1. BACKGROUND
2. PLOT
3. CHARACTERS & CAST
4. MUSIC
5. PRODUCTION
6. RECEPTION
7. LEGACY
8. FINAL THOUGHTS
9. REFERENCES

BACKGROUND

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the third book and film, was to be a turning point in the Harry Potter series, for various reasons.

Book Three was the point where the story became a lot darker. Here, Harry encounters people from his parents’ past, learns secrets and mysteries about their death, and comes face-to-face with some more terrifying beings in the Wizarding World. As well as dealing with all of this, Harry is still being tormented with the potential return of Lord Voldemort, who murdered his parents, and has to deal with that most dreaded of time: puberty. Yes, even witches and wizards have to endure those awkward teenage years!

Film Three was going to deal with these topics, but had some changes of its own. The director who had created the whimsical, enchanting Hogwarts that we had seen in the first two films decided not to return for the third film, and was replaced with Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón, who had a history of making coming-of-age movies and delving into the realm of fantasy, making him a good choice to take the helm for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which had to be darker and more mature. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, along with introducing more new characters to the franchise, had to cope with a difficult recasting too, that of Richard Harris as Dumbledore after Harris’ passing in 2002. The role of Dumbledore passed over to another legendary British actor, Sir Michael Gambon, who made the character his own, becoming more eccentric, but still commanding.

With all these changes going on, and a lack of interest in the novels, although a love for the second film, it’s not much of a surprise that eleven-year-old me completely ignored the cinema release of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Instead, my dad, my sister, and I watched it on DVD months later, and honestly, I thought very little of it. I didn’t understand the time-travelling sequence, even though it’s not all that complicated, so I can’t have been paying much attention, and there were just too many dark elements to it for me.

Having rewatched this film multiple times as an adult though, I have found parts of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban that I like, and luckily, I have worked out the time-travelling and how it relates to the sequence of events that takes place. And yet, despite this third film and book being a fan-favourite, I would consider it my least favourite of the films. This does sometimes swap positions with the fifth film, but Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix does at least involve lots of my favourite villains, making it more interesting for me.

PLOT

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban begins with Harry Potter secretly practising magic in his room at night, specifically the Lumos spell. Harry is still staying with the Dursleys, and his aunt Petunia, uncle Vernon, and cousin Dudley. Uncle Vernon keeps hearing noise from Harry’s room and keeps coming into his room to find out what Harry is up to, but every time Harry just pretends to be asleep.

On a new day, Harry finds that Uncle Vernon’s sister Marge is coming for a visit. Harry tries to get Vernon to sign a permission slip for school, so he can visit the town close to Hogwarts School, Hogsmeade. Vernon says he will only sign it if Harry behaves himself. Harry retorts he will behave if Marge does. At dinner that night, Marge tells Harry he’s lucky that her brother chose to take him in and not send him to an orphanage, and continuously insults Harry’s parents, saying Harry’s father was a lazy drunk, but that Harry’s real issues no doubt stem from his mother. Harry angrily tells Marge to shut up, and the glass Marge is holding shatters in her hand. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia start to worry, knowing this was Harry’s magic, but Marge believes it was just her strong grip. As Marge is about to respond to Harry, she sees her finger is swelling up. Soon, her whole body has swollen up like a balloon. Marge bounces out of the dining room, out of the conservatory, and out of the Dursleys’ house entirely. Uncle Vernon tries to hang on to Marge, but after receiving a bite from Marge’s dog Ripper, he lets go. Marge flies away into the night sky…

Knowing he’s in trouble now, Harry packs up all of his things and tries to leave the house. Uncle Vernon demands Harry bring Marge back now, but he refuses. In actual fact, I don’t think he knows how! Harry threatens Vernon with magic, making Vernon step away. However, Vernon reminds Harry that he won’t be allowed back at Hogwarts now, after doing magic whilst he is still under the age of 17, a highly enforced law in the Wizarding World. Harry pretends not to care and leaves, walking into the night with no plan.

Harry makes his way to the local playground and sits on the curb with his trunk and cases, and his owl Hedwig. As he waits, Harry sees movement in the bushes opposite and looks up to see a large black dog staring at him. Suddenly, a triple-decker purple bus pulls up in front of him. The bus conductor gets off and introduces the bus as the Knight Bus, an emergency form of transport for stranded witches and wizards. Harry is told to get on the bus, and it’ll take him where he wants to go. Harry wants to go to The Leaky Cauldron, a wizarding pub and inn in London. The bus travels at great speed making for a bumpy ride, with the elderly driver Ernie at the helm, and his sarcastic Shrunken Head assistant providing ongoing commentary on the journey. Harry sees the conductor reading the latest edition of the wizarding newspaper, The Daily Prophet, and notices the front page talking about a man who has escaped the wizarding prisoner Azkaban. The conductor tells Harry that man is Sirius Black, a convicted murderer, and they should all be concerned.

After a near-miss with an elderly woman crossing the road, and almost crashing into two regular double-decker buses, the Knight Bus gets Harry to The Leaky Cauldron, where he is promptly sent to a meeting with the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge. Harry fears he is about to get expelled for using magic on Aunt Marge, but Fudge reassures Harry that all is well, Marge has been found and her memory has been wiped; Harry will still be attending Hogwarts this year. Fudge has even brought all the equipment and books for Harry’s Third Year at school to inn. Harry is taken to his room to await the new school year.

The next day, Harry looks over his new school stuff, and is particularly interested by The Monster Book of Monsters, that has a furry cover with eyes. And yet, this book is not fluffy and friendly. The book gets quite bitey when it is opened and goes on a rampage through the room, hiding under Harry’s bed. Harry coaxes it out and hits it with his shoe so it can be closed! Harry then goes downstairs to the pub and is happily surprised to see his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Grainger standing there, although they are arguing about Hermione’s new cat, Crookshanks, and its interest in Ron’s rat Scabbers. Ron then tells the two all about his family’s trip to Egypt. Ron’s father, Mr. Weasley, takes Harry aside and asks him what he knows about Sirius Black. Mr. Weasley tells Harry that Black is still a loyal follower of the dark wizard Voldemort and is eager for his return. He has likely escaped Azkaban because he plans to kill Harry. He warns Harry not to look for Black, to which Harry responds: why would he go looking for someone trying to kill him? Good point.

Soon after, Harry and his friends board the Hogwarts Express to start their new school year, and end up sharing a carriage with a sleeping man, who turns out to be Professor Lupin, a new teacher at Hogwarts. Harry tells Ron and Hermione all he knows about Sirius Black, and they share their concern. Suddenly, the train stops and everywhere starts to feel cold with surfaces frosting over. The three see a skeletal, cloaked figure come to their carriage. It comes in and starts to attack Harry, causing him to faint. Professor Lupin wakes up at this point and repels the attacker. He explains to Harry, when he regains consciousness, that the figure was a Dementor, and was likely searching the train for Sirius Black. He tells Harry to eat some chocolate to feel better and leaves to talk to the train driver. Harry asks if either Ron or Hermione fainted, or heard a scream, like he did. They say they didn’t, only that they felt they’d never be happy again when the Dementor was near them.

At Hogwarts, the students are all assembled in the Great Hall for their usual start-of-term assembly. Professor Dumbledore introduces the students to their new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher Professor Lupin and explains that Hagrid is the new Professor for Care of Magical Creatures. He also tells everyone that there will be Dementors stationed at Hogwarts this year as they continue their search for Sirius Black. Dumbledore warns the students not to get in the way of the Dementors, as they do not differentiate between real criminals and those who get in their way. And just to boost the mood, he also tells them that happiness can be found if one remembers to turn on the light. So, another fun year then…

The next day, classes begin and Harry and Ron’s first one is Divination class with the spiritual Professor Trelawny. She has the class read each other’s tea leaves. Ron is asked to read Harry’s tea leaves, but struggles to understand them. Professor Trelawny takes the cup, and immediately puts it down, with a little scream. She tells Harry he’s got The Grim. Woah, sounds terrible – and contagious. Another student explains that The Grim is the omen of death, which takes the shape of a large black dog, like the one Harry saw as he was waiting for the Knight Bus. Harry begins to fear for his safety.

As Ron and Harry, and Hermione, who randomly popped up towards the end of Divination class, walk to Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid, they talk about the class, with Hermione seeing it as a complete joke. Harry forgets about it – for now. At Care of Magical Creatures, Hagrid introduces the class to a Hippogriff, a half-bird, half-horse creature, named Buckbeak. Harry is asked to meet Buckbeak first. He gains the creature’s trust and respect so Hagrid puts Harry on its back and Buckbeak takes him on a flight around Hogwarts. On his return, Draco Malfoy doesn’t believe that Buckbeak is dangerous, despite what Hagrid says, and struts up to the creature. It takes an instant disliking to Malfoy and kicks its leg out at him, injuring his arm. Hagrid takes Malfoy to the school hospital.

The next day, Draco milks his injury for all its worth to anyone who will listen, annoying Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Hermione says Draco’s father is furious and will not let the incident go. Other students then start discussing the new front page of the newspaper, saying that Sirius Black was spotted in Dufftown, which is not far from Hogwarts. But there’s no time to dwell on that as it is time for their first Defence Against the Dark Arts class with Professor Lupin. Here, Lupin teaches the students about Boggarts, a creature that shape-shifts into whatever the person looking at it fears the most. He gets the students to line up and use the spell “Riddikulus”, which will turn the Boggart into something funny. The class do well, with Neville Longbottom making his Professor Snape-shaped Boggart show up wearing his grandmother’s clothes, and having Ron turn his spider into a roller-skating spider. However, on Harry’s turn, Professor Lupin pushes in front of him and the Boggart turns into the moon. With Lupin’s spell, it becomes a balloon, blowing into the wardrobe it was kept in.

Later that day, all of Harry’s year are heading out to Hogsmeade, the town where Hogwarts is located, however, Harry did not get his permission slip signed and is not allowed to go. Instead, Harry speaks to Lupin. Lupin apologises to Harry for what happened in class, fearing that the Boggart was going to turn into Lord Voldemort. It actually began to turn into a Dementor, Harry’s newest fear now. Lupin also says he knew Harry’s mother and father, and says Harry is very much like both of them, with Lily’s eyes and James’ talent for trouble.

On returning to the Gryffindor Common Room, Harry finds a commotion outside their portrait entryway. The Fat Lady, who would normally allow students entry into the Common Room, has gone, and the portrait is scratched up. Professor Dumbledore and Mr. Filch, the caretaker, arrive to investigate. They find the Fat Lady in another portrait, cowering behind a hippo. She tells Dumbledore that Sirius Black was here, in the castle. Dumbledore orders the castle be secured and searched, whilst the Gryffindor students are made to sleep in the Great Hall. Dumbledore and Snape discuss the risk this poses to Harry, with Snape saying another teacher, like Lupin, may’ve helped Black enter the castle. Dumbledore dismisses this theory. Snape asks if Harry should be warned. Dumbledore says later, not realising that Harry has been awake through all of this and heard everything.

The next day, during Defence Against the Dark Arts, Harry is shocked to find that Professor Snape is covering the class. They are told they will be learning about werewolves and Animagi, and the differences between the two. Hermione pops up to class, late again, and says they weren’t due to start learning about these creatures for weeks. Snape assigns an essay on the creatures and how to recognise them. Harry says he can’t possibly have time to write this essay with the Quidditch match going on tomorrow. He tells Harry then he’d best be careful, because even loss of limb won’t excuse him from it.

The Quidditch match takes place in stormy, thundery weather and Harry ends up having to fly high above the stadium to search for the Snitch. He sees an image of The Grim reflected in the clouds during a lightning strike, distracting him. Dementors then start to surround Harry, and despite his attempts to evade them, more and more appear. They attack him, and Harry faints, falling off his broom. The pupils and teachers watch in horror as Harry falls into view. Dumbledore saves him from certain death. Harry wakes up in hospital to find his broom blew into the Whomping Willow and is no more. Harry says to Lupin that he wants to learn how to fight Dementors. Lupin says he will teach him, after the holidays.

To make things even worse, once again, the students are sent off to Hogsmeade, and Harry is still unable to join. He decides to take his Invisibility Cloak there, but is stopped by Ron’s older brothers, Fred and George, who see Harry’s footsteps in the snow. They tell him they want to help him, and proceed to give him the Marauder’s Map, which they stole from Filch’s office. The map shows secret passageways and the movements of individuals in the school, like Dumbledore pacing in his office. Fred and George tell Harry to use the secret passageway that ends up in the Honeydukes sweet shop basement to get to Hogsmeade.

Harry arrives and quickly finds Ron and Hermione who are by the Shrieking Shack, being teased by Draco Malfoy and his friends. Harry, still in the Invisibility Cloak, messes with Draco and the others, getting them to leave, fearing they are being haunted. Harry then hears that Cornelius Fudge and Professor McGonagall need to speak to Madam Rosmerta about Sirius Black. Harry sneaks into the pub to overhear the conversation. Inside, he learns that Sirius Black is the reason that Harry’s parents are dead, as he told Voldemort where they were hiding during the Wizarding War all those years before. They also say Black murdered one of their friends, Peter Pettigrew, who was attempting to warn Harry’s parents what Black had done. Only a single finger of Pettigrew’s was found after Black destroyed him. Harry is horrified to hear that the escaped prisoner is the reason his parents are dead, and to land the killer punch, he learns Black is actually his godfather. Harry storms off, upset. Hermione and Ron find him. Harry says he wants Black to find him, so he can kill him first.

With all this anger inside him, now seems to be a good time for Harry to learn how to repel Dementors. Using a Boggart, Lupin teaches Harry the Patronus charm to do this, however, it requires a strong, happy memory to do this. Harry’s first attempt fails and he faints again, as he uses a simple memory of when he first learnt to fly. Harry asks to go again, choosing a different memory. This time, it works and Harry successfully repels the Dementor-shaped Boggart, using a memory of hearing his parents speaking to him.

Later, Harry learns that Ron and Hermione are fighting again because Scabbers has gone missing and Ron blames Hermione’s cat Crookshanks for it. They head off to see Hagrid as he had a meeting about the “Buckbeak incident”. Hagrid is upset because Buckbeak has been sentenced to death, thanks to testimony from Draco Malfoy’s father.

That night, Harry is looking at the Marauder’s Map as everyone else is asleep. He sees the name “Peter Pettigrew” on there. Confused, Harry leaves his dormitory and starts to follow the movements of Pettigrew, not understanding how he can be in the castle when he is dead. Harry doesn’t find anything though, and is actually found by Professor Snape. Harry tries to hide the map, but Snape sees a piece of parchment and puts a spell on it to reveal its “secrets”. Harry is ordered to read what it says. It turns out to be an insult to Snape. Lupin arrives just in time, and is given the parchment to investigate by Snape. Lupin takes Harry back to his office, telling Harry the map was a silly thing to have in his possession because it would be a map to Harry should Sirius Black find it. Harry apologises for not handing it in, but says the map doesn’t seem to work anyway. Lupin asks why he thinks that and Harry reveals that the deceased Peter Pettigrew was spotted on it.

The next day, in Divination class, Professor Trelawny is trying to inspire her students again, but Hermione tries to make a mockery of the class by referencing The Grim again. Trelawny tells Hermione she has no aptitude for this class, having a shrivelled dry soul like an old maid. Hermione walks off in a huff, and knocks over one of the crystal balls which rolls out of the room. On leaving the class, Harry sees the ball and returns it to the classroom. Harry then sees Sirius Black in the ball, and Trelawny appears in some sort of trance. She says he will return to tonight; he who betrayed his friends and whose heart rots with murder shall break free, innocent blood will be spilt, and servant and master shall be reunited once more. Harry is terrified, but Trelawny doesn’t remember a thing!

That evening, Hermione, Ron, and Harry go to Hagrid’s Hut as support because this is the day that Buckbeak is to be executed. Before they get there, they see Draco and his friends wanting to watch the execution. Hermione threatens Draco for his role in all this, and punches him in the face. They run away. Harry, Ron, and Hermione spend time with Hagrid and want to set Buckbeak free but know they cannot, and besides, Dumbledore, Fudge, and the executioner are already here. They are told to leave, and just before they do, Hagrid returns Scabbers to Ron. They sneak out the back door and run back up the hill. They see the executioner raise his axe and bring it down, as birds scatter. It is done.

