Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (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

 * Harry Potter          - Daniel Radcliffe
 * Petunia Dursley       - Fiona Shaw
 * Dudley Dursley        - Harry Melling
 * Vernon Dursley        - Richard Griffiths
 * Marge Dursley         - Pam Ferris
 * James Potter          - Adrian Rawlins
 * Lily Potter           - Geraldine Somerville
 * Stan Shunpike         - Lee Ingleby
 * Ernie Prang           - Jimmy Gardner
 * Shrunken Head             - Lenny Henry (voice)
 * Sirius Black          - Gary Oldman
 * Cornelius Fudge       - Robert Hardy
 * Ron Weasley           - Rupert Grint
 * Hermione Granger      - Emma Watson
 * George Weasley        - Oliver Phelps
 * Fred Weasley          - James Phelps
 * Percy Weasley         - Chris Rankin
 * Molly Weasley         - Julie Walters
 * Ginny Weasley         - Bonnie Wright
 * Arthur Weasley        - Mark Williams
 * Remus Lupin           - David Thewlis
 * Albus Dumbledore      - Michael Gambon
 * Severus Snape         - Alan Rickman
 * Minerva McGonagall    - Maggie Smith
 * Rubeus Hagrid         - Robbie Coltrane
 * Neville Longbottom    - Matthew Lewis
 * Draco Malfoy          - Tom Felton
 * Gregory Goyle         - Josh Herdman
 * Sybill Trelawney      - Emma Thompson
 * Vincent Crabbe        - Jamie Waylett
 * Walden Macnair        - Peter Best
 * Peter Pettigrew       - Timothy Spall

Other Cast:
 * Filius Flitwick       - Warwick Davis
 * Argus Filch           - David Bradley
 * The Fat Lady          - Dawn French
 * Sir Cadogan           - Paul Whitehouse
 * Dean Thomas           - Alfred Enoch
 * - Gemma Jones (Cut From the Final Draft)
 * Gryffindor Girl           - Kandice Morris
 * Seamus Finnigan       - Devon Murray
 * Gryffindor Boy            - Rick Sahota
 * Padma Patil           - Sharon Sandhu
 * Parvati Patil         - Sitara Shah
 * Lavender Brown        - Jennifer Smith
 * Angelina Johnson      - Danielle Tabor
 * Pansy Parkinson       - Genevieve Gaunt
 * Slytherin Boy             - Bronson Webb

Plot
Harry Potter is 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 was also invented for the film.
 * 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 both Cedric Diggory and Cho Chang were introduced as Quidditch players then identified by name in the following book. In the film they were not introduced until the following film and though the Hufflepuff-Gryffindor match is kept in the film, Cedric is not mentioned to be on their team.
 * In the book, Harry sees the Grim in the Stands watching him. Whereas in the movie, Harry flies high into the sky, and instead sees a cloud shaped like the Grim.
 * 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 diminished.
 * 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.
 * In the movie, after Hermione howls like a wolf, Lupin chases Harry and Hermione into the forest, but they are saved by Buckbeak.
 * The scene with the Dementors, where Harry, Hermione and Sirius all fainted was changed in the movie where Hermione was not present.

Differences from the series:


 * The Harry Potter logo itself has changed, with the "P" lightning bolt and 'toungue' merging,and a 'tail' is inserted.
 * The Leaky Cauldron has now changed location and structure.
 * Tom, the bartender and landlord of the Leaky Cauldron, has been replaced by a different actor.
 * Hogwarts itself is totally redesigned.
 * Hagrid's Hut is now located down hill of the castle.
 * Harry's wand has taken a different shape.
 * Scabbers, Ron's rat, now has excess hair on his ears.

Transcript
Transcript: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban