therefore, it is decided to replace him - the first time out of three this would happen

and every director will consider his predecessors' and successors' work with respect and kindliness.

For now, let's delve into the bizarre concept that is the young

Alfonso Cuarón.

When he came onto Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban project,

he had already directed two adaptations of great literary classics in the USA, and two more personal movies in Mexico.

He had achieved a little success, but had never worked on a project that serious.

But unlike Columbus who can easily do the yesman,

Cuarón has a very established visual style that will give a very different *feeling* to the movie

For a long time, I saw that as a problem, but in the end, I think that, in that symbolic of the character's entrance in adolescence and maturity,

his choices do make sense.

Cuarón's previous movie was Y tu mamá también, a road movie about two teenagers, which Rowling liked,

and confirmed Cuarón as a good choice to tackle this evolution of the characters.

And, sort of like a teenager, the movie makes its revolution in the visual transposition of the books.

The style goes from being noble and distinguished...

To a little more informal and messy.

Thankfully the magical painters are Realists, can you imagine if one of them was to play Picasso ?

*vomiting sounds*

"Kill me..."

A change which, in my opinion, symbolises this idea,

is that the actors now have the right to personnalise their clothes a little, and to be a little more ungroomed.

And that is exactly the term I would use to describe Cuarón's direction : ungroomed.

Almost all of the movie is shot with a Steadycam or a crane, and mostly uses short focal lenghts,

which reduces the shaking and gives this nonchalant and wide camera, typical of this director's movies.

This instantly adds more dimension to the universe, which until then seemed really cramped in the frame.

Additionnaly, he applies a blue filter on the frame, and chooses to clip the blacks,

which gives a peculiar texture, dark and smooth at the same time,

in total opposition with the rather natural, sometimes brightful colors of Colombus's movies.

He also allows himself what his predecessor has never did: a few digressions.

Before Lupin's class, for instance, he allows himself a somewhat elaborated effect, just for kicks

and reunites in one frame the shot and reversed shot, when the camera shows the mirror,

and enter the reflection in one uninterrupted movement.

That doesn't particularly mean anything in the movie, it's just for style.

Still being a little ungroomed, he sneaks in a few little jokes,

like when he starts the shot a little bit too early to pick Harry up at the inn

and catches the housekeeper gag before he appears in the frame,

or when Hermione grabs Harry by the collar, and the camera has time to go from the hand to his face

before it disappears from the frame, carried away by the branch.

The treatment of time is totally surrealistic, just to make a little visual gag.

You have to understand I have a problem with Cuarón : he does brilliant things, but always in the same way.

And it bores me. As it does with Tim Burton.

That's why I still scoff a little, but I approve all the directing choices that I just listed,

and I do not say "ungroomed" to be pejorative.

What I mean by that is that it's sort of like an overactive teenager, overflowing with energy, starting to take magnitude,

and sometimes having trouble keeping focus,

as with the illustration shots of the seasons passing on the Whomping Willow or with the Dementors.

Special care is given to the ellipses to ensure that they will go unnoticed.

Closing iris, playing with the movie's cliped black, or even making a transition with a visual effect like the rain.

The idea is to give the feeling that the movie never stops,

wich reinforces the effect of Harry and Hermione's going back in time in the third act.

And to get over with this "teenager" aspect, in the introduction,

it creates a tiny mismatch with the movie's universe just so it can say that, literally,

Harry is playing with his wand under the blanket!

Which can be filed in the same category as the nut-cracking butler.

But let's get back to serious matter : Cuaron's directing allows him to finally

direct in a slightly more elaborated way than "filming the character who's speaking".

When Arthur Weasley decides to talk to Harry about Sirius Black, the scene happens in a long take.

At first, the characters are in the light and have room in the frame.

Then when Arthur brings up the subject, they are in half-light.

Gradually, the poster of Black invades the frame like it does Harry's mind.

When Arthur tells him he probably is his target,

both characters are totally in the shadow and the frame is way more narrowed around them.

This kind of progressively composed shots can be found several times,

the long take being Alfonso's little indulgence, focused on Harry's point of vue,

and the camera is free to move around to show the action rather than making multiple cuts.

Note that each director tried to retain their predecessor's work,

even if it is difficult to see what's left of Colombus in Cuarón's work.

Hints of it can be found in the newcomer's use of ghosts to make the world of Hogwart feel alive,

the camera sometimes holding on their act for a few seconds, before going back to the character.

That said, I have two problems with his work, aside from the repetition I always feel with his style.

So OK, maybe J.K.Rowling declared that she loved the dre-heads, and thought they blended perfectly in her universe,

I have no problems with that, there were even dre-heads in the black magic store in the second movie.

That's not the problem. The problem is to make them

THESE FUCKING COMIC RELIEFS!

I'm sure there was no way to exploit the driver and the inspector for a humorous scene!

You had to add a miniature Eddie Murphy with dreadlocks!

If at least there was only one, but no, they come back further in, still very useful!

This is all the more infuriating that he's just wasting time, during which he could explaine the Animagi and the names in the Marauder's map,

something the plot is very much lacking, and would have been of great service to the following movies.

And finally, Cuarón's chaotic style creates images that are really astride between genius and bad taste,

like this half-CGI dolly zoom which ends up having very thick grain because of the digital zoom and all the filters.

All this leading up to this werewolf that looks like the bastard child of Gollum and the Tex Avery wolf,

not exactly the best design in the franchise.

Luckily, they are in the same movie as the Dementors.

For in spite of every mistake the movie makes, it does have everything that was missing from both Columbus movies.

Finally, the students do other things besides exposition,

finally, the director realizes he's making a movie in a school,

and that children, even well-behaved British children,

are living human beings who can't keep talking exclusively about crucial plot points.