Randomly, Scabbers then chooses that moment to bite Ron and runs to the Whomping Willow. Ron manages to retrieve him, but then sees a black dog behind Harry and Hermione. It jumps over them and goes straight for Ron, biting his leg and dragging him into the tree. Hermione and Harry go after him, but the Whomping Willow’s branches start attacking them. After a bit of a struggle, they go into the trunk of the willow and see it is a secret passageway, heading to the Shrieking Shack. They eventually find Ron, who tells them the dog was actually Sirius Black – he is an Animagus, someone who can transform into an animal at will. Sirius Black approaches them, causing Harry to attack him, trying to strangle him, but Black simply laughs. Professor Lupin then arrives and quickly shows himself to be on the side of Black. Black says they have to kill him now. Hermione is shocked to find that Lupin is on Black’s side, and reveals that she knows Lupin is a werewolf. Lupin explains that it was not Black who betrayed Harry’s parents, but was actually Peter Pettigrew. Lupin realised Pettigrew must’ve faked his death after Harry said he saw the name on the map. Snape then arrives and says he looks forward to bringing Black to the Dementors, and is pleased with himself for knowing Lupin was the one helping him.

However, Harry wants to know more about what Black and Lupin are saying so disarms Snape instead. They say that Pettigrew is in this room and points to Ron. Ron thinks they’ve gone crazy, but they say Pettigrew is the rat. Ron says that can’t be true as Scabbers has been in his family for about twelve years, which is a very long lifespan for a common garden rat. “Scabbers” tries to escape the room, but his true form is revealed before he can do so. Black and Lupin want to kill Pettigrew now for betraying their friends, but Harry says they should take him to the Dementors.

They all head to the castle, with Ron needing some help after getting a nasty bite from Black whilst he was in his dog form! Outside of the Whomping Willow, Black becomes distracted by the fresh air, admiring Hogwarts. He asks Harry if he would like to live with him instead of the Dursleys, once this “misunderstanding” has been cleared up. Harry says he’d like that. All of a sudden, they notice the full moon and see Lupin transforming into a werewolf. Pettigrew takes the opportunity to turn himself back into a rat and run off. Lupin then starts to attack the group. Snape comes out of the tree to have a word with Harry but sees Lupin, and tries to protect the children. Black turns back into a dog and fights Lupin. They hear a wolf call and Lupin runs off into the forest to follow it. Black turns back into his human self and tumbles down a hill. Harry follows him, finding Black unconscious by the side of a lake. A large group of Dementors come to attack Black, and Harry as he is seemingly an accomplice. Black’s last breath appears to be taken, but then, Harry sees a powerful Patronus charm being cast from across the lake. The Dementors vanish. Harry passes out.

Harry wakes up in hospital and proclaims it was his dad who cast the Patronus charm. Hermione tells Harry to listen to her: the Dementors are going to perform their “kiss” on Sirius Black soon, which will suck out his soul. Dumbledore comes in and Harry, Hermione, and Ron, who is also in a hospital bed with his bad leg, tells Dumbledore that Black is innocent. Dumbledore believes them but knows it is not enough to persuade anyone else. He starts talking about time and retracing their steps, and that more than one life could be spared tonight, saying “three turns ought to do it”, before leaving. Confused, Harry looks to Hermione, who has already wrapped a necklace with a pocket watch on it around his neck. Hermione turns the watch three turns and Harry sees they have gone back in time. It is now 7:30pm. Hermione asks what they did at that time last night. Harry says they were going to Hagrid’s. Hermione and Harry go there.

Harry witnesses Hermione punching Draco and can’t understand what is going on. Hermione pulls Harry into a hiding place and explains that the necklace she has is a Time Turner. Professor McGonagall gave it to her on the first day of term so she could attend all the classes she wanted to that year. She warns Harry that they cannot be seen by their past selves. She tells Harry to follow her to Hagrid’s.

They hide behind the pumpkins by Hagrid’s Hut, and wait for themselves to leave, because they cannot take Buckbeak right away, as they need Fudge and Dumbledore to see it first so they don’t suspect Hagrid. Hermione wonders why they aren’t leaving, and sees a pebble on the pumpkins that looks like one she saw in the hut that night. She realises she must’ve thrown the two that hit a pot and then Harry, prompting them to look out the window and know that they had to leave right that minute. Hermione does just that and she and Harry hide in the forest, as their past selves take their place by the pumpkins. They wait for their past selves to leave, before coaxing Buckbeak into the forest with dead ferrets. They are successful, despite being spotted by Dumbledore, who distracts Fudge. Fudge then turns around to find Buckbeak has vanished. He wants to search for Buckbeak but Dumbledore tells him not to bother and asks Hagrid if they can stay for a drink. The executioner instead uses his axe to split a pumpkin.

Harry and Hermione then wait in the forest close to the Whomping Willow. They see Lupin and Snape enter the tree, so wait for the events to play out. Whilst they do, Harry reiterates that his dad performed that Patronus charm and tells Hermione that Sirius asked Harry to live with him. All of a sudden, they see everyone leaving the Whomping Willow and watch as Lupin transforms into a werewolf and starts to attack them all. Hermione makes a wolf call, learning that she was the one to do that and get Lupin away from them. However, this means that this has now drawn Lupin to them. Harry and Hermione are chased through the forest, with Buckbeak coming to their rescue to fight off Lupin. They then watch as the Dementors come to the lake and see the attack on past Harry and Sirius across the lake. Harry says they just need to wait for his dad to come and perform the charm. Hermione says no-one is coming and fears that the past Harry and Sirius are about to die. Harry stands up and casts the very powerful Patronus charm himself, making the Dementors flee. The two then fly on Buckbeak to free Sirius from the Dark Tower. They take Sirius to the courtyard.

In the courtyard, Harry is told he must stay at Hogwarts but that he and Sirius will be reunited soon. Sirius tells Harry what he is always being told: that he looks so much like his father but has his mother’s eyes. On this occasion, Harry doesn’t mind being told that for maybe the hundredth time! Sirius says that the ones that love us never leave us, and flies away on Buckbeak to lie low for a while.

Hermione and Harry run back to the hospital to be back at the point where they went back in time. They tell Dumbledore that they succeeded in their mission; Dumbledore feigns ignorance and wishes them a goodnight. They arrive back in the hospital and see Ron looking very confused about what just happened! They don’t let him in on the secret.

Harry goes to see Lupin and realises that Lupin is leaving Hogwarts. Lupin says he has decided to leave before any of the parents can complain that they have a werewolf teaching their children at Hogwarts. Harry is sad, both that Lupin is leaving as they had a bond, but also that he sees last night as making no difference because Pettigrew escape. Lupin reminds Harry that he made a world of difference, not least because he spared an innocent man from death. Now that Lupin is no longer his teacher, he also allows Harry to have the Marauder’s Map back, telling him goodbye.

Harry finds his friends in the Great Hall and they excitedly tell him he has a parcel. Sadly, Ron has already half-opened it, blaming it on the poor wrapping, so it is obviously revealed to be a new broomstick, a Firebolt no less. It didn’t come with a note; however, it did come with a Hippogriff feather, meaning it was sent by Sirius. Encouraged by his friends, Harry takes the Firebolt for a quick spin around Hogwarts!

CHARACTERS & CAST

To go alongside the variety of teachers, and actors, we met in the first two stories, such as Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape, and Rubeus Hagrid, in his new role as Professor for Care of Magical Creatures, who all return here, and the large quantity of students who walk the halls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, like Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnigan, Draco Malfoy, Fred and George Weasley, and of course, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Grainger, who are also back for this film, numerous new characters are introduced to us in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

After Professor Lockhart’s departure at the end of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Hogwarts needs a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. This time, Professor Remus Lupin was hired. Harry, Ron, and Hermione first meet him on the Hogwarts Express, and luckily find out that he is actually a very competent teacher – unlike Lockhart – because he successfully repels a Dementor that is attacking Harry. Lupin also proclaims chocolate to be the great healer of all ills, so that’s another reason to trust him! Lupin is kind and supportive to his students, most of all Harry, who he bonds with over their conversations about Harry’s parents. However, Lupin is hiding a dark secret – that he is actually a werewolf. When Lupin transforms into a werewolf, he is not himself, and attacks anyone close to him without realising what he is doing. Because of this, it makes Lupin a danger to his students, and makes his position as the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher untenable. His departure from Hogwarts signals the end of his time as a professor, but does not mean a goodbye from the series; Lupin would later return in a different role: as part of “the Order”.

David Thewlis was cast as Lupin, having originally been considered for the part of Professor Quirrell in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Early in his career, Thewlis won the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival, amongst others for his role as Johnny Fletcher in the film Naked (1993). Other film roles Thewlis secured after this include the part of Knox Harrington in the crime comedy film The Big Lebowski (1998) and a voice role as Mr. Earthworm in James and the Giant Peach (1996), based on the Roald Dahl novel. After his role in the Harry Potter films, Thewlis went on to appear in many other films, including as Nick Davies in The Fifth Estate (2013); as Dennis Sciama in The Theory of Everything (2014); as Sir Patrick / Ares in Wonder Woman (2017); and as Peylak in Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025). More recently, Thewlis has been cast in a variety of television series. For his performance in Season 3 of Fargo (2014-24), where he was cast as V. M. Varga, he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Golden Globes, the Critics’ Choice Awards, and the Primetime Emmys. Thewlis was also nominated for a BAFTA for his role as Christopher Edwards in the true crime series Landscapers (2021), with Olivia Colman as his co-star. He has also been cast as Norbert Fagin in the Disney+ series The Artful Dodger (2023-present), with Thomas Brodie-Sangster in the title role, and co-starred with Jason Watkins to play Ash Smith in Dirty Business (2026), a miniseries for Channel 4.   

When the audience first hears about Sirius Black, we only know him as a murderer who has escaped from Azkaban prison, a notorious prison in the Wizarding World. We later learn that Black was the reason that Harry’s parents were discovered and killed by Lord Voldemort when Harry was just a baby, and that he killed one of his friends, Peter Pettigrew. All of this led to Black’s detention in Azkaban. During the course of events in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban though, we realise that Black was falsely accused, and had been left to take the blame. Black was always loyal to Harry’s parents and always against Voldemort, revealing that Pettigrew was the one who betrayed them, and then faked his own death, which Black was convicted of. Black shows himself to be a highly loyal person, and not an insane killer, only wanting Pettigrew to pay for all those years Black spent in Azkaban. We also discover that Sirius Black is Harry’s godfather, who later invites Harry to live with him, so he can be away from his awful aunt and uncle. Harry finally gets a real father figure in his life, but knows that he and Sirius must be separated until the heat dies down on Sirius.

Sirius Black was played by Gary Oldman, whose career has spanned film, television, and stage work. On stage, Oldman was cast in performances by the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 1980s. In 2025, Oldman starred as Krapp in Krapp’s Last Tape in York. In film, Oldman has been cast in a variety of films, such as playing Rosencrantz in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990); portraying Lee Harvey Oswald in JFK (1991); Dracula in Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992); and for playing James Gordon in the Batman films. Oldman has also been nominated for countless awards for his roles in other films. For portraying Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour (2017), Oldman won the Academy Award, the SAG Award, the BAFTA, and the Golden Globe in the Best Actor category. He would also be nominated at the Academy Awards, amongst others, for his roles as George Smiley in Tinker Tailor Solder Spy (2011) and as Herman J. Mankiewicz in Mank (2020). In television, Oldman has become well-known for starring as Jackson Lamb in the Apple TV series Slow Horses (2022-present), for which he has been nominated at the SAG Awards, the BAFTAs, the Emmys, and the Golden Globes. Oldman has also had voice roles in some animated movies, including as Lord Shen in DreamWorks’ Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011), as Lord Ruber in Quest for Camelot (1998), and as Bob Cratchit, Jacob Marley, and Tiny Tim in Disney’s A Christmas Carol (2009), which involved motion capture.

To round out this dysfunctional trio, we have Peter Pettigrew, described by Professor McGonagall as a “lump of a boy”, who used to follow Sirius Black and James Potter, Harry’s father, around when they were at school together. The teachers believe that Pettigrew was “destroyed” by Sirius Black, with only a finger left as evidence of his existence, however, it turns out Pettigrew faked his death, cutting off his own finger to frame Sirius for his murder, before disappearing by shape-shifting into a rat. This rat would end up with the Weasley family being named Scabbers. How weird must it have been for Ron to find out that the rat he has been holding on to for years was actually a man in his mid-30s… Pettigrew is forced to confront his past by Black and Lupin as they make him regain his human form. Here, Pettigrew admits he did give away Harry’s parent’s location to Voldemort out of fear. Black wants to kill Pettigrew for this act of cowardice but Harry says they should let the Dementors deal with him. Sadly, Pettigrew gets away as the group become distracted by Lupin’s werewolf transformation and scurries off in his rat form. Nowhere knows where he ends up.

Timothy Spall was cast as Peter Pettigrew. One of Spall’s earliest film roles was as Harry in Quadrophenia (1979), going on to be cast as Barry Spencer Taylor in the British comedy series Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (1983-86, 2002-04). He was BAFTA-nominated for his roles as Maurice Purley in Secrets & Lies (1996), and as Richard Temple in Topsy-Turvy (1999). Spall has been cast in various films of different genres, including as Rosencrantz in the Kenneth Branagh-directed Hamlet (1996); voicing Nick in Aardman’s Chicken Run (2000); being cast as Mr. Poe in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004); and playing Nathaniel in Disney’s Enchanted (2007); and Beadle Bamford in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007). Spall would have further success with his role as Peter Taylor in The Damned United (2009), and for his portrayal of artist J. M. W. Turner in Mr. Turner (2014), winning numerous awards including the Cannes Film Festival’s award for Best Actor. Spall also portrayed Winston Churchill in the critically-acclaimed The King’s Speech (2010). More recently, Spall was cast as Equerry Major Alistair Gregory in Spencer (2021), and as Bernie Cheshire in Netflix’s Goodbye June (2025). In series, Spall won a BAFTA television award for his performance as Peter Farquhar in the BBC true crime series The Sixth Commandment (2023), going on to be cast as the Duke of Norfolk in Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light (2024), which starred Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell. Currently, Spall stars as John Chapel in the BBC crime series Death Valley (2025-present).

Professor Trelawny is the Divination teacher at Hogwarts, who we first see in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, although she is not a new teacher to the school. Trelawny’s Divination classes consist of teaching the students about interpreting signs around them, such as through tea leaves or through crystal balls. Many students don’t take Trelawny’s classes very seriously, especially Hermione who doesn’t believe in auras, and seeing into the future. Trelawny, however, does prove to be useful, as she does predict that Harry is in danger, although her prediction of The Grim, which would’ve meant imminent death to him, was not quite right, and she delivers a prophecy to him that does turn out to be true, as the truth of what happened to Harry’s parents is revealed in the Shrieking Shack with Sirius Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew. Trelawny is a bit strange but she means well.

Dame Emma Thompson was cast as Professor Trelawny. In the 1990s, Thompson won the Academy Award for Best Actress in Howards End (1992) for her role as Margaret Schlegel and was nominated the next year in the same category for The Remains of the Day (1993) where she played Miss Kenton. In 1995, Thompson wrote and starred in Sense and Sensibility (1995), playing the part of Elinor Dashwood, where she was once again nominated for Best Actress, and won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Thompson later became known for her roles of Karen in Love Actually (2003); and as Nanny McPhee in the 2005 movie of the same name and its 2010 sequel. Thompson has been cast in both live-action and voice roles for numerous Disney movies as well. She voiced the character of Captain Amelia in Disney Animation’s Treasure Planet (2002) and voiced Queen Elinor in Pixar’s Brave (2012), before starring as P. L. Travers in Saving Mr. Banks (2013) alongside Tom Hanks as Walt Disney, and was cast as Baroness von Hellman in Cruella (2021). Recently, Thompson played Miss Trunchbull in Matilda the Musical (2022); Nancy Stokes in Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022); and Dame Katherine Newbury in Late Night (2019), receiving nominations at the Golden Globes for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical for the latter two roles. Currently, Thompson stars as Zoë Boehm in Down Cemetery Road (2025-present) for Apple TV. Thompson was made a Dame in 2018. Allegedly, Tilda Swinton was up for the role of Professor Trelawny, however, she was not cast due to scheduling conflicts, although some report she simply did not want to be involved[1].

There was also a new addition to the Dursley family, as Uncle Vernon’s sister, Marge, came to visit the family at the beginning of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban with her bulldog, Ripper. Marge had previously been alluded to in the first Harry Potter film, after Vernon reads out a postcard from her. Aunt Marge is rude and insensitive, simply saying what she thinks without any care for who is around her. She says that Harry is lucky that her brother didn’t send Harry off to an orphanage after his parents died, whereas she wouldn’t have kept him, and then goes on to check that Harry is being disciplined at his school. The final straw for Harry is when Marge starts discussing Harry’s mother and father, saying that Harry’s father must’ve been a deadbeat because he didn’t work, and that perhaps that is why Harry is the way he is. She moves on to Harry’s mother, saying that is really where the problems would stem, which naturally riles Harry up, leading to him inadvertently using magic to make her swell up and fly off into the sky. Luckily, Harry doesn’t see her again, although she is found and dealt with so she has no memory of the incident.

