You are on page 1of 2

Lexus Collins

March 27, 2016


Block: 2
Novel to Film Major Assignment:
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harrys hair is not as messy in the movie as described in the book. The lines do seem
very similar in the movie as in the book. They paced the bloating of Aunt Marge a little faster
than I had imagined in the books and there was obviously less dialogue because movies have
such a limited amount of time.In the film, immediately after Aunt Marge floated away Harry left
and sat waiting for who knows what, but this was not exactly what happened in the novel. The
setting in the movie is very close to the way it is in the book, so far. They did skip the part where
Harry lied about who he was in the Knight Bus scene.
Harry never went out to purchase his schoolbooks, unlike the novel, they were
purchased previously by the Minister of Magic. They also never showed Hermione buying
Crookshanks and the pet store owner telling Ron that his rat is much older than should be
possible, which was a semi-important foreshadowing moment in the book. Harry never got
letters from Ron when he went to Egypt, or at least it was never showed, though it was in the
book. Rather than Harry overhearing Mr and Mrs. Weasleys conversation about Sirius, Mr.
Weasley comes right out and tells him. I feel this is taking away a bit of character development
for Mrs. Weasley not having showed how motherly she tends to be towards Harry. Clearly when
Mr. Weasley told Harry about Sirius this was almost completely new dialogue. The pacing is
continuing to be a bit faster in the movie than in the books.
They also didnt show the distinct screams of Harrys mother when the dementor
attacked him. Unlike in the books Hagrid does not tell Harry, Ron and Hermione about his
teaching job before Dumbledore announced it and he cannot be seen crying. They dont seem
to put as much of a point on Hermiones impossible schedule, but more on the point that she
seems to appear out of nowhere during classes. When Hagrid teaches his first lesson, there is
only one Hippogriff and Harry is volunteered rather than volunteering to go first, which takes a
bit away from characterization but does add comedic effect.
Harry seems to have more fun riding Buckbeak than described in the book, where he
doesnt find it a pleasant experience at all. Instead of bowing and doing everything Hagrid says
to do, up until he calls buckbeak a name, Malfoy just waltzes up and tries to pet Buckbeak,
which I actually feel is a bit more like Malfoy. Instead of Rons boggart losing its legs, the
boggart gets skates and begins to slip which, again, adds a bit more comedy. In the movie,
Lupin doesnt jump in front of the boggart before it changes into a dementor, but after and
Lupins boggart is shown to very clearly be the moon rather than looking similar to an orb. Harry
also never asks the minister of magic if he can sign his permission slip for Hogsmeade. They
revealed that Lupin knew Harrys mother and father earlier than they were supposed to,
because he wasnt very clear how well he knew them until later in the novel, but in the movie, he
seems to clarify this very well. Percy is not in the movie nearly as much as he is in the book.
They find the fat lady immediately after everyone finds she is not in her picture, which may not
bother me as much as the other changes have. Harry never sees Snape give Lupin any sort of
potion, and is never suspicious that he may have tried to poison Lupin.

They give much more information on the details of being a werewolf than in the books,
before it is explained by Lupin. You see a little bit of what is under a dementors hood. Harry and
Lupins conversations are much too often outdoors and that isnt very good considering how
strict everyone is about Harry leaving the school at all. There is clearly a bit of romance they try
to indicate between Ron and Hermione that wasnt in the book at all. Harry, Ron and Hermione
didnt see each other in Honeydukes, but rather when he messed with Draco.
Hermione doesnt ever yell at Harry for sneaking into Hogsmeade, which is very out of
character and Draco never sees Harrys head floating. Harry also finds out that Sirius is Harrys
godfather by going into the room with his invisibility cloak on, rather than hiding behind a table.
His patronus is much stronger, earlier in the movie than it was in the book. Since they never had
the seen where malfoy sees Harrys floating head, they end up having a scene where Harry
goes searching for Peter Pettigrew, who he sees on the Marauders Map and is caught by
Snape and has the discussion he would have had if he had been a floating head.
Ron also happens to never have seen Sirius in the Gryffindor boys room. Professor
Trelawney doesnt make her true prediction during tests but after Harry comes to return an orb.
Hermione slaps Malfoy without any provocation in the film unlike the novel, where he provokes
them all a great deal. In the movie the didnt use the invisibility cloak when they visited Hagrid
before Buckbeaks execution. Crookshanks also had a less of a role in the movie, like the fact
that he wasnt there when they found out that Sirius was innocent. They never even reference to
the secret keeper or truly explain what a dementors kiss was. As far as Im aware, they never
actually say that Lupin, James, Pettigrew and Sirius were Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs
and that Harrys father was an animagus as well, although it was revealed in the novel.
Hermione and Ron werent there when Harry got a dementors kiss in the movie, but
they were in the book. Also in the movie but not the book, Ron was awake when Dumbledore
told Hermione to use the time turner. The film has Hermione figure out that Dumbledore wanted
them to save Buckbeak, instead of Harry figuring it out and this is actually something I think is a
good change, because its much more fitting to their personality. In the movie, Harry and
Hermione had to run from Lupin when he was a werewolf were as in the novel, after his initial
turn we dont seen as a wolf again. Harry finds out from Lupin himself that he resigned in the
movie unlike in the book when he found out from somebody else. Harry also got the firebolt after
he talked to Sirius in the movie and they never showed that they won the Quidditch Cup, which I
think is a very significant thing to leave out.
All in all I will say that despite the many changes I could find in the movie, it still held the
spirit and story together very nicely and honestly did a wonderful job of capturing this amazing
story onto a screen. I dont know if they could have done a better job with the cast or script and
Im amazed at how true to the book this movie really was. If I had to rate the book I would give it
5 out of 5 stars, and as for the movie I would give it 4 out of 5 stars, on account of the missing
Quidditch Cup and few other things here and there.

You might also like