Choosing the best version of
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban has proved far more troublesome than its predecessors: both the novel and film are the franchise at its most impressive so far, the tiresome restrictions of opening the tale and keeping to an age rating of PG cast aside. Better still, the big screen adaptation makes far less concessions with regards to the source material, packing a far darker edge present in the book too, so there are less opportunities this time around for fans to complain that the adaptation changes the text too much to be regarded as a faithful incarnation. For example, the Dementors are disturbingly realistic despite their phantom forms, surely one of the scariest monsters ever to grace the film franchise (although their inception, of course, is all thanks to J.K Rowling's vivid description). Less time is wasted in the movie on Hermionie's new pet Crookshanks, and thank goodness as that was one of the worst elements of the book. What really sets the pair apart surprisingly sends the competition into the adaptation's favour is the quality of the acting here- Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson evolve their protagonists to fit the much more harrowing tone of
Prisoner, and newcomers Gary Oldman and Daniel Thewlis do wonders as the insane but quickly relatable Sirius Black and the moonlight-fearing Professor Lupin. For once, it is the flick, not the book that triumphs here, setting a precedent that, while not truly lived up to until
Deathly Hallows (definitely in
Part One, hopefully in
Part Two) will be remembered by Potter fans like myself forever more.
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