Pam Ferris was cast as Aunt Marge. For those watching the Harry Potter films in the 2000s, they’d likely have known Ferris from her role as Agatha Trunchbull in Matilda (1996), the non-musical and original adaptation of the Roald Dahl film. Ferris was actually nominated at the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress for her terrifying portrayal of the character. She was also known for starring as Florence “Ma” Larkin in The Darling Buds of May (1991-93) on ITV, with David Jason being cast as “Pop” and Catherine Zeta-Jones playing their on-screen daughter Mariette. Also in the 1990s, Ferris starred as Peggy Snow from Series 1 until Series 4 of the ITV drama Where the Heart Is (1997-2006), being nominated at the National Television Awards for Most Popular Actress for her role here. In the 2000s, Ferris was cast as Cath Smith, Smithy’s mum, in the popular comedy series Gavin & Stacey (2007-24), and as Laura Thyme in ITV’s Rosemary & Thyme (2003-07), co-starring with Felicity Kendal. She played Sister Evangelina in the BBC’s drama series Call the Midwife (2012-present) up until Series 5.

Now, for some smaller roles. The Knight Bus sequence features a few characters who only appear for that section. They are the Bus Conductor, who seems quite bored and irritated by his job! He begrudgingly lets Harry onto the bus, wanting him to hurry up and get on, and then struggling to carry his luggage on to it. He just wants to get going with as little chat as possible, although he does tell Harry who Sirius Black is after Harry sees him on the front of the newspaper, albeit rather dramatically. The attitude of the Bus Conductor is quite a contrast to the magical experience of being on the Knight Bus, but I do love his line: “What’cha fell over for?”, when he sees Harry lying on the curb as the bus picks him up.

The Bus Conductor was played by Lee Ingleby. Ingleby went on to be cast as Mole in the 2006 BBC TV adaptation of The Wind in the Willows, going on to have roles in numerous television series after that. Some of these include DS / DI John Bacchus in BBC’s Inspector George Gently (2007-17); George Mottershead in the drama series Our Zoo (2014); and as DI Tony Myerscough for the Netflix series Criminal: UK (2019-20). Recently, Ingleby was cast as DSI Jim Hobson in The Long Shadow (2023); as DCS Neil Adamson in The Hunt for Raoul Moat (2023); as David Leigh in The Hack (2025), all for ITV.

The Knight Bus is being driven by the elderly Ernie, who doesn’t seem to be able to see very well, so uses his talking Shrunken Head next to him to be his eyes. The Shrunken Head alerts Ernie to the fact they are about to run over an old lady crossing the road, and that the bus is about to crash with two double-decker buses, leading to Ernie braking sharply in the first instance and then slimming the bus to get in between the two buses. Ernie might be an erratic driver, but the Knight Bus certainly gets people where they need to fast!

Ernie was played by actor Jimmy Gardner. Gardner was cast as Con Lynch in 10 Rillington Place (1971), which starred Richard Attenborough. Around the time of his casting in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Gardner appeared as Mr. Snow in Finding Neverland (2004). He passed away in 2010. The voice of the Shrunken Head was provided by comedian and actor Sir Lenny Henry. Henry went on to voice other characters in film, such as Peg-Leg Hasting in Aardman’s The Pirates! In An Adventure with Scientists (2012); Mr. Convenience in Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024); and The Great Know-All in The Magic Faraway Tree (2026). Recently, Henry appeared as Sadoc Burrows in the Amazon Prime series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022-present) and wrote the drama television series Three Little Birds (2023) which aired on ITV, also appearing as Remuel Drake. He had also previously written and starred as Samson in the television film Danny and the Human Zoo (2015). Henry was later revealed to be Blob in Series 2 of The Masked Singer UK (2020-present). He received the Special Recognition Award for his work at the National Television Awards in 2022.

 At The Leaky Cauldron, Tom, the innkeeper, welcomes Harry after his arrival of the Knight Bus, also having to turn his car alarm off after the Knight Bus hits into his car! Tom shows Harry to his meeting with Cornelius Fudge, before taking Harry to his room. Tom was played by Jim Tavaré, who was part of the ITV sketch comedy show The Sketch Show (2001-04) around this time, appearing with other comedic actors like Lee Mack, Tim Vine, and Ronni Ancona. He later appeared as The Dog Catcher in Pudsey the Dog: The Movie (2014). Tavaré is also a stand-up comedian.

At Hogwarts, the Fat Lady is the portrait that is the entryway to the Gryffindor Common Room. For Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the Fat Lady seems to have had a makeover and a personality transplant, as she looks completely different to the regal woman who guards the Common Room in the first film. In this third film, the Fat Lady is too distracted trying to prove her singing abilities to let the students in on one occasion, irritating Harry, and on another, she is seen hiding in a completely different portrait after she sees Sirius Black in the castle; she is terrified. We don’t actually know what happened to her after that, but I can only assume she went back to her regular duties after some time off to reset!

Dawn French was cast as the Fat Lady here. French is known for her comedy sketch show French and Saunders (1987-93, 1994-2005) with fellow comedienne Jennifer Saunders. The two were awarded the BAFTA Television Fellowship in 2009 for their work. French is also known for her role as Geraldine Granger in the comedy series The Vicar of Dibley (1994-2007). She starred in other series too, like as Rosie Bales in Jam & Jerusalem (2006-09) and as Joy Aston in Psychoville (2009-11), before being cast as Gina Benelli in the Sky drama series Delicious (2016-19), which also starred Emilia Fox. She also played Maggie Cole in the ITV series The Trouble with Maggie Cole (2020), starring alongside Mark Heap. Recently, French and Heap appeared together as husband and wife once again in a new comedy series called Can You Keep a Secret? (2026-present), playing Debbie and William Fendon respectively. In film, French voiced the part of Miriam Forcible in Coraline (2009) and played Mrs. Bowers in Death on the Nile (2022).

Then we have Madam Rosmerta, the pub landlady of The Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade. She is annoyed with Cornelius Fudge for sending Dementors into her pub as they search for Sirius Black, and then is asked to have a meeting with him and Professor McGonagall where she learns more about Black and his complicated past with Harry Potter. The three don’t realise that Harry has snuck in and overhead all of this. This is the only appearance of Madam Rosmerta, though we also learn that Ron fancies her!

Julie Christie was cast as Madam Rosmerta. Early in her career, Christie was cast as Lara Antipova in Doctor Zhivago (1965); as Diana Scott in Darling (1965); and as Clarisse / Linda Montag in Fahrenheit 451 (1966), earning her numerous award wins and nominations, including a BAFTA and Oscar win for her role in Darling. Christie was cast as Gertrude in Hamlet (1996), and starred as Phyllis Hart in Afterglow (1997). She received another Oscar nomination for her role in Afterglow, gaining two others during her career: one as Fiona in Away from Her (2006), for which she won the Golden Globe and SAG award for Best Actress amongst others, and another for McCabe & Miller (1971), being cast as Constance Miller alongside Warren Beatty, and another She collaborated with Beatty on other films, including Shampoo (1975), playing Jackie Shawn, and Heaven Can Wait (1978) playing Betty Logan. Christie is played Mrs. Emma du Maurier in Finding Neverland (2004).

Two new students make appearances in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban too, only showing up for this film. One of these is Bem, a student who we meet in Divination, one of the few who seems to take the class seriously as he tells the class just what The Grim is and what it means. Bem was played by Ekow Quartey, who went on to be cast as James in This Way Up (2019-21), a Channel 4 series, created, written and starring comedian Aisling Bea, and appears as JJ in the comedy series Amandaland (2025-present).

Another is Pike, seemingly Malfoy’s new friend, who appears in some scenes with him, when either Crabbe or Goyle, his usual two goons, do not, like when Harry uses his Invisibility Cloak to mess with the group after they start on Ron and Hermione. Pike was played by Bronson Webb. He went on to appear in films such as being cast in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011) as Cook; Victor Frankenstein (2015), appearing as Rafferty; and in Pan (2015), where he was cast as Steps. In television, Webb later appeared as Evan Duffield in Series 1 of the crime drama series Strike (2017-present), and more recently, appeared as Jeremy in the Apple TV series Ted Lasso (2020-23).

Finally, I will just mention Professor Dumbledore. Dumbledore was first introduced in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, where he was played by Richard Harris. Harris sadly passed away in 2002, forcing the character to be recast. Many actors were considered for the part. One of which was Ian McKellen, who at the time had recently finished playing Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. He turned down the chance to play Dumbledore as McKellen knew that Harris had previously made negative comments about his acting ability and felt it would not be appropriate to take the part[2]. Chris Columbus also stated that he had had long conversations with Peter O’Toole about taking the part, who Harris’ family very much approved of due to his and Harris’ friendship. O’Toole declined to fulfil the role of Professor Dumbledore, so ultimately, Michael Gambon was chosen for the part, with his portrayal of a more intense and eccentric Dumbledore[3]. Knowing what I know now about how the character of Dumbledore progresses, I’m not sure how Harris would’ve tackled that progression, and I like how Gambon played the character.

Sir Michael Gambon’s career spanned both stage and screen and multiple decades, so will be known for a multitude of roles. He played Baltus Van Tassel in Sleepy Hollow (1999), Sir William McCordle in Gosford Park (2001), Alexander Flyte in Brideshead Revisited (2008), and portrayed King George V in The King’s Speech (2010). In his later years, Gambon voiced the character Uncle Pastuzo in the Paddington franchise; played Private Godfrey in Dad’s Army (2016), based on the sitcom, and was cast as Billy “The Fish” Lincoln, alongside Michael Caine, Jim Broadbent, and Tom Courtenay in King of Thieves (2018). He was also cast as Bernard Delfont in the biopic Judy (2019), which starred Renée Zellweger as Judy Garland, and was also appearing in television series in the 2010s. Examples of these are playing Howard Mollison in the BBC/HBO miniseries The Casual Vacancy (2015), based on J.K. Rowling’s novel; and appearing as Henry Tyson in Season 1 of Sky Atlantic’s Fortitude (2015-18). Throughout his lifetime, Gambon won numerous awards, including four BAFTA Television Awards for Best Actor in series like The Singing Detective (1986) in the role of Philip Marlow, and Perfect Strangers (2001) as Raymond, as well as winning three Olivier Awards for his roles in the stage productions of A Chorus of Disapproval in 1984; A View from the Bridge in the 1987 revival, and Man of the Moment in 1988. Sir Michael Gambon will also always be remembered for his legendary lap of the Top Gear (2002-22) track as part of the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car segment, as he took one of the last corners on two wheels, having the corner renamed for him after that. Sir Michael Gambon was knighted in 1998, and sadly passed away in September 2023.

MUSIC

Legendary composer John Williams, who had composed the scores for both Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was back to compose the score for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Williams is known for composing music for such movie franchises as Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and Jurassic Park, winning numerous awards, including Grammys and Academy Awards, during his career.

Since Williams composed it and included it in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the track “Hedwig’s Theme” has become iconic, and the music immediately links back to the Harry Potter films. It always makes an appearance in the opening titles of any Harry Potter film. In this case, it is used as Harry practises the Lumos spell late at night, with the track titled “Lumos! (Hedwig’s Theme)”.

Other pieces of music I like within the score include the jazzy “The Knight Bus”, which mimics the crazy ride that the bus takes Harry on through London; the magical “Buckbeak’s Flight”, accompanying Harry’s ride around Hogwarts on Buckbeak the Hippogriff; and “A Window to the Past”, which is used when Harry and Lupin are discussing his parents on the footbridge. The ethereal voices that feature in “The Patronus Light” are also very fitting for the almost miraculous moment when Harry casts the Patronus that saves his and Sirius’ lives from the Dementors. It’s quiet, but powerful. “Forward to Time Past”, playing as Harry and Hermione travel back in time, is also a good one, although the ticking clock sounds can get a bit irritating if you listen to it too many times!

There are many scarier moments in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban too, so these are conveyed through the music. Any scene with the Dementors is tense, as they replace happiness with darkness, and this is reflected in both “Apparition on the Train”, when Harry is attacked by a Dementor on the Hogwarts Express, and “The Dementors Converge”, when they swarm around Harry and Sirius by the lake. Lupin turning into a werewolf is also quite terrifying so “Lupin’s Transformation” and “The Werewolf Scene” express that feeling.

There is also one actual song in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, performed by the Hogwarts students and their “Frog Choir”, with Professor Flitwick conducting. This takes place as the students are welcomed back to Hogwarts for their first day of term. It is called “Double Trouble”, with the lyrics being inspired by the Three Witches in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. I very much like this song, and feel that it sounds quite mysterious and creepy, matching the darker tone of this film.

As with both the previous two films, Williams was recognised for his work on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, returning to the Academy Awards with a nomination for Best Original Score. Williams had not received a nomination at the Oscars for his score on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. At the Oscars, Williams did not win, with Jan A. P. Kaczmarek winning for his work on Finding Neverland (2004). Williams’ score was also nominated at the Grammys, for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. The winner turned out to be Howard Shore and John Kurlander for their music in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), the final film in the trilogy. However, Williams did win a BMI Film Music Award in 2005 for his score on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and won the Public Choice Award at the World Soundtrack Albums for it. He was also nominated at those awards for Soundtrack Composer of the Year and Best Original Score of the Year. The winner of both categories was Gabriel Yared for Cold Mountain (2003). 

PRODUCTION

After the success of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, their director Christopher Columbus was rightly exhausted.

The two films had been filmed quite close together, with filming on the second film starting as the first one was released to theatres. Columbus had assumed he’d have the energy to complete the full series, but found after the second film that he couldn’t. The filming schedules had been intense, more intense than anticipated, and Columbus knew he could not repeat that over and over for another seven, or eight years.

Although stepping down as the director, Columbus did continue to have a presence and an input in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, as a producer[4]. But this meant that a new director for this third film would need to be found, with plenty to choose from.   

Some names that were considered were Guillermo del Toro, the filmmaker famed for his work on fantasy and horror films like The Shape of Water (2017) and Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), and more recently, Frankenstein (2025), and M. Night Shyamalan, whose early films included The Sixth Sense (1999) and Signs (2002). However, Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón was hired to lead Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Cuarón had previously directed the film adaptation of the Frances Hodgson Burnett novel A Little Princess (1995) before making Y tu mamá también (2001), which was nominated at the Oscars for Best Original Screenplay, and won this award at the Venice Film Festival. No doubt with his experience from these two films in particular, of dealing with fantasy and coming-of-age themes, Cuarón was seen to be well-placed to tackle the more serious events that play out in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, propelling the series forward into darker territory, where danger lurks around every corner, and the feeling is more of melancholy than triumph. Apparently, Guillermo del Toro encouraged Cuarón to take the offer of directing this third Harry Potter film, despite Cuarón having not read the books beforehand. Cuarón went on to direct movies such as Gravity (2013) and Roma (2018), winning the Academy Award for Best Director for both. Roma also won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, and Cuarón won BAFTAs for Best Direction for both films.

For a third time, Steve Kloves was tasked with adapting Rowling’s third novel in order to write the screenplay for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Whereas Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets were seen to be quite faithful to their respective source material, with this being both praised and criticised by viewers, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban did not strictly follow all the elements of Rowling’s novel, which was, again, both criticised and praised by fans.

Despite the third novel having quite a complex story, Rowling said that Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was the easiest one to write, of the five novels she had written by 2004. Rowling had creative input into the story of all the Harry Potter films, especially the earlier ones that were being made without the full series having been published. This was to ensure continuity and adherence to the rules of the Wizarding World she had created. For example, there were location ideas for some scenes in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban that had to be vetoed due to them not fitting into the universe. However, Rowling was well aware that her entire novel could not be adapted word-for-word and scene-by-scene for the screen, so at times, she understood the need for certain moments to be dropped for the films. She also appreciated the creation of new moments for the films, such as the Shrunken Head on the Knight Bus, wishing she’d come up with that herself[5]!

I haven’t read the books, but in my opinion, the most important story points within Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban that were required to understand later plot points were included in this film. Some examples are the backstory into Harry’s parents’ deaths, and the dynamic between those involved, i.e., Lord Voldemort, Peter Pettigrew, and Sirius Black. and the introduction of characters that would make a return in later films, with those three and Lupin being the main ones. If you can understand the conversation in the Shrieking Shack, then the rest of the series will be understandable. We also got to see new elements of the Wizarding World in this film, like the Knight Bus, Hogsmeade village, and the Shrieking Shack, along with the Marauder’s Map, which is referenced in later films.