This is the first movie where a sensation of group develops elsewhere than with the Weasley's,

and where friendships flourish. We even have our first clue of the relationship between Ron and Hermione.

And that's important because the rest of the story makes it essential to know the interactions between the characters and their environment.

By the way, here's a funny little detail: since choices had to be made to put the story on to the screen,

every two movies comes a more relaxed one, which intensely focuses on the relationships between characters.

Getting back to the environments, this is where the Harry Potter movies started to film their sets.

Switching to short focal lenghts and broad shots constantly surounds our characters with the set,

rather than having them on a big, sort of abstract blurry backdrop.

It gives more scope, more grandeur, and really makes the magic of this world stick out.

Incidentally, note that some sets have been modified, such as the Whomping Willow being moved,

and the mountains around Hogwarts finally looking like a natural habitat, rather than a golf course.

New actors join the cast to embody the new characters, but not only.

Richard Harris, who had been chosen to embody Albus Dumbledore, passed away in October 2002.

He is replaced with Michael Gambon from here onwards,

and I can't help being glad about it.

That came out wrong...

I mean first, it lucky that it happened right when the universe gets revamped,

but also, I never liked Richard Harris's performance.

I mean, he looked the part of the old wizard, but not the old and powerful wizard.

Rather the old wizard who will soon get his spells wrong when his Alzheimer kicks in next summer.

Can you imagine Richard Harris, with his slow gait and his slippers, fighting Voldemort?

This echoes my criticism about Columbus's adaptation being sort of "retro",

embracing the cultural imagery of wizards rather than reinventing it.

Harris is the fairy tale Dumbledore.

Gambon is the Dumbledore of legends.

We also meet Professor Trelawney, inevitably awesome, since she is played by Emma Thompson,

and also David Thewlis as Remus Lupin,

but above all else, Gary Oldman as Sirius Black.

I know many people make fun of him being typecasted in villain roles for a while,

and say that since he realized that worked The Dark Knight's James Gordon worked well,

he's now only does good guys. I rather think this turning point in his career is in Harry Potter.

In the incarnation of a character who is accused by everyone of being a madman and a psychotic killer,

and is revealed to be one of the most beloved characters in the saga.

He can therefore play several ranges of acting: the mad killer he is believed to be,

the madness of a man who spent 13 years in Azkaban, and the nice godfather who wants to live with his nephew.

Let's mention the music for a bit: John Williams is back, with his themes still slightly hidden behind the action they underline.

That said, the director's unusual style makes him vary in his own style,

for instance, by choosing more uncommon instruments, and much more modern and memorable jazzy rythms.

Cuarón wanted to sneak more music and songs in the story,

which results in this fucking pointless choir.

But now, let's get real!

Alfonso Cuarón gives way to Mike Newell for the adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,

a record-breaking episode with landscapers for this is the one where the hair stylist decided it was

BUSHES FOR EVERYONE!

The fourth Harry Potter story is very dear to me because, since I can't do anything like everybody,

I was never hooked by the first book, and it was only when I read Goblet of Fire that I got into it,

bought the two books I had missed, and ended up importing the last one in English.

This is also the point when I embraced the film saga.

Mike Newell, however, is another surprising choice, in that his career doesn't exactly announce a director of magical blockbusters.

Granted, he did direct two movies about the supernatural,

The Awakening, his second movie based on a classic Mummy story,

and Into the West, about an Irish legend,

but he is best known for his adaptations of great British literature,

and most of all for Donnie Brasco and Four Weddings and a Funeral.

OK, so they actually took anyone who had already worked on a British literature adaptation.

That's the only thing the 4 guys have in common, whatever the budget.

And thanks for that!

Yeah, this saga probably wouldn't have turned out as great if the producer had gone the safe route and only hired the "appropriate" people.

The proof being that the guy who seemed logical made two very basic movies, with little to no personality.

Which this one has.

The first great thing that stroke me about this film is the lighting.

It rarely leaves a mark on me, but here, Newell and his director of photography

manage to make it look both realistic and magical.

Just this stunning shot backlighted buy the dawn, both gray and drab, yellow and warm

leaves me speechless in contemplation.

The nights are especially well lighted,

and I'm specifically thinking of the Riddle cemetary scene.

Everything is perfectly visible: we can feel how directional the sources of lights are, yet with very soft shadows,

except the one on the ground caused by the Moonlight.

Beautiful work.

And at last, there's real directing.

In my opinion, telling a story is just the basics of the directing job.

You really start to practice it when you start expressing things visually, rather than explaining them.

It's about time to start doing so, for were're getting into the bulkiest books, and choices had to be made.

As I stated before with the previous movie, skipping over the explanation of the Animagi when it was called for

completely ruined Rita Skeeter's potential in the movie.

She is now reduced to making a few interviews that seem to have no point except to annoy Hermione.

But speaking of Hermione, let's talk about the House Elves.

Think about everything that would come into play in representing this subplot:

the number of CGI Elves to model, the unnumerable FX sequences that Dobby would add,

the badges to animate, the sets to create, one more week of probabbly very expensive shooting

all of this so that the Elves can ask Hermione to leave them alone at the end!

Are you surprised it was taken out?!

Don't you think they already wasted too much money to erase the actors' teenage acne as it is?

To keep the logic, Dobby, who had to give Harry the Gillyweed

was replaced with Neville, since including the Elf meant explaining that he worked at Hogwarts.

He could not come out of nowhere with the plant, that would have been phoned-in

and if he was to be introduced in other scenes, the runtime and budget would skyrocket.

You have to understand that it was the first time they were confronted with such a need to condense.

The people in charge long thought that they should split the book in half, which they ended up not doing, but it was a close call.