light.
That being said, there is a major difference between the movie version and its source material. The book is without a doubt one of the series most masterful works. However, despite its good moments, the movie somehow manages to be one of the worst HP film adaptations. Some people might not agree, but, for those who have read the books, there is a glaring difference between the quality that the book captures and how that translated into the film. So here are five reasons why Harry Potter and the Prison of Azkaban is the best book, yet the worst movie.
The Movie: The Opening Scene
Right off the bat, the opening scene immediately takes Potter readers right out of the universe. Since when is it okay for Harry to use magic outside of school? Doesn’t he almost get expelled for doing this exact same thing later in the film? Harry Potter 3 is when director Christopher Columbus had been replaced by Alfonso Cuarón. It should have taken only one person on set to point out this major plot hole, but obviously, nobody decided to speak up.
The Book: Growing Up
Thankfully, one aspect of this story that is well represented in both versions is the simple story of growing up. The first two editions happen when Harry and his friends are only 11-years-old. In their third year, the Golden Trio and the rest of their class are entering their teenage years. This meant even more awkward exchanges between Ron and Hermione and learning that the world does not hold pity for anyone, not even for such beautiful creatures like Buckbeak.
The Movie: The Redesign
While Cuarón’s direction to give Harry Potter 3 a darker aesthetic is righteously fitting, why has the entire framework of the school been redesigned? All of a sudden, Hagrid’s hut can only be reached by running down a jutted and uneven hill instead of being a casual stroll away from the front doors—you know, like how it is in the books. The entire grounds took on the noticeable and unexplainable shift that apparently is just supposed to be explained away by magic. Again, just a small note that really takes you out of the story we read in the books.
The Book: New Characters
This book’s introduction to damaged characters like Sirius Black helps earns it praise as one of the best—if not the absolute best—Harry Potter book. We learn a lot more about the people of the wizarding world’s past, and even some of its politics, which is ultimately what makes the wizarding world so engaging. Even the dementors, with their lack of souls, are a welcoming character installment. They serve as a plot point as well as a symbolic measure to which many readers may relate.
The Movie: The Mauraders Map
It has been sixteen years since Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban released in theaters, and people are still sore over the lack of detail concerning the Maurader’s Map. While the CGI efforts helped bring this magical bit of parchment to life beautifully, the whole point of the thing is simply tossed to the side. Nevermind the fact that we don’t get to see just how many secret passageways there are inside this massive castle—do they even explain how Harry sneaks into Hogsmeade?—but the Messers aren’t even mentioned!
For those of you who don’t know by now “Messers Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs” are Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, and James Potter. How was this not in the film?
The Book: The Mauraders Map
But for those still fuming over this major oversight, at least there is the book to turn back to. There’s a new little easter egg just waiting to be discovered in each of Rowling’s fantasy novels, and the third book is no exception. After knowing about the history of James Potter’s past, it’s interesting to read back on the birth and the utilization of the Mauraders Map. The map helps to pave so many paths in the future that it seems incredible that Rowling had been able to imagine all those intricacies within the map at just the third wizarding world installation.
The Movie: The Fat Lady
Despite the introduction of all the wonderful new diverse characters in HP3, this is also when the film decided to add insult to injury and change up the cast as well. The Fat Lady is originally played by the legendary actress Elizabeth Spriggs in the first two films. She was replaced by Dawn French and the character is taken in a new direction. She starts serving as comic relief, despite the film’s new menacing facade, and it doesn’t quite capture the portrait that you read about in the books.
And then there’s Tom, the barkeep at the Leaky Cauldron. The once elegant and normal white-tufted man we see in Sorcerer’s Stone has suddenly changed into an incompetent bald hunchback. Where did this creature even come from? It seems like an entirely new character that they made up, but they remained adamant about tying him to an already established character.
The Book: The Plot Twists
It’s safe to say that the Harry Potter series hit all the major makers of a classic novel: a daring hero, a call to adventure, and a magical mentor. Even with such captivating, well-rounded characters, Rowling still finds room to throw in not one, but many plot twists into this book. First, we find out that there’s a killer on the loose. But not just any killer, the man responsible for the death of the Potters. And now he’s after Harry! Then we find out that the beloved Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Lupin, has been Black’s friend all along.
And as if things couldn’t get more daunting, Snape shows up, Harry knocks him out, and we learn that Peter Pettigrew has been disguised as the Weasley family rate for twelve years and that he’s actually the one who sold the Potter’s out to Voldemort. Of course, there’s the whole Time Turner thing, but you get the idea.
The Movie: The Birds
One of the most bizarre, irrational, and pointless scenes in this film is the birds: the arbitrary scenes where a random bird is just flying through Hogwarts until it eventually runs into the Whomping Willow. This book is gushing with detail, and yet, instead of throwing in a small scene to explain James Potter’s role in the Maurander’s Map, that screen time is given to a bird with no purpose. There is simply too much going on in this book for those ridiculous bird scenes to be implemented. Yet, they’re there instead of the scene where McGonagall takes away Harry’s Firebolt.
The Book: More Depth
To top it all off, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the publication that made people believe in the wizarding world. It is drastically more in-depth with its character developments, plot twists, and just the overall explanation of the ruling of this world. Even simple notions like the Knight Bus help to open the gates to the wizarding world to make it seem more realistic than ever.
This book presents challenges and heartache, unlike anything that Harry has faced thus far. This is when Harry must truly learn to grow up, so it serves as the turning point in the entire series— even if Harry doesn’t know it yet.