Outside of that, there might have been moments that fans of the book may’ve liked to see, but that aren’t all that important to the films, like how characters got certain items. For example, in the book, you’d discover that Professor McGonagall sought special permission from the Ministry of Magic to allow for Hermione to use the Time Turner, in order to attend all her classes. In the film, we are just told that McGonagall gave it to Hermione. Hermione also has a cat in this film, named Crookshanks. We aren’t told how she got it in the film, but in the book, Hermione purchases Crookshanks whilst out in Diagon Alley that summer. In the film, Harry spends his time in The Leaky Cauldron and does not go out, but in the book, he enjoys his summer in Diagon Alley with his friends. There is also more about Ron and Hermione’s feud over their pets in the novel[6].

There were a few other story points that were omitted that fans might have liked to see. One of these relates to the Quidditch Cup. In the book, Gryffindor win the Quidditch Cup, and there are additional Quidditch matches, where the character Cho Chang is actually first introduced, as Ravenclaw’s Seeker. In the film series, Cho Chang is not introduced until the fourth film. In the third film, we only see the one match, where Harry is attacked by Dementors and his broom ends up destroyed. Speaking of brooms, in the film, Harry receives a gift of a new broom, the Firebolt, at the very end, with this being a gift from Sirius, only known to Harry and Hermione as they see it came with a Hippogriff feather. In the book, the Firebolt is actually sent to Harry earlier in the year, and as Hermione suspects it was sent by Sirius Black, who they still believed wanted to kill Harry, she reports it to Professor McGonagall who confiscates it for testing, before returning it to Harry later. Sirius would also sign Harry’s permission slip, allowing him to go to Hogsmeade in later stories, which is not mentioned in the films, and Sirius gifts Ron an owl named Pigwidgeon to replace Scabbers.

Lastly, there is one story point that might’ve been useful to viewers who were unfamiliar with the books, and that is around the Marauder’s Map. It is possible to piece together the creators of this map from references in later films, but it isn’t something that is outwardly talked about in the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban movie. The map was created by four people who call themselves Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. In the book, Lupin reveals to Harry and his friends that he was in fact Moony; Wormtail was Peter Pettigrew – with this nickname being used in later films; Padfoot was Sirius Black – again, we hear this name again later; and Prongs was James Potter. The four created it so they could know where Filch was at all times to stop themselves getting into trouble, although Filch did eventually confiscate the map from them. These nicknames refer to their Animagus forms, with Padfoot being a dog, Wormtail a rat, and Prongs a stag. The three students became Animagi to help Lupin during his werewolf transformations. This would’ve been good backstory to have at this time, but it’s not hard to connect the dots later[7]. We also don’t hear how Sirius escaped from Azkaban – by transforming into his Animagus – in the film, but again, it might have been nice to know, although not relevant to the unfolding story.

Some have also been annoyed about Harry’s opening scene of practising the Lumos spell at night, because this ignores the underage magic law, with this technically being illegal use of magic as Harry is under the age of 17 and not at school. Yet, Harry doesn’t become worried about being expelled until he accidently blows up Aunt Marge. This was an oversight I presume, and was just an opening shot to take the viewer right into the magical world.

It was decided that Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban had to feel darker, more dangerous, and show the child actors growing up, because they are thirteen in this story, so teenagers, and teenagers behave more erratically and are more emotional. This meant Cuarón wanted to treat his actors like adults, even giving Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, and Rupert Grint an essay assignment in order to get them to think about their characters and how they are evolving, also giving Cuarón further insight into how the actors see their characters, since they knew the characters better than he did. In this case, Watson and Radcliffe both completed the assignment, however, Grint did not. When asked by Cuarón about why he did not do it, Grint simply said he felt that Ron just wouldn’t do it!

This film could also be seen as a turning point in terms of the three main actors’ acting abilities. Columbus had said himself how it had been a bit of a struggle at times to get the child actors to focus whilst on set due to their young age. For Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Watson, Radcliffe, and Grint were no doubt starting to take their acting more seriously, and bringing in further brilliant British actors was a good opportunity for the three to learn from some of the best. Radcliffe in particular was a big fan of Gary Oldman’s work and the two got on very well, with Oldman even teaching Radcliffe had to play the guitar. This friendship between the two actors was no doubt helpful to translate that dynamic on screen for the scenes between Harry and Sirius; you can see the bond on screen. Radcliffe also remembers the Shrieking Shack scene, with the confrontation between Lupin, Pettigrew, Black, and Snape, thinking it was like watching a major acting masterclass play out before them between David Thewlis, Timothy Spall, Gary Oldman, and Alan Rickman.

Cuarón wanted to put his own stamp on the Harry Potter franchise with this film and to do that, he wanted to focus some attention on making Hogwarts and its grounds feel like a living entity. This is obvious by some of the sequences that simply focus on the landscape, like the one of the bird as it flies around Hogwarts – only to fly straight into the Whomping Willow. Cuarón wanted the viewers to be able to connect different areas of Hogwarts together from this film. He also wanted to create a certain mood and atmosphere in this film, with darker skies, more rain and mist, adding to the already tense story moments[8].

So, where do you go if you want rain and moody landscapes? Scotland, of course! Apparently, they chose to film in May hoping for nice weather but it rained almost every day. This turned out to be a good look for the film though with those overcast grey skies. I actually have a longstanding joke where I compare the weather to which Harry Potter film the sky best represents that day, and it is all thanks to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban that I can really do that, because it signalled a gradual darkening of the landscapes and backgrounds of the Harry Potter films as the series progressed.

There were many moments within this story that take place outside, so the natural landscape and the grandeur of the Scottish Highlands were seen to be perfect for this movie. Glencoe in the Scottish Highlands was a specific filming location, with shooting taking place here between May and June 2003. Sets were built near the bottom of Clachaig Gully, overlooking Torren Lochan and Signal Rock forest. These sets included Hagrid’s Hut, complete with its pumpkin patch garden, and the footbridge, or “Bridge to Nowhere”, where Lupin and Harry talk about his parents[9]. Loch Shiel was another location, this being the setting of Harry riding Buckbeak over the water, called the Black Lake in the film.

Other familiar locations were used again too, including the Glenfinnan Viaduct, which the Hogwarts Express goes along, and the Hogwarts Express itself. The train was actually targeted by vandals, who sprayed graffiti on it back in 2003 whilst it was stationed in Scarborough. It cost £3,000 to repaint the affected carriages[10]. Filming also returned to the streets of London, for example, for the location of The Leaking Cauldron near Borough Market, after Leadenhall Market was used in the first film, and the filming of the Knight Bus sequence, with the double-decker bus moment happened on Lambeth Bridge[11].

As with the previous two Harry Potter films, a mixture of special and practical effects were used to achieve the magical moments that appear in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. There are numerous physical transformations in this film, for example.

For Lupin’s, David Thewlis was covered in prosthetics, on his eyes, face, and hands in particular, and put in a split jacket to filmed this scene. Then, the rest of the transformation was moved to the computer to fully animate the full wolf transformation. It would also seem there was some sort of puppetry work with someone dressed up as a wolf on set, which may’ve been a visual marker for the actors or reference material for the computer work.

Peter Pettigrew also has to transform from rat to human and back again. In behind-the-scenes footage, Rupert Grint is seen to be holding an animatronic rat, and Timothy Spall then appears in a rat-like wig with scaly skin and bald patches, and claw-like nails, with the in-between work no doubt being completed digitally.

Aunt Marge swelling up is another transformation, which seems to have been done with the use of prosthetics and inflatable fat suits. There were different versions of these to show the swelling progression, and then flying harnesses were used to get Marge to “fly” outside. This was apparently done with no CGI at all.

Cuarón had hoped to not have to use CGI for the Dementors, and originally wanted to use flying puppets, to show them as floating beings with flowing dark robes. This was attempted but it didn’t quite work, so they shot the puppetry underwater and got more of the look they were hoping for but knew this was not practical for the shoot, so they had to go with CGI. After some trial and error and a lot of imagination, they came up with the look of the Dementors, which are basically skeletons in black robes. They look like the personification of Death, like the Grim Reaper, which perfectly matches their demeanour, as they seek to suck out souls and drain all the happiness and hope from their victims.

Another new character for this film was Buckbeak the Hippogriff. Animatronic figures of Buckbeak were created for close-ups and interactions with the actors, which took months to create and were a logistical nightmare to get on set too, but a CGI version was also created for some scenes. Since Hippogriffs are mythological creatures that are half-bird, half-horse, there was a framework to use when determining how Buckbeak would move, as they studied bird and horse bones and movements, discussing with physiologists and veterinarians. For the flight sequence, Daniel Radcliffe was placed on a rig that was set up to match the animation sequences that had already been shot, so Radcliffe’s reactions would fit perfectly when the two were combined. The team also confirmed that Buckbeak even does a CGI poop on screen, as Harry edges towards it during the Care of Magical Creatures class. This was added to give Buckbeak an authentic horse-like behaviour! The team decided this was probably the first time something like that had been done on screen.

Numerous sets were also built for shooting on this film, like the interior of the Knight Bus, with the bus being constructed from parts of actual double-decker buses to make this triple-decker bus and souping it up to be speedier than a regular London bus, and of course, the Shrieking Shack, which was built to look like a wooden, rickety and unstable structure, and was even placed on a moving platform to make the scenes look realistic, to make it seem like the Shack was moving in the wind[12].

The Wizarding World also features numerous animals. The crows in Hagrid’s garden were African pie crows, raised in California and trained. Hagrid’s Hut also has bats flying around it, so these were flown at intervals to go through the hut and back again, much like how owls have been used in the Harry Potter films. Two new pets were brought in for this film as well. A cat named Crackerjack became Crookshanks for this film, but it needed to look dishevelled and “manky”. To do this, its shed hair was used, by rolling it into a ball and clipping it on to the fur to make the cat look scruffy, with a small amount of jelly being put on its face to make it look “weepy”. A bulldog was on set too, becoming Marge’s dog Ripper, and it was trained to be fake-aggressive for its scenes[13].

There were also some funny moments to mention from the filming. One is a prank that was played on Daniel Radcliffe. During the scene of Dumbledore and Snape discussing the break-in at the castle by Sirius Black and Harry’s safety, all the students are sleeping in the Great Hall as the two teachers walk between them. All the actors were in sleeping bags. Radcliffe had apparently asked Cuarón if he could position his sleeping bag next to one of the extras that he had a bit of a crush on. With this in mind, it was the perfect opportunity for a prank, so a fart machine was placed inside Radcliffe’s sleeping bag. And the person with the controller to set this machine off was none other than Michael Gambon! He took this as an opportunity to prank Radcliffe and make him look bad in front of the girl he liked. Cuarón was in on the prank too, and there is actually footage of this online for anyone interested[14]!

To add to that, there was apparently a swear jar on the set to limit the amount of cursing around the young actors, which was a decision made by Cuarón to dissuade himself from swearing in front of the young cast! Also, instead of Hermione slapping Draco in the book, Tom Felton and Emma Watson felt a punch would be more intense for the scene, and had a lot of fun with that scene – even if Watson’s punches were harder than anticipated[15]!

There are some interesting cameos in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban too. One of these is former frontman of the Stone Roses Ian Brown, who can be seen magically stirring a cup whilst reading Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time. Brown is a friend of Alfonso Cuarón, so that is why he is in this film in particular. Cuarón’s then-wife and child also make a cameo in one of the portraits that are to the left of the Fat Lady’s portrait. Comedian and actor Paul Whitehouse also made an appearance as Sir Cadogan, an eccentric knight who takes over from the Fat Lady as the entryway to the Gryffindor Common Room, however, this scene was deleted from the final cut of the film. Finally, in the highly detailed Marauder’s Map, you can see Newt Scamander on the map. Scamander was the fictional author of the book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, later becoming the protagonist of the Fantastic Beasts prequel spin-off film series. The Marauder’s Map is also used for the End Credits scene, showing more secret locations, like a Stink Bomb store.

RECEPTION

After holding its world premiere at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on 23^rd May 2004, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was then released in the UK on 31^st May 2004, to coincide with the school half-term dates, with international release dates taking place within the next few weeks in many countries. For example, the US release date was 4^th June. This film was also released in IMAX theatres.

This means Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was a summer release, whereas the previous two films had both made it to cinemas for November and the festive season. Both Summer and Thanksgiving or Christmas are popular times for movie studios to show their new films. I think the tone of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was more suited to a summer blockbuster than a magical festive film, but really, a movie can be a success or a failure regardless of what time of year it is released.

In the case of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, it did not live up to the financial figures of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in 2001 or Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in 2002, although its final box-office total was still decent.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ended its initial theatrical run with just over $795 million, putting it in the No. 2 spot in the Worldwide Box Office for 2004, behind DreamWorks’ Shrek 2, which made just under $930 million. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was just ahead of two other big films of 2004: Spider-Man 2 and Pixar’s The Incredibles, which took $786 million and $631 million respectively. It also beat out other family-friendly films of the year by some margin, such as DreamWorks’ Shark Tale, Warner Bros.’ The Polar Express, and Disney Animation’s Home of the Range. Taking subsequent theatrical re-releases into account, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’s box-office total just over $810 million to date.  

In terms of reviews, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was highly rated. Many liked the additions to the cast, of powerhouse talent like Michael Gambon, Emma Thompson, David Thewlis, Gary Oldman, and Timothy Spall. These actors would return to their roles in later Harry Potter films as well. It was appreciated that the tone of this film was darker and went some way to make the franchise feel more mature, as the lead characters became teenagers. Due to this shift in tone, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, both the film and the book, is considered the fan-favourite of the entire series. The special effects were also praised, and viewers particularly enjoyed the Time Turner sequence, which ties all the events together to make for an exhilarating and dramatic ending to the story.

However, there will always be negative reviews for any film, and some of these relate to the film being too dark, both in regards to the storyline as well as in the overall look of the movie, especially when compared to the brightness of the first two. Some also commented that the movie was too long, which meant some parts of the story were slow and a bit boring at times. I personally can agree with this, as my attention wanders during some portions of this film, which is why I don’t like it as much as other Harry Potter films. The time-travelling sequence was also considered to be potentially confusing specifically for younger viewers. There is further debate on whether Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is faithful enough to the original books, as some feel that the film strayed away from the book too much, with sections of important plot points completely absent from the film, whereas others liked that the film was not as faithful to the book as the first two had been.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is considered to be the most critically-acclaimed of all the Harry Potter movies, although I would debate that, with critics seemingly liking the final film more. Regardless, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is beloved by the fandom, however, this film turned out to be the lowest-grossing of the entire film series. It is not clear why this was the case, however, it could have had something to do with the film being released 18 months after the second film came out, instead of just having a one-year gap between films, as had been the case with the first two. Others may have also been concerned by the darker elements of the film, feeling it was not going to be as magical or as whimsical as the previous ones, as Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban begins the descent into a deeper and more complicated storyline that is all-encompassing.

Awards might not be everything but they do provide another examination of how well a film was received. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban saw the film return to the Academy Awards nominations list, after Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets had been snubbed, although Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban did only get two nominations this time, and not the three that Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone had achieved. At the Academy Awards, along with John Williams’ nomination for Best Original Score, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was nominated for Best Visual Effects, losing to Spider-Man 2. The special effects team would get their deserved credit though at the Visual Effects Society Awards, where they won for Outstanding Visual Effects and Outstanding Performance by an Animated Character in a Live Action Motion Picture for Buckbeak, and were nominated in three other categories, including for Outstanding Models and Miniatures, and for Best Single Visual Effect of the Year, for the Dementor Train sequence. Stuart Craig was also recognised for his Production Design on this film, by winning Production Designer of the Year at the Hollywood Film Awards.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban would also receive numerous nominations at the BAFTA awards, in categories like Best Makeup and Hair, and Best Production Design, losing out to The Aviator; Best Special Visual Effects, with The Day After Tomorrow taking the win; and Outstanding British Film, which was won by My Summer of Love. It did, however, win the Orange Film of the Year here, a category voted for by the public.

The third Harry Potter film also picked up multiple nominations at the Saturn Awards, which honours the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was up for Best Fantasy Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Visual Effects losing to Spider-Man 2 in all cases; Best Supporting Actor for Gary Oldman, which David Carradine won for his role in Kill Bill: Volume 2; and Best Young Actor/Actress for Daniel Radcliffe, with Emmy Rossum winning for her leading role in The Phantom of the Opera. They were also nominated for Best Costume Design and Best Make-Up.

Other award ceremonies where Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban picked up some wins and nominations including the Kids’ Choice Awards, the Teen Choice Awards, and the People’s Choice Awards. At the Kids’ Choice Awards, Harry Potter was nominated for Favorite Movie, losing to The Incredibles, and Favorite Book, which was won by A Series of Unfortunate Events. At the Teen Choice Awards, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban won Choice Movie: Action Adventure, but did not win Choice Summer Movie; Spider-Man 2 did. At the People’s Choice Awards, it lost to Shrek 2 in the Favorite Sequel category.

LEGACY

The early Harry Potter films were being released alongside the publication of the remainder of the Harry Potter book series, meaning that readers were able to know what was going to happen in the rest of the film series. This might make many think that this would decrease the level of interest in the films or the books, but actually, it only increased it, with readers excited to see how their favourite scenes and moments would play out on screen.

In 2003, J.K. Rowling’s fifth Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix was published, becoming the fastest-selling book in history at the time, surpassing that of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’s publication in 2000. In 2004, there was no new Harry Potter book for readers to get their hands on, although the sixth book’s publication date was confirmed in December 2004. There were still seven months to wait though, as Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince would not come to bookshops until July 2005.

So, the new film would have to satisfy the Potter fans until then. A video game based on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban film was released in 2004, and it was just as much fun as the previous two films’ games in my opinion. Other merchandise was also available to purchase, such as movie posters, LEGO sets, clothing, and figurines.

Most interesting though was that around 2004, discussions were taking place between Warner Bros., J.K. Rowling and certain theme park companies to bring the Harry Potter franchise to fans in a whole new way. Rumours swirled around just who Rowling was talking to, and where the potential Harry Potter attraction might end up. Well, obviously being the industry leader, Disney were the most likely to get the go-ahead from Rowling…Right?

It is true that Rowling was in discussions with Disney, and the Harry Potter attractions would potentially have filled an area of Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, in Orlando, Florida. There were talks of two different attractions and a themed restaurant. Apparently, one of these attractions was to be an Omnimover-style shooter ride, kind of like Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, which already existed at this park, but instead of shooting lasers, guests would be casting spells with wands. The other attraction was said to be a magical creature petting zoo. However, despite Disney’s reputation for creating magical lands that engage and captivate guests from all over the world, Rowling was said to be less than impressed with Disney’s plan, despite signing a letter of intent with them in 2004. Rowling also did not like the idea of outside brands being featured in this “Harry Potter land”, so negotiations stalled, before being terminated, leading Rowling to look elsewhere to discuss her theme park dreams[16].

Most everyone knows that Rowling turned to Disney’s major competition, Universal Studios, who did end up building whole Harry Potter worlds at their theme parks, beginning at their Universal Studios Orlando property, mere miles from Walt Disney World. The discussions around that are a story for another time, but I do still want to mention a couple of attractions that exist in these theme parks spaces that specifically relate to the events and characters within Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

The first Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure Park features a recreation of Hogsmeade, which Harry and his friends first visit in this third film. The theme park land includes places like Honeydukes sweet shop, where guests can purchase Wizarding World-inspires sweets, and the pub The Three Broomsticks, for guests to have a drink or meal. You can also find the small rollercoaster Flight of the Hippogriff here, which was a simple redesign of the former coaster Flying Unicorn. An animatronic of Buckbeak is sitting at the start of the ride. The Hogwarts Frog Choir also does performances throughout the day.  At the other Harry Potter area, at Universal Studios’ main park, a recreation of Diagon Alley was created. Here, you can have a bite to eat at The Leaky Cauldron, and then go and see the Knight Bus parked up just by the entrance to the alley. You might even be able to have a conversation or your photo taken with the Bus Conductor and the Shrunken Head. The Diagon Alley area is only in Orlando.

Flight of the Hippogriff is also an attraction at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter areas at Universal Studios Hollywood, Japan, and Beijing though. The Buckbeak animatronic also features at these other parks. The Frog Choir exists at Universal Studios in Japan and Beijing. The Hogsmeade version of the Wizarding World exists at the parks in Hollywood, Japan, and Beijing, along with the same locations.

In 2024, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban celebrated its 20^th anniversary. A special summer event was held that year at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour in London, where new sets were able to be viewed, such as the Divination classroom, the interior of the Knight Bus, and a newly transformed Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, set up for Lupin’s lesson on Boggarts. The Hogwarts Frog Choir was also on display in the Great Hall set. Harry’s bedroom in The Leaky Cauldron was set up too, complete with the Monster Book of Monsters going on a rampage under the bed[17]!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban saw a rather big change from the enchanting locations and sequences we saw in the first two Harry Potter films.

Although both of those stories had elements of danger and dark magic to them, they were surrounded by bright and fun sequences, to keep away too much of the threat. Rightly or wrongly, these first two films feel more fun and less dangerous than any Harry Potter film to come after it, simply setting the stage and the atmosphere of the Wizarding World.

But as Harry and his friends get older, and a darkness starts to overshadow their magical schooling, there is no getting away from the fact that there is soon to be a battle between good and evil, light and dark. This movie was a huge jump forward towards that, and, although unsettling for some, it was a necessary shift in tone that had to be done.

The possibility had already been alluded to and prophesised before in the earlier films, yet, by the end of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the return of Lord Voldemort was starting to feel like a very real and imminent threat to Harry and his friends.

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REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Ben Sherlock, ’10 Actors Who Were Almost Cast In Harry Potter Movies’, ScreenRant.com, 28^th April 2020.

[2] Credit: Ben Sherlock, ’10 Actors Who Were Almost Cast In Harry Potter Movies’, ScreenRant.com, 28^th April 2020.

[3] Credit: Debanjali Bose, ‘‘Harry Potter’ director reveals Peter O’Toole turned down being the new Dumbledore because he ‘didn’t feel it was right’ to step into Richard Harris’s shoes’, BusinessInsider.com, 14^th November 2021.

[4] Credit: Lexy Perez, ‘‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ Turns 20: Director Chris Columbus Reflects on Pressures to Adapt Book and Hopes to Direct ‘Cursed Child’’, HollywoodReporter.com, 11^th November 2021.

[5] Credit: Warner Bros., ‘Creating the Vision’, from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) 11-Disc Blu-Ray Set (2011).

[6] Credit: Kelvin Kwao, ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’s Biggest Changes From Book to Film’, CBR.com, 2^nd September 2022.

[7] Credit: Matthew Rudoy, ‘Harry Potter: 10 Differences Between The Prisoner Of Azkaban Book & Movie’, ScreenRant.com, 21^st August 2020.

[8] Credit: HBO Max, Harry Potter 20^th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts (2022).

[9] Credit: Glencoe Scotland, ‘Harry Potter In Glencoe’, GlencoeScotland.com, date unknown.

[10] Credit: BBC News, ‘Potter train attacked by vandals’, BBC.co.uk, 23^rd March 2007.

[11] Credit: Visit Britain, ‘Visit Harry Potter filming locations’, VisitBritain.com, date unknown.

[12] Credit: Warner Bros., ‘Conjuring a Scene, from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) 11-Disc Blu-Ray Set (2011).

[13] Credit: Warner Bros., ‘Care of Magical Creatures’, from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) 11-Disc Blu-Ray Set (2011).

[14] Credit: Joshua Nelken-Zitser and Eammon Jacobs, ‘Michael Gambon, the actor who played Dumbledore, used to prank Daniel Radcliffe on the set of ‘Harry Potter’’, BusinessInsider.com, 28^th September 2023.

[15] Credit: Dan Morris, ‘Harry Potter: 23 Crazy Details Behind The Making Of The Prisoner Of Azkaban’, ScreenRant.com, 4^th September 2018.

[16] Credit: Brian Delpozo, ‘How ‘Harry Potter’ Almost Ended Up at Disney World – And Why the Deal Fell Apart’, Allears.net, 7^th June 2020.

[17] Credit: Carlo Simone, ‘Harry Potter Studio Tour shares Prisoner of Azkaban exhibit’, WatfordObserver.co.uk, 20^th February 2024.

1. BACKGROUND
2. PLOT
3. CHARACTERS & CAST
4. MUSIC
5. PRODUCTION
6. RECEPTION
7. LEGACY
8. FINAL THOUGHTS
9. REFERENCES

BACKGROUND

The first Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, had been hugely successful on its release in 2001, signalling the start of a major film franchise.

Although by no-means an Oscar-winning masterpiece, or a masterclass in dramatic acting, it had brought a fantasy world to the big screen, delighting young audiences, as well as bringing this magical world to an older generation, who perhaps had not read the book.

It was seen to be a faithful book-to-screen adaptation, which many appreciated, whilst also showcasing the best in special effects, and introducing a new crop of acting talent, alongside seeing some brilliance from titans of the British acting world.  

But now was time to adapt the second novel in the Harry Potter book series, the second of what was anticipated to be a seven-novel series, therefore suggesting there would be seven movies, each adapting one book. The second in the series was Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, originally published in 1998, and the tone was about to get significantly darker, as the ending of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone had indicated.

I had not read any of the novels before watching the film, so, as a nine-year-old going to see Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets at the cinema, I had no idea what to expect. I can’t even remember seeing the first movie, but I must’ve done, otherwise I would’ve had no reason to go and see the second. I went to see Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets with my dad and my sister, whilst my mum went shopping nearby – she doesn’t like Harry Potter at all. I distinctly recall which cinema it was, I know I saw a Dobby cardboard cut-out outside the cinema screen, and I know it was light when we went into the cinema but it was dark when we came out, because the film was so long – and it was winter.

I also know that I loved the film, and for a strange reason. For someone who doesn’t like being scared, not as a child or as an adult, the very reason I liked Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was because I found it creepy at that young age. It is my favourite of the Harry Potter movies, and has been ever since I first saw it. Who knows, perhaps this is where my love of villains came from. I’d grown up watching a sea of children’s television and Disney movies, even removing myself from the room whenever Maleficent turned into a dragon in my childhood favourite Disney film, Sleeping Beauty (1959). I’ve never liked being scared, but randomly, Harry Potter seems to be about my level, even to this day.

PLOT

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets starts at the Dursley home. Harry has been “gifted” cousin Dudley’s second bedroom, although Harry is still being mistreated. On this evening, Harry is being warned to stay in his room and to make no noise. Uncle Vernon has very important guests coming for dinner – the Masons – and Harry cannot disrupt that.

However, on returning to his room, Harry finds an odd creature there, jumping on his bed. The creature introduces himself as Dobby the House-elf and warns Harry that terrible things are about to happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and that he must not return there this year. Harry has no clue who Dobby is, and does not listen to his warning. Harry can’t stay with the Dursleys any longer than he has to. Dobby can’t reveal much more information and punishes himself frequently during this conversation for his weakness. All this racket though has alerted Vernon, who barges into Harry’s room, telling him to be quiet or else. Harry reiterates to Dobby that he will be going back to Hogwarts. Dobby resorts to desperate measures to force Harry to stay in Surrey, by magically dumping a cake onto the head of Mrs. Mason, knowing this will enrage his aunt and uncle.

The next day, Vernon doesn’t hesitate in punishing Harry, and puts bars on his bedroom window, telling him he’ll not be going back to Hogwarts again. That evening, Harry is woken up by a weird noise. Looking out of his window, he sees a flying car. It turns out the car’s passengers are Harry’s best friend Ron, and his brothers, twins Fred and George. They hook on to the window and pull the bars off. This wakes up Harry’s aunt and uncle who rush to Harry’s room. They unlock all the bolts on the door just in time to see Harry being pulled into the car. Vernon grabs onto Harry’s foot and tries to pull him back, but it doesn’t work. Harry gets into the car and Vernon falls out of the window, falling into the bushes below.

After a night of driving, Harry, Ron, Fred and George arrive at the Weasley family home, The Burrow. Harry is pleased to see Mrs. Weasley again, and she is also delighted to see him, although she is none too pleased with her sons for vanishing in the night and taking the flying Ford Anglia. Mr. Weasley arrives home from a long night’s work at the Ministry of Magic that morning and is introduced to Harry. Harry also sees Ron’s younger sister Ginny again, and she seems to have a bit of a crush on Harry. Ginny is about to start her First Year at Hogwarts. As the family sit down for breakfast, Ron’s older brother Percy sees that their owl has delivered their Hogwarts letters, including Harry’s. There is a whole list of supplies they’ll need, so they’ll have to go to Diagon Alley. The Weasleys plan on travelling there via the Floo Network, a series of magical portals using fireplaces. Harry is told to watch Ron as he demonstrates how it works, taking a handful of powder, clearly stating his destination name, and disappearing in a blaze of fire. Now, it is Harry’s turn. He grabs the powder, and says he wants to go to “Diagonally”. The Weasleys watch helplessly as Harry vanishes.

Harry turns up in a dusty, dark shop. This is Borgin and Burkes, a shop only frequented by dark wizards. Not wanting to stick around for long, Harry walks outside, only to find himself surrounded by unsavoury characters, who offer to help him find his way. Uh, no, thanks! Luckily, Hagrid sees Harry and quickly leads him out of trouble. Harry was in a dodgy place called Knockturn Alley, close to Diagon Alley. Hagrid takes Harry to the bookshop Flourish and Blotts, where he is reunited with the Weasleys and other best friend Hermione. Here, they see a book signing going on for famous wizard Gilderoy Lockhart. Lockhart spots Harry in the crowd, and calls him over for a photo for the newspaper. He also gifts Harry his complete works completely free of charge. Whilst they wait for their parents to finish at the bookshop, Harry, the Weasleys, and Hermione are approached by Draco Malfoy. Draco is clearly jealous of Harry for being so famous in the Wizarding World, and aims a slight at Harry. His father Lucius Malfoy comes over, telling Draco to “play nicely”. Lucius introduces himself to Harry, becoming instantly fascinated by Harry’s famous scar. Lucius guesses that the kids surrounding Harry must be part of the Weasley family; Lucius works with their father. He also rudely comments on Hermione’s parents, confirming that they are Muggles, non-magical folk, meaning Hermione has no wizarding ancestry, this being a disgrace to a family of Pure-bloods like the Malfoys, who do. Mr. Weasley comes over and tells Lucius they have different ideas of what a disgrace to wizards looks like. The Malfoys then leave.

Later, Harry and the Weasleys arrive at King’s Cross station late for the Hogwarts Express. Most of the family get through the portal to Platform 9 ¾ on time, but Harry and Ron are stuck in King’s Cross with the portal not opening for them. Harry suggests they wait for Ron’s parents by the car, which gives Ron an idea: they’ll take the flying car to Hogwarts! But Ron isn’t exactly an experienced driver only being twelve-years-old, so naturally the journey starts badly, with Ron forgetting to put the invisibility booster on so everyone around King’s Cross can see the car flying, and the journey gets worse when they are almost hit by the Hogwarts Express, and Harry almost falls out of the car. Eventually, they arrive at Hogwarts, only to crash-land into the Whomping Willow, which tries to bash the car out of its branches – it is magical after all. In the chaos, Ron breaks his wand and the car falls to the ground. Ron and Harry are ejected from the car, and the car drives into the Dark Forest.

Ron and Harry hurriedly head inside, but they are caught by Filch the caretaker who takes them to Professor Snape. Snape is horrified to learn about the two’s escapades, which have made the front page of the wizarding newspaper, and states if they were in his house of Slytherin, the two would be expelled and heading home right this minute. Professor McGonagall, head of Ron and Harry’s house of Gryffindor, then comes into the room with Professor Dumbledore, the Headmaster. McGonagall states that the two will not be expelled today but will both get detention and have letters sent home to their parents/guardians.

The next morning, the Second Year students, including Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Draco, arrive to their Herbology Class, headed by Professor Sprout. She teaches the students about mandrakes, getting the students to pot seedlings. We learn that the cry of a fully grown mandrake is fatal to anyone who hears it, but that mandrakes are needed to create a cure to recover people who have been petrified. At lunchtime, Ron tries to fix his wand with tape, but this does nothing to help it. Harry also meets Colin Creevey, a big fan of his as well as an avid photographer. At this point, Ron receives a letter from his mother. Known as a howler, this letter comes to life and starts to shout at Ron for his bad behaviour, whilst also congratulating sister Ginny for being sorted into Gryffindor House with her brothers. The letter then shreds itself. After that, the group have their Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson with none other than Gilderoy Lockhart. Lockhart is discovered to be an incompetent teacher, although handsome and charming, as he releases a swarm of Cornish Pixies into the class, with absolutely no training given, and then proceeds to let Harry, Ron, and Hermione round them up themselves after a pixie steals his wand!

Later on, Gryffindor’s Quidditch team, which includes Harry, are set to train, but are told that the pitch has been reserved for Slytherin’s team so they can train their new Seeker, Draco. Harry, Ron and Hermione learn that Draco’s place on the team seems to have something to do with his father buying the whole team new Nimbus 2001 brooms. Hermione states that this is the only reason he is on the team, to which Draco responds by calling her a “filthy little Mudblood”. Ron tries to react like the hero he is by cursing Draco to “eat slugs”, but the curse rebounds onto him, due to the fact Ron’s wand is broken. Ron then proceeds to spit up slugs, so Harry and Hermione take him to Hagrid for help. Hagrid has no cure for the spell and says it must run its course, asking what prompted Ron to cast it in the first place. Hermione tells Hagrid what happened, and he is equally shocked by what Draco said. Harry has no clue what the term “Mudblood” means, so Hermione explains. “Mudblood” is a derogatory term used by some for witches or wizards who have non-magical parents, like Hermione. Hagrid says that Pure-bloods are no longer the majority in the Wizarding World, with many witches and wizards being “Half-blood”, so one magical parent, or less. He tells Hermione not to think about it anymore, as her magical ability speaks for itself.

That evening, Harry spends his detention answering fan mail for Lockhart in his office. Harry starts to hear voices as the evening wears on. Lockhart tells Harry he must just be getting tired and tells Harry to go back to his dorm. In the corridor though, the voice returns. He then comes face-to-face with Hermione and Ron, asking if they heard a voice. They didn’t. They come across a flooded corridor and Filch’s cat seemingly frozen in fear. They see spiders moving in a line outside, and then discover writing on the wall, written in blood: “The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware.” Many other students and teachers arrive at this corridor and are equally shocked. Filch sees his cat, and, believing she’s dead, blames Harry for it, as he was at the centre of the scene. Dumbledore arrives and tells all the students to go to their dormitories, except for Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Dumbledore and the other teachers quickly dismiss them as being involved, especially as Harry has an alibi for the evening. They calm Filch down by saying his cat has been petrified and that they can cure her once the new mandrakes are grown.

In Transfiguration Class with Professor McGonagall, no-one can concentrate on the lesson so Hermione asks McGonagall to tell them what the Chamber of Secrets is. She recounts the story of Hogwarts’ founding, saying that four wizards founded the school over 1,000 years ago: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. Slytherin believed that only some witches and wizards should be able to study magic, i.e., those who have all-magical ancestry. The other three did not agree with him, so he left the school. But there were rumours that he had built a chamber in the school, known as the Chamber of Secrets, sealing it until his heir arrived at the school. The chamber is said to be home to a monster, who would prey on those Salazar Slytherin felt were unworthy to study magic. The school has been searched many times, but the chamber has never been found. After class, Ron, Harry and Hermione discuss who the heir of Slytherin might be, with the boys heavily suspecting it is Draco Malfoy. Hermione has a plan so they can be sure. She finds a recipe for Polyjuice Potion which will allow the three to turn into members of Slytherin House so they can question Draco about it, but it will take one month to brew.

Soon, it is time for Quidditch, with Harry and Draco going up against each other for the first time as Seekers. During the game, it becomes clear that a Bludger has been cursed as it starts to follow Harry. As Harry and Draco battle to find the Snitch to end the game and win it for their team, the Bludger follows Harry, even as the two go underneath the stands in search of the Snitch. At one point, Draco’s broom catches on a wooden slat, and he falls in a heap in the middle of the pitch. Harry continues on, finding the Snitch and winning the game, however, the Bludger continues to follow him, until Hermione magically destroys it. But the Bludger did hit Harry’s arm, breaking it. Lockhart comes over and tries to fix his arm, but instead, he casts a spell making Harry’s bones disappear. Gross. Harry is taken to the hospital wing, where Madame Pomfrey administers a potion to get Harry’s bones to grow again. Overnight, Harry is visited by Dobby again, who tells Harry that he cursed the Bludger wanting Harry to return home, saying things are going to get worse at Hogwarts. Harry ignores Dobby, and they are interrupted anyway, by the arrival of another petrified victim, Colin Creevey. The teachers are rightly concerned, especially as Colin’s camera has been destroyed so that he has no picture of the attacker and person responsible.

In light of these events, Harry, Ron, and Hermione try to speed up their Polyjuice Potion, which they brew in the middle of an abandoned girls’ toilets. The reason it is abandoned is because a miserable ghost called Moaning Myrtle resides there. As well as this, Lockhart and Snape decided to set up a Duelling Club to help teach the students how to deal with potential threats. Harry and Draco are put together as the first pair to duel, but they each choose to simply hurt each other as much as possible with their first spells. Draco then decides to conjure a snake in the middle of the room. Snape goes to remove it, however, Harry starts talking to it, as the snake looks set to attack student Justin. The room are astonished by what they are seeing, and Snape finally destroys the snake. Justin accuses Harry of getting the snake to attack him, and Hermione and Ron wonder why he never told them he is a “Parselmouth”, someone who can communicate with snakes. Harry says he didn’t know. Harry learns that Salazar Slytherin had the same talent, and Slytherin’s crest is a snake, so now everyone believes Harry to be the heir of Slytherin.

During study time, Harry walks out of the room, after being whispered about and stared at. He then hears that voice again, and comes across a petrified Justin and a frozen Nearly Headless Nick. Once again, he is found there by Filch who gets McGonagall. McGonagall sends him to Dumbledore’s office. There, Harry asks the Sorting Hat if he put him in the right house, given what he has learnt about his connections to Salazar Slytherin. The Sorting Hat says he could’ve been great in Slytherin, but Harry rejects that. He then comes across Dumbledore’s phoenix, which suddenly bursts into flames. Dumbledore comes in at that exact moment, making Harry plead his innocence. Dumbledore explains the phoenix is Fawkes, and he was old so his death was not unexpected. The two then watch as a new phoenix is reborn from the ashes. Hagrid arrives into the office, saying Harry has nothing to do with all these incidents. Dumbledore says he already knows that, asking Harry if he has anything to tell him though. Harry says nothing.

Later on, the Polyjuice Potion is finally ready. Hermione tells Ron and Harry to give two cupcakes to Draco’s friends Crabbe and Goyle. The cupcakes have a sleeping potion in them, so it will knock them out. Once this happens, Ron and Harry take their robes and some of their hairs. Hermione tells them to put the hairs in the potion – she has done the same with a female Slytherin student – and they drink up. The potion is disgusting, but it does transform Harry and Ron into Crabbe and Goyle. Hermione tells the two to go ahead without her. They arrive at Slytherin’s common room and are almost caught out by seeing Ron’s brother Percy there. Draco comes to their rescue, and arrogantly leads them away from Prefect Percy. Ron and Harry begin their questioning, and Draco reiterates that he doesn’t know who the heir of Slytherin, only that it isn’t him. His father wouldn’t tell him much either, only that the last time the chamber was opened a Muggle-born student died. Draco hopes it will be Hermione who dies this time. With that, Ron is about to lash out at Draco, but the pair discover that the spell is wearing off and they rush out of there, back to Hermione. They see that Hermione has accidentally turned herself into a cat, after the hairs she took were actually cat hairs. She is sent to the hospital wing to recover.

The next day, Harry and Ron see the corridor by Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom has flooded so they investigate. Myrtle thinks Harry threw a book at her, but he denies that. Harry sees the book lying on the ground and retrieves it. That evening, he opens up the diary but finds it is blank inside. He learns it belonged to someone called Tom Marvolo Riddle. Harry starts to write in the book, and begins a conversation with someone inside the diary, seemingly Tom Riddle. He asks for information about the Chamber of Secrets, and is transported back fifty years to Hogwarts. Here, Harry watches as a young female student is carried out of Hogwarts and confirmed dead. Tom Riddle approaches Dumbledore, and questions whether Hogwarts will be closed. He says it will be unless the attacker is found. Not wanting to leave Hogwarts, Tom tries to find the attacker, accusing Hagrid and his huge pet spider of killing the girl. The spider runs out of the castle and Hagrid is expelled. Harry is transported back to the common room, telling Hermione and Ron what he has learnt.

They plan to question Hagrid about it, when Neville rushes up to Harry saying someone has ransacked their dormitory. Harry sees that Tom Riddle’s diary has gone, so that must’ve been what the intruder was looking for. Harry then goes to play Quidditch but McGonagall says the game has been cancelled. She takes Harry and Ron to the hospital wing, where they discover that Hermione is the latest person to be petrified. From this point, new rules are brought in for the students, like a 6pm curfew and the need to be escorted to and from lessons. Harry and Ron have to speak to Hagrid though so take his invisibility cloak and go to him. Hagrid is very jumpy that evening, and before they can ask him anything, the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, arrives to take Hagrid to the prison Azkaban, believing him to be involved in these attacks. Lucius Malfoy also turns up, stating that he has got all the school governors to back his call to relieve Dumbledore of his duties. Dumbledore walks away willingly, but Hagrid believes there will be killings next if he goes. Hagrid then states that if someone needs help, they should follow the spiders.

Once alone, Harry and Ron take Hagrid’s dog Fang and head into the Dark Forest, following the spiders. They come to a clearing where a huge monstrous spider appears to them. He is called Aragog and explains that he did not kill that girl 50 years ago and that Hagrid was innocent. Spiders actually fear the monster in the chamber. Aragog also says that the girl who was killed died in a bathroom, giving them some clues. However, Aragog doesn’t plan on letting them escape as he has children to feed, and they have surrounded Harry and Ron. As it looks like they’ll be attacked, the Ford Anglia appears to them, and drives them out of the forest and away from the spiders. They are taken back to Hagrid’s hut.

Ron and Harry return to the hospital to visit Hermione, where Harry finds a piece of paper in her hand about the Basilisk, a huge snake-like creature. They believe this must be the monster in the chamber, and that it tallies with what Aragog said. Hermione also worked out that the Basilisk must be travelling in the pipes and that anyone who looks at it will instantly die. Harry and Ron go over all the victims and learn that Mrs. Norris the cat didn’t die because she looked into the water on the floor; Colin saw the Basilisk through his camera; Justin must’ve seen it through Nearly Headless Nick; and Hermione was looking around corners with a mirror in case she saw it. Ron and Harry then figure out that Moaning Myrtle must be the girl who died in the bathroom all those years ago. Suddenly, there is an announcement calling the teachers to the corridor where another message has been left. Ron and Harry hide so they can listen in. McGonagall says a student has been taken by the monster into the chamber, with the message simply reading: “Her skeleton will lie in the chamber forever”. Lockhart arrives late, and is tasked with retrieving the student as he claims to know where the chamber is. He goes to his office to get ready. McGonagall reveals that Ginny Weasley was the one taken.

Ron and Harry go to Lockhart’s office to tell him what they know, but they discover him packing. He admits that he is a fraud and hasn’t done anything he said he’d done in his books, instead stealing from other wizards and then wiping their memories. He plans to do the same to Ron and Harry but they point their wands at him first. He goes along with them to the girl’s bathroom so they can ask Moaning Myrtle how she died. She said she saw a pair of yellow eyes by one of the sinks, and just died. Harry sees snake carvings on the sink and believes it is the entrance to the chamber. He says something in Parseltongue, snake language, and it opens. They send Lockhart down the drop first, and then they follow, arriving into the chamber, which is filthy and covered in bones and snake skin. Lockhart pretends to faint at the sight of it, using the opportunity to steal Ron’s wand. He tries to wipe their memories, but the spell backfires because Ron’s wand is still broken, slamming him into the wall of the chamber. This causes a rockslide, separating Ron and Harry. Ron finds that Lockhart wiped his own memory. Harry tells Ron to clear a way out, and he’ll find Ginny.

Going deeper into the chamber, Harry finds a lifeless Ginny on the ground. Someone approaches him. The older boy reveals himself to be Tom Riddle. He says he was a memory preserved in his diary but as Ginny grows weaker, he grows stronger, and will no longer be a memory. He takes Harry’s wand, and reveals that he was behind the Basilisk attacks and the writings on the wall, putting Ginny into a trance with the help of the diary to get her to do all that for him. Ginny was the one to try and dispose of the diary in the bathroom, leading Harry to find it, and later stole it back. Harry wonders why Tom would want to do all this. Tom says his target has actually been Harry because Tom Riddle is Voldemort. The letters of his full name actually spell out “I Am Lord Voldemort”, showing Riddle’s true talent for anagrams. Voldemort claims to be the greatest sorcerer in the world, but Harry says that accolade goes to Dumbledore. With that, Fawkes the Phoenix arrives with the Sorting Hat. Tom laughs at the gift and calls for the Basilisk to attack Harry. It chases him through the chamber, with Fawkes pecking out the creature’s eyes so looking at it will no longer be a threat. Harry outmanoeuvres the Basilisk momentarily and returns to Ginny, trying to work out what to do. The Basilisk returns and as it does, Harry finds a sword has appeared in the Sorting Hat. He takes the sword and runs up onto a large sculpture. He stabs the Basilisk through the head, killing it, but not before the Basilisk bites him, sending its venom rushing through Harry.

Harry returns to Ginny and is told by Tom that he’ll die in minutes and there is no hope. Harry then takes the Basilisk fang and stabs the fang into the diary. With each stab, Tom Riddle starts to break apart, until he disappears. Ginny suddenly awakens. She sees Harry is hurt. Harry tells Ginny to go through the chamber and find Ron. At that, Fawkes returns. Fawkes then releases tears onto Harry’s arm, making Harry remember that phoenixes have healing powers. He recovers and Fawkes flies them all back to Hogwarts.

Ron and Harry find themselves in Dumbledore’s office, where they are reprimanded for their breaking of multiple school rules but are given special awards for services to the school. Ron is told to get an owl to fly Hagrid’s release papers to Azkaban, and Harry speaks to Dumbledore more about Voldemort. Dumbledore says that when Voldemort gave Harry his scar, he inadvertently passed over some of his powers, like speaking to snakes, but that Harry must be a Gryffindor as he was able to pull the Sword of Gryffindor from the Sorting Hat, and clearly showed loyalty to Dumbledore to have Fawkes come to him. Lucius Malfoy then arrives to find Dumbledore reinstated. Dumbledore says that many of the governors believed Malfoy would curse their families if they did not agree to let Dumbledore go. Malfoy rejects that. Malfoy asks if the perpetrator has been caught, so Dumbledore reveals all about Tom Riddle and the diary. Malfoy sarcastically congratulates Harry Potter on saving the day.

Harry asks Dumbledore for the destroyed diary and follows Malfoy out of the school. He forces Malfoy to take the diary, as Harry believes Malfoy put it into Ginny’s cauldron on that day at Flourish and Blotts before school. Malfoy refuses to admit to that, handing the diary over to Dobby, his House-elf. Harry gets Dobby to open it, and he sees a sock inside. Dobby says his master has presented him with clothes so he can be a free elf. Lucius sees Harry has tricked him into losing his servant and goes to attack him, but Dobby stops him. Harry thanks Dobby for his help, but tells him to stop trying to save his life from now on!

Later, the school is set up for dinner, and all the petrified students return, including Hermione, much to Ron and Harry’s delight. Dumbledore announces that all school exams have been cancelled given the upheaval everyone experienced this year. Hagrid then arrives, having been released from Azkaban. He thanks Ron, Harry, and Hermione for clearing his name. Harry tells Hagrid Hogwarts wouldn’t be the same without him. The students and teachers break into a round of applause, as Hagrid is embraced by everyone.

In a post-credits scene, we are taken back to Flourish and Blotts, where we see a new book on display. Titled “Who Am I?”, it is a new novel from Gilderoy Lockhart, who is seen on the cover of this book in a straitjacket, as he gets to grips with his memory loss. 

CHARACTERS & CAST

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets sees a return for many characters and actors from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, whilst also introducing a selection of new ones, like The Weasleys, who were introduced in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, however, many of them were only briefly mentioned. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, we get to see more of their family life, and meet Mr. Weasley for the first time.

Molly Weasley was in the first movie; however, here, Molly is clearly shown to be the strong matriarch of the family, putting her foot down with her unruly sons. Molly is also a loving mother, which is obvious from how she dotes on her children, making sure they have everything they need for school and ensuring their home of The Burrow is kept cosy, as well as caring for Harry whenever he is around, given his difficult family situation in the Muggle World. Molly’s character only becomes more integral to the series as the movies continue.

Dame Julie Walters was cast as Molly Weasley. Walters’ film debut came with her role as Rita White in Educating Rita (1983), acting alongside Michael Caine in this film. From then on, she has had a variety of roles on screen, including being cast as Mrs. Wilkinson in Billy Elliot (2000); as Annie in Calendar Girls (2003); as Rosie in Mamma Mia! (2008) and its 2018 sequel; and as Mrs. Bird in the Paddington film series. Walters has also had some history in voice acting for animation, such as voicing The Witch in Pixar’s Brave (2012) and Ms. Montague in Gnomeo and Juliet (2011), reprising her role for its sequel Sherlock Gnomes (2018). She is also known on British TV for working alongside comedian Victoria Wood, for example, starring in sitcom dinnerladies (1998-2000) as Petula, amongst others.

The father of the Weasley family is Arthur Weasley, who works in the Ministry of Magic, specifically in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office. The flying Ford Anglia car they own is therefore technically illegal, which is why he faces an inquiry at work after Ron and Harry drive the car to Hogwarts, being spotted by numerous non-magical people. Arthur is less of a strict parental figure, as Molly seems to have that pretty much covered, but he clearly adores his children, and is proud of his family, despite their lesser economic status. He stands up for his family in front of the pretentious Malfoys, who believe themselves to better than the Weasleys due to their Pure-blood status and perceived wealth. Like Molly, Arthur also goes on to be an important part of the fight between good and evil later on.

Mark Williams was cast as Arthur Weasley. He had previously been cast as Horace in the live-action adaptation 101 Dalmatians (1996), based on Disney’s animated 1961 film, and as Exterminator Jeff in The Borrowers (1997). He later appeared as Wabash in the Oscar-winning movie Shakespeare in Love (1998). In more recent years, Williams has voiced the character of Barry in Aardman Animation’s Early Man (2018) and currently stars as the title character in the long-running BBC series Father Brown (2013-present). He also played Sir John Middleton in the 2008 miniseries Sense and Sensibility, also for the BBC.

We also get to see more of the other Weasley children, outside of Ron, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Ron’s older brother Percy, a school prefect, is seen a few times in the second movie, with Ravenclaw Penelope Clearwater, his secret girlfriend, and is spotted by Harry and Ron by Slytherin’s Common Room, after they have been transformed into Crabbe and Goyle. Chris Rankin was cast as Percy. After appearing in the majority of the Harry Potter films, Rankin went on to be an assistant production coordinator on series like Downton Abbey (2010-15) and Atlantis (2013-15), and is currently the Chair and Lead Producer at the Brecon Little Theatre in mid-Wales[1].

Twins Fred and George are the next brothers in age order. Fred and George are still part of the Gryffindor Quidditch team as they were in the first film, continuing to be seen in these sequences. They don’t have a huge amount to do with the story of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, but their mischievous nature is briefly glimpsed in this film, before being made more obvious in the later films. Fred and George were played by James and Oliver Phelps. After appearing in all of the Harry Potter films, the duo went on to be cast as Brian Carter and Barry Carter in the TV movie Danny and the Human Zoo (2015) written by comedian Lenny Henry, and made a cameo appearance together in Last Night in Soho (2021). Recently, the twins have hosted the travel series Fantastic Friends (2022) and the cooking competition series Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking (2024-present).

The other Weasley sibling to mention is Ginny Weasley, the youngest of the Weasley children and the only girl. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Ginny starts her First Year at Hogwarts, being placed in Gryffindor House with her brothers. It would be expected that Ginny’s year at school would be pretty quiet, but no; Ginny gets to be highly involved in the problems that occur at Hogwarts. Ginny inadvertently was given a piece of dark magic by Lucius Malfoy in Diagon Alley. She has no idea what the diary is doing to her, and doesn’t realise the trouble she is in until it’s too late and she is being used as a sacrifice so that Voldemort can live again. Luckily for Ginny, Harry was on hand to rescue her from almost-death. Ginny continues to play a role in the story in the later films. Bonnie Wright was cast as Ginny. After her time on the Harry Potter series, Wright went on to be cast as Rose in the independent film The Sea (2013) and as Georgina in the film After the Dark (2013). She also wrote and directed the film Separate We Come, Separate We Go. Recently, Wright has focused on activism, being involved with Greenpeace and the Rainforest Alliance. She published the book Go Gently: Actionable Steps to Nurture Yourself and the Planet in 2022. 

Gilderoy Lockhart becomes the second Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts, after Professor Quirrell “crumbled” in the first film. He is seen to be both exceptionally charming, with his blond hair and bright smile, and arrogant, believing his own self-importance due to his success as an author, and accomplishments as a wizard. However, it soon becomes obvious to everyone that Lockhart actually has very little magical skill, not being able to do the simplest of spells and shying away from his teacherly responsibilities whenever the pressure gets too much. Lockhart reveals himself to be a total fraud near the end of the story, admitting to using memory charms to steal other witches’ and wizards’ life stories and pass them off as his own. When he tries to do the same to Ron and Harry so he can twist the story of finding the chamber, probably for a new book, he fails to account for the fact Ron’s wand is severely damaged and ends up wiping his own memory. He still gets a book out of the situation so I guess it’s a small victory for Lockhart!

Sir Kenneth Branagh was cast as Lockhart. Branagh is well-known for being a great Shakespearean actor, both on stage and screen, having both directed and starred in numerous film adaptations of Shakespeare plays, such as Henry V (1989) and Hamlet (1996), both nominated at the Academy Awards: for Best Director and Best Actor for Henry V, winning for Best Direction at the BAFTAs; and for Best Adapted Screenplay for Hamlet. He also directed Belfast (2021), which won the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Original Screenplay, and won the BAFTA for Outstanding British Film. Branagh has also appeared in various other roles. For example, he has recently portrayed Hercule Poirot in a series of movies based on Agatha Christie’s novels, also directing the movies, starting with Murder on the Orient Express (2017), and was cast as Niels Bohr in Oppenheimer (2023). On the more comedic side, Branagh was cast as Sir Alistair Dormandy in the comedy-drama The Boat That Rocked (2009) and voiced Miguel in DreamWorks Animation’s The Road to El Dorado (2000). Branagh is set to appear in The Devil Wears Prada 2 (2026).

However, before Branagh was cast as Lockhart, there were multiple other famous actors who were also considered. Jude Law, who went on to be cast as a young Dumbledore in the Fantastic Beasts series of films, was apparently seen for the part of Lockhart, before being deemed to be too young for the role. Alan Cumming and Rupert Everett were also both offered screen tests for the part, although after discovering a pay discrepancy between himself and Everett, Cumming refused to take any further part in the process[2]. Later, it was reported that Hugh Grant was first offered the part, before having to drop out due to scheduling difficulties, filming the rom-com Two Weeks Notice (2002) with Sandra Bullock. Branagh was confirmed in the role in October 2001[3]. Although I am a fan of all of these actors, I think that Branagh was perfectly cast as Gilderoy Lockhart. Branagh even won the London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor of the Year for this role.

Another major new character introduced in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was Draco’s father, Lucius Malfoy. He is tall, menacing, and more than just a little bit evil. Lucius is tough on his son and has brought him up to believe that families of Pure-bloods are exceptional, whereas anyone who is not is lesser than them. We get to see why Draco is the snobby, arrogant child he is by meeting Lucius. Lucius is shown to have a fascination with Voldemort, after he looks at Harry’s scar, plus he has Tom Riddle’s diary in his possession. This movie only gives a brief incite into Lucius, with his true villainy still to be revealed.

Jason Isaacs was cast as Lucius Malfoy, in another perfect casting in my opinion. Strangely enough, Isaacs had originally auditioned for the part of Lockhart. He was annoyed to find he hadn’t got the part, and to make it even worse, he was asked to read for Lucius Malfoy. Isaacs’ reasoning for not wanting to play Lucius was that he was already set to play Captain Hook in the 2003 film Peter Pan and didn’t want to play two villains back-to-back, but his family encouraged him to take the part, and now, he is so glad he did[4]. Lucius is one of my favourite Harry Potter characters, so I’m glad he did too, and by being Lucius and not Gilderoy Lockhart, we got to see Isaacs in multiple films, not just one. Prior to his work on Harry Potter, Jason Isaacs was known for such roles as Ronald Quincy inArmageddon (1998); as Colonel William Tavington in The Patriot (2000); and as Captain Mike Steele in Black Hawk Down (2001). After Harry Potter, Isaacs went on to be cast as George Zhukov in The Death of Stalin (2017); John Godfrey in Operation Mincemeat (2021); Archie inMrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2022); and Moth Winn in the now-controversial movie The Salt Path (2024). In television, Isaacs recently portrayed Cary Grant in the miniseries Archie (2023) and played Timothy Ratliff in Season 3 of The White Lotus (2021-present).

As for Draco Malfoy, and his sidekicks Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, we did meet them in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, shown to be the main enemies of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, they are part of the action for longer, as they are central to the three friends figuring out who the heir to Slytherin is. They suspect it is Draco as he spends much of the movie spouting out beliefs about how non-magical students aren’t worthy and are lesser than him, even going so far as to call them “Mudbloods” and hoping Hermione will be one who dies from the release of the Chamber of Secrets’ monster. With Harry and Ron transformed into Crabbe and Goyle, they try to get Draco to confirm he is the heir, but he turns out not to be, making the three Slytherins no longer useful to Harry, Ron and Hermione’s sleuthing. However, Draco later becomes a major part of the story in later films.

Tom Felton was cast as Draco Malfoy. Unlike many of the other child actors though, Harry Potter was not his first film role. Felton had previously been cast as Peagreen in The Borrowers (1997) and as Louis T. Leonowens in Anna and the King (1999), which starred Jodie Foster. After Harry Potter, Felton went on to play Dodge Landon in Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011); James Ashford in Belle (2013); and Rufus Lancaster in A United Kingdom (2016). Recently, Felton was cast as Richard Goodridge in Save the Cinema (2022) before going on to star as Sam in 2:22 A Ghost Story on the West End in 2022. His stage work has continued by reprising his role as Draco Malfoy in the Broadway production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, with his run going from November 2025 to May 2026. He also published his autobiography Beyond the Wand in 2022.

Goyle was played by Josh Herdman. He appeared in all of the Harry Potter films, and was cast as Ben in the CBBC series UGetMe (2003-05), going on to be cast in the recurring role of Eric Davidson in Season 2 of the ITV series Marcella (2016-21). In 2016, he started a career as an MMA fighter. Crabbe was played by Jamie Waylett, only appearing in the first six films, as he was not asked to return for the final two due to legal troubles.

Continuing with the dark wizards, although we saw Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, attached to Quirrell’s head, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, he got to appear in almost-human form, as his sixteen-year-old self, Tom Riddle. Tom Riddle is confirmed to be the heir of Slytherin, having opening the chamber when he was at Hogwarts fifty years before, instructing the Basilisk to kill Myrtle, as he set about continuing Salazar Slytherin’s task of ridding the school of any students with non-magical parents. However, on his return, although the Basilisk petrifies multiple students, Tom confirms his real target was actually Harry Potter, wanting to finally kill him, after his failed attempt over a decade before, and return to life. But Harry being Harry doesn’t let that happen, and manages to stop him, by destroying the diary with a Basilisk fang, which makes the memory of Tom Riddle disappear forever, saving Ginny in the process.

Christian Coulson was cast as Tom Riddle. He was actually 23 at the time, despite portraying a sixteen-year-old. Prior to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Coulson was cast as Ben Stemson in The Worst Witch spin-off series Weirdsister College (2001-02). He went on to be cast in the recurring role of Sebastian in the series Mozart in the Jungle (2014-18) and as Ian in Love Is Strange (2014). Many well-known actors also auditioned to play Tom Riddle, including Eddie Redmayne, who went on to be cast as Newt Scamander in the Fantastic Beasts series, and James McAvoy.

Along with these characters, we met a few new teachers. One of these was Professor Sprout, who teaches Herbology at Hogwarts. Here, she teaches Harry and his friends about mandrakes and their importance of curing those who have been petrified. It’s lucky they potted those mandrakes on the first day of the year because they were certainly needed! Miriam Margolyes was cast as Professor Sprout, who returns only for the final Harry Potter film. She had previously appeared as The Nurse in Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet (1996) and was cast as Aunt Sponge and Mrs. Glowworm in James and the Giant Peach (1998). She had also earlier portrayed Queen Victoria in the festive special Blackadder’s Christmas Carol (1988). Recently, Margolyes has appeared on our screens in a variety of travel shows, such as Miriam and Alan: Lost in Scotland (2021-22) with Alan Cumming; Miriam Margolyes: A New Australian Adventure (2024) and Miriam Margolyes Discovers New Zealand (2025). Margolyes has also voiced characters for animated movies, including The Matchmaker in Disney’s Mulan (1998) and Queen Oofeefa in Aardman’s Early Man.

We also spend quite a bit of time in the movie in Hogwarts’ hospital wing with Madame Pomfrey the school nurse. She has to nurse Harry back to health, after Lockhart makes all the bones in his broken arm disappear, and later has to care for the petrified students, starting with Colin Creevey who comes to the hospital in the middle of the night. Madame Pomfrey was played by Gemma Jones. Jones has had a variety of screen roles, including period dramas, such as her roles as Mrs. Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility (1995) and Lady Queensberry in Wilde (1997) with Stephen Fry portraying Oscar Wilde. Jones is also known for her role as Pamela Jones, Bridget’s mother, in the Bridget Jones film series. She was later cast in the recurring role of Connie James in Spooks (2002-11), and as Ivy, Elton’s grandmother, in Rocketman (2019). More recently, Jones played Rose Wright in the British drama series I, Jack Wright (2025-present). She reprised her role as Madame Pomfrey for the sixth and final Harry Potter films.

The Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, makes his first appearance in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets too. In the film, he shows up at Hagrid’s hut and takes him away to Azkaban, believing him to be behind the spate of attacks at Hogwarts, since Hagrid was made to take the blame for them fifty years before. Fudge doesn’t seem to listen to reason from others and follows his instincts blindly, without looking for concrete evidence. This makes him seem a tough figure, but his stubbornness proves to be a problem for him later on in the story. Fudge was played by Robert Hardy. Before Harry Potter, Hardy was cast as Sir John Middleton in Sense and Sensibility (1995) and as Lord Caversham in An Ideal Husband (1998). He went on to appear as Tite Barnacle in the BBC miniseries Little Dorrit (2008), with Claire Foy in the title role. Hardy reprised his role as Fudge in the following films, up to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007). Hardy died in 2017.

A few new students are brought in to the story for this second film too. One is Colin Creevey, an excitable First Year student, who is a big fan of Harry Potter’s and an avid photographer. He even manages to capture some action shots of the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin Quidditch match, almost getting hit by the rogue Bludger in the process! Colin sadly succumbs to the Basilisk, becoming the first human victim to be petrified. Thanks to his camera, Colin doesn’t look the Basilisk in the eye and survives the attack, being revived by the Mandrake potion by the end of the film, alongside the other victims. Hugh Mitchell was cast as Colin. He played Young Nicholas Nickleby in the 2002 film Nicholas Nickleby around this time, going on to be cast as Young Silas in The Da Vinci Code (2006) and later playing Richard Welles in the BBC series The White Queen (2013).

 Justin Finch-Fletchley, a Hufflepuff student, is the second victim to be petrified. He previously met Harry at the Duelling Club, set up by Lockhart and Snape, however, he finds himself potentially about to be the victim of cobra attack during it, and blames Harry for it. Harry starts speaking to the snake in Parseltongue, but as nobody knows what he is saying, it appears that Harry is trying to get the snake to attack Justin, making him feared after that. Justin is then discovered by Harry to be petrified just a little while later, furthering cementing the case that Harry is behind the attacks, despite not being. Like Colin, Justin is “un-petrified” by the end of the film and able to go about his life. Justin was played by Edward Randell who now seems to be a freelance journalist, having only made an appearance in this second Harry Potter film.

Moaning Myrtle, although a ghost, is also a new student character. Myrtle resides in a girls’ lavatory, which is rarely ever used because she is so miserable, resenting her early death, although she also seems to like to wallow in her self-pity as well! Basically, she can make the students feel uncomfortable so they tend to avoid her. Hermione chooses this bathroom to brew their Polyjuice potion in for this very reason, so it can remain a secret. Myrtle turns out to be the key to figuring out where the entrance to the chamber is, as it is discovered she was the first fatality from the Basilisk, after the chamber was first opened fifty years before. With the information about her death, Myrtle reveals the location of the entrance, helping Ron and Harry to rescue Ginny. She also kindly offers Harry the opportunity to share her toiler as a ghost should he die down there. Nice!

Shirley Henderson, despite being in her 30s by the time this film was made, was cast as Moaning Myrtle, likely because of the versatility of her voice, bringing a real whine to Myrtle’s lines. Early in her career, Henderson was cast as Isobel Sutherland in the mystery series Hamish Macbeth (1995-97), which saw Robert Carlyle in the title role. She also appeared as Gail in Trainspotting (1996) and its 2017 sequel. Other film roles of hers include Jude in the Bridget Jones film series; Lucille Hardy in Stan & Ollie (2018); and Agatha Christie in See How They Run (2022). On television, Henderson was cast recently, as Annie in the series Summerwater (2025) and in the recurring role of Claire Marsh in Dept. Q (2025-present) for Netflix. In voice acting, Henderson voiced the character Ooooo in Pixar’s Elio (2025) and Babu Frik in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2021). Henderson reprised her role as Moaning Myrtle only in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005).

MUSIC

Legendary composer John Williams, who had created a beautiful, magical score to accompany Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, returned to compose the score for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Williams is known for composing music for such movie franchises as Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and Jurassic Park, winning numerous awards, including Grammys and Academy Awards, during his career.

This meant that the music of both Harry Potter movies feels quite similar, with some themes returning, such as the iconic “Hedwig’s Theme”, which features in the introductory scene of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, with the title card.

I particularly like the track “Fawkes the Phoenix”, which can be heard as Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Lockhart make their way out of the chamber with Fawkes’ help. It is triumphant, showing they succeeded in their fight against evil. I also like the final track in the film, played when Hermione returns to the Great Hall after recovering from being petrified, and as Hagrid makes his grand return to Hogwarts after being released from Azkaban. This track is “Reunion of Friends”. As an adult, I always cry at this final scene, and the music is a huge part of what makes that scene so beautiful.

There are darker elements to the story in this second film, so naturally, these needed to be reflected in the score too. One piece of music that shows this is “The Spiders”, playing as Harry and Ron run from the spiders in the Dark Forest. The opening sounds of this track sound just like spiders spiralling down on their webs, making all arachnophobes’ skin crawl. “Meeting Aragog” has similar elements. “Meeting Tom Riddle”, for when Harry first sees Riddle in the chamber, is equally spooky, whilst also being mysterious as we wonder who this boy is, and where he came from. After that, we have Harry’s fight against the Basilisk. The track “Dueling the Basilisk” accompanies this sequence, making for a thrilling final battle for the film, one filled with peril and life-threatening danger.

As with the first film, Williams was once again recognised for his work on the music for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, although not at the Academy Awards as he had been for the first film. He was nominated again at the Grammys though, for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. Once again, Williams lost to Howard Shore’s score for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. But Williams did beat out Shore for the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Composer, which was not only for his work on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, but also for the Steven Spielberg-directed films Minority Report and Catch Me If You Can, also released in 2002. Williams was also recognised at the BMI Film Music Awards for his work on movie soundtracks that year, which including the three already mentioned, plus Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones.

PRODUCTION

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone had opened in theatres on 16^th November 2001, but there was no time for the cast and crew to celebrate as production on the second film, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, began just a few days later.

The total shoot for the second Harry Potter movie was apparently slightly less time than the first, at around nine or ten months, but this is still a significant amount of time, and not unexpected given the length of the movie’s runtime, the numerous impressive, vast sets, and the number of characters, and therefore actors, and locations required for filming.

Christopher Columbus was back to direct the second film, after directing the first, having been a popular director particularly with the young cast, who had had a great time filming Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Steve Kloves also returned to write the screenplay, adapting it from J.K. Rowling’s original novel, having done the same for the first.

Kloves admitted that it was difficult adapting these novels, because, since the whole series had not yet been written and published, although Rowling had a clear idea of the complete narrative, he had to check with Rowling if his screenplay was going in the right direction, so as not to allow something to be contradicted in a later film, or so something important was not omitted. In the case of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Kloves said one part of the story in particular would come back later in series, so he had to pepper in just enough clues to allow this to make sense later without giving the game away in this film. I would assume that this story element was the importance of Tom Riddle’s diary.  Rowling was particularly impressed with how the ominousness of Tom Riddle’s diary was portrayed in the film, as it is a creepy and scary concept to have someone write back to you in something as private as a diary, something many young girls turn to when wanting to express their innermost thoughts and feelings.

An element that ripples throughout the Harry Potter series is the message about racism, or classism, with the Pure-bloods against everyone else, i.e., Half-bloods or Muggle-borns. This is first introduced in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, specifically differentiating Draco Malfoy and his family from the others because the Malfoys are Pure-bloods, whereas even Harry Potter is a Half-blood, because his mother was Muggle-born. The Weasleys are technically Pure-bloods, but they don’t believe themselves to be better than anyone else. This idea is a huge part of this second film and novel, with the Basilisk’s main purpose being to purge Hogwarts of Muggle-born students, but the idea comes back throughout the series. Kloves felt this theme was very important and had been perhaps more present in his first draft of the script, before having to condense it for the final film script, so the idea is quite different from the book in some aspects[5].

Although it has been noted just how faithful the first two Harry Potter movies are to the first two novels, there obviously had to be some concessions made to the story, to allow the films to be a reasonable length, and to keep the pace snappy and interesting.

One character that is referenced in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, both film and novel, is Penelope Clearwater, Percy Weasley’s love interest at Hogwarts. She is only mentioned in the film, as she walks down a hallway with Percy in one scene, however, she was actually another petrified student in the book, being found beside Hermione in the library. In the book, it is Penelope’s mirror that they are using to look around corners so they don’t meet the eye of the Basilisk.

Something else that could’ve been included in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets the film, but could’ve been omitted simply for pacing is that Hermoine’s potion book, Moste Potente Potions, where she finds the recipe to brew Polyjuice Potion is actually in the Restricted Section of Hogwarts Library in the novel, with Hermione having to metaphorically charm Lockhart into writing her a note, giving her permission to take the book out. In the film, this potion book just happens to be on a regular shelf of the library.

There were a few other minor changes to the story, including missing out Nearly Headless Nick’s 500^th Deathday Party, attended by Harry and his friends; a scene of the Weasley brothers “de-gnoming” their garden at The Burrow, literally throwing gnomes over a hedge to keep them out; and Mr. Weasley repairing Harry’s glasses after his visit to Knockturn Alley. For some reason, it was not supposed to be noticed that with Hermione repairing the glasses in the film, she is technically breaking the rule against underage witches and wizards using magic outside Hogwarts…A professor character is also missing entirely from the films, and that is Professor Binns, the History of Magic professor, who was the one to reveal the history of the Chamber of Secrets to Harry and his classmates. Instead, this speech was given to Professor McGonagall

Another omission includes the fact that the book first references “Squibs” in this story, specifically referring to Argus Filch, the caretaker. This leans further into the racism experienced in the Wizarding World, as the term refers to someone with at least one magical parent, but with no magical powers of their own. This may’ve initially been part of the initial script for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, because, in a deleted scene, we see Harry pass Filch a letter, which appears to be confirming Filch’s inability to perform magic. Instead, this fact is only briefly mentioned in the sixth Harry Potter film[6].

Speaking of deleted scenes, there were numerous ones that have since been available to view on DVD and Blu-Ray releases of the film. An interesting one was the scene in Borgin and Burkes, which Harry ends up in after his disastrous first attempt at using the Floo Network. Harry sees Draco Malfoy and his father entering the shop, and has to hide in a coffin to avoid being seen. Here, Lucius is selling items that he needs to get rid of from his home, since the Ministry of Magic are conducting more raids into finding dark magic. It was this scene which Tom Felton and Jason Isaacs later reflected on, as Isaacs had accidentally injured Felton’s hand here. Isaacs must’ve gotten very into character at this stage in filming, because when he used Lucius’ cobra cane to scold Draco, he accidentally hit Felton with the cane, and the pointy fangs hurt his hand. Isaacs apologised profusely after they stopped rolling, with Felton later joking that it was reminiscent of Jekyll and Hyde working with Isaacs, as he was cold and harsh one minute when acting, and nice the next when he wasn’t! The two loved working together though, and have a strong friendship even now.

Something else in the deleted scenes that might’ve helped with the plot of the story is seeing Justin Finch-Fletchley introducing himself to Harry just before the Duelling Club began. In this scene, Justin confirms he is a Muggle-born. I didn’t realise this until many years later, and simply thought the Basilisk was just attacking whoever was around, not specifically targeting Muggle-borns with Hermione just being a coincidence, since Tom Riddle says to Harry at the end of the film that that wasn’t his purpose anymore. I thought the Basilisk was trying to get to Harry and these students were just in the way, so had this scene been included, it would’ve added more clarity for viewers who were not familiar with the book. This idea was further used in a later scene, where Harry heard people talking about how Justin had revealed he was Muggle-born to Harry, making the students gossiping suspect Justin would be the next victim, since Harry must be the heir of Slytherin.

Another scene that could’ve added more clarity to the overall story was Harry, Ron, and Hermione all seeing that the diary belonged to a Tom Riddle. On hearing the name, this reminded Ron that he’d seen that name whilst polishing the school’s silver as part of his detention. Riddle had won an award for services to the school fifty years ago, with this being the same time the chamber was opened. They therefore assume Riddle will know all about the chamber, but see nothing written in the diary, so cannot read anything about it. This would’ve led on to Harry writing in the diary and conversing with Riddle through it[7].

In terms of filming locations, many of the same locations were used in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets after their usage in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, for example, Alnwick Castle. Specifically in this second film, the Inner Bailey area of the castle was used for the sequence of Harry and Ron crash-landing in the flying car on their arrival at Hogwarts[8]. The cast and crew also made a return to Durham Cathedral. In this sequel, the Cloister Garth was used for the scene of the Gryffindor Quidditch team learning about Draco becoming Slytherin’s new seeker, and Ron casting his “eat slugs” curse, with the Chapter House being used for Professor McGonagall’s classroom. It would seem that the Divinity School at Oxford University was the location for Hogwarts’ hospital wing and was also used for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone[9]. Other locations include the North Walk Cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral being the location for the scene of the writings on the wall in this film, with Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom being nearby, and the Glenfinnan Viaduct in the Scottish Highlands becoming iconic for the sequence of Harry and Ron meeting the Hogwarts Express, and almost crashing with it, whilst in the flying Ford Anglia. The viaduct makes a return in other Harry Potter movies too, during the group’s travels to Hogwarts[10]. The story also returns to King’s Cross station, where we see Harry and Ron attempt to follow the rest of the Weasleys on to Platform 9 ¾, finding the portal has closed. This is once again inside King’s Cross, or how it was many years ago, but when Harry and Ron go to get in the flying car, this exterior shot is actually of neighbouring train station St. Pancras.

With the filming of the second movie feeling very similar to the first one, for numerous reasons, it made everyone feel free and more comfortable with what they were doing, including Christopher Columbus. Additional cast members meant widening the Harry Potter family, with Kenneth Branagh, Mark Williams, and Jason Isaacs being welcomed into the cast, with the latter two becoming very integrated into later storylines. Branagh was actually set to play Richard III on stage partway through filming Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and was learning his lines for it in his downtime. Daniel Radcliffe was said to have enjoyed running lines with him for the play. Jason Isaacs had an enjoyable moment seeing just how brilliant Radcliffe was too, as Isaacs improvised the line “Let us hope Mr. Potter will always be around to save the day”, so that Malfoy could have the final say in Dumbledore’s office. Isaacs had not been expecting Radcliffe to shot back with his own bit of improv, cooly stating, “Don’t worry, I will be”. This showed a level of increased confidence in the young cast in the brief spell of time between the two movies, which did not go unnoticed by the adults on set. It was also notable that they were growing up by the fact many of the boys’ voices were breaking by this point[11]! But to really bring everyone back down to earth, that this production was centred around child actors, there was reportedly an outbreak of headlice on set during filming, which was said to have halted production briefly[12]!

Moving on, let’s discuss some important characters who were not part of the filming process, and yet feel very real to audiences. One of these is obviously Dobby the House-elf, a beloved character in the Harry Potter universe for many. Dobby was going to have to be a computer-generated character, and the animators wanted to make him appear as he was described in the books, as a sort of shrivelled and puny creature, made to wear a dirty rag all his life, as he serves one wizard family forever, a family who have tormented him and weakened his spirit. There were some concerns around making Dobby, as he had to feel lovable, without being cute and cuddly, and be a sympathetic figure that we feel sorry for. It was possible he’d end up being too annoying, like some other computer-generated characters of the time, or that he’d feel too digital to seem real. Although Dobby might appear quite strange, especially given how far computer animation has progressed since the early 2000s, he remains a figure that we want to root for[13].

The talents of his voice actor will also have helped with this. British actor Toby Jones was chosen to voice Dobby. Jones has made appearances in various well-known movies franchises, including being cast as Claudius Templesmith in The Hunger Games franchise; as Mr. Eversoll in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018); and as Basil Shaw in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023). Jones has also recently starred in numerous British miniseries, such as portraying Alan Bates in Mr. Bates vs. The Post Office (2024), and Alan Rusbridger in The Hack (2025). Initially, when Jones was offered the part of Dobby, he didn’t understand the importance of the character, but later came to realise how loved Dobby is. 

It was quite difficult for the actors to act to Dobby, because he obviously wasn’t there, but the two actors who had the most scenes with Dobby, i.e., Daniel Radcliffe and Jason Isaacs, did their best with them, and I think it shows. Isaacs, for instance, chose to kick Dobby down the stairs in Dumbledore’s office. Columbus apparently believed Isaacs had just slipped as he was walking down them, but he made it clear, he was actually acting! This moment made it into the film. Radcliffe was also said to have impressed many on set as he acted to a stick with a ball on the end of it for all Harry’s scenes with Dobby, being said to have twice as much focus and commitment as many adult actors in these types of scenes.

Fawkes the Phoenix is another vital character to the story, coming to Harry’s rescue whilst in the Chamber of Secrets on two different occasions. But Harry first meets Fawkes in Dumbledore’s office, and this phoenix is an animatronic figure, not a CG creation. It apparently had cameras in its eyes so it could be moved to respond to the actors. Columbus and Radcliffe later revealed that they believed Richard Harris thought Fawkes was a very well-trained bird[14]! But whenever Fawkes had flight sequences, and for when he caught fire and was reborn, digital effects were used.

Aragog the spider – an Acromantulas, to be exact – was another creature that had to be created for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. It was thought that Aragog would simply have to be computer-generated, due to his size, however, it was later decided that Aragog could be constructed, even if he was such a complex and huge spider. If it didn’t work, there was always CG to fall back on, but in the end, Aragog was created, as a puppet. This must’ve been absolutely terrifying to see up close! The swarm of Aragog’s children, however, were CGI. Julian Glover was tasked with voicing Aragog. He had previously been cast as General Maximilian Veers in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Aristotle Kristatos in For Your Eyes Only (1981), showing Glover’s talent for playing villains. He later had a recurring role as Grand Maester Pycelle in Game of Thrones (2011-19).

The Basilisk, a huge snake-like creature, was created with a mixture of practical models and CGI. A 30ft long structure was built, detailing the Basilisk’s head and mouth, which was used and controlled for the battle scene with Harry. This mechanical puppet could even move towards Radcliffe as he literally fought against it. However, when the Basilisk slithers through the chamber, following Harry, this was CGI[15].

Outside of that, various new sets had to be built for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. One of these was Dumbledore’s Office, a grand office to suit the grandeur of Dumbledore and his status as Headmaster. It was thought the scale of the project may’ve had to be scaled back from original designs because of a lack of budget, however, instead of compromising on the office, further funds were secured to ensure the office was constructed as it had been envisaged. Numerous paintings of former Hogwarts’ Headmasters had to be commissioned, for those to be hung around the walls of the office, and various celestial objects, including a large telescope, were either created or purchased to fill the space, to match Dumbledore’s interests in astronomy. They also had to build the moving, spiral staircase, the Griffin Stairwell, that Harry steps into to get to Dumbledore’s office. The greenhouse for Professor Sprout’s Herbology class was another new set, although they had wanted to film in potentially one of the greenhouses at Kew Gardens, but on learning that air traffic would be a problem for them, they chose to build a set based on one of Kew’s actual greenhouses. The Weasley family home of The Burrow, a homely cottage-like building, was another new set, filled with whimsical, magical inventions, like a pan being cleaned, and moving knitting needles, which were all practical effects. The Burrow is also filled with little knick-knacks, to complement Mr. Weasley’s fascination with the Muggle world[16].

Sadly, a very tragic ending was about to unfold as Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets headed into the post-production stages. Richard Harris had been able to see out the filming of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in his role as Dumbledore, however, by August 2002, Harris was struggling with ill health. Columbus saw his health decline quite quickly after that, although Columbus did say Harris seemed in good spirits when he saw him in the hospital. After visiting him, Harris warned Columbus not to even think about replacing him as Dumbledore for the next film as he’d be back. Columbus said he’d never do that, and said he’d see him in a few weeks, however, sadly, as Columbus began editing Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets a few days later, he was shocked to discover that Harris had passed away, on 25^th October 2002 at the age of 72[17]. This meant that Dumbledore would have to be recast for the future films. Columbus did not even return for the third film, at least as director, as he decided he needed a break from directing the Harry Potter movies, passing them over to others to finish the rest of the series. 

RECEPTION

An official premiere was held for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on 3^rd November 2002 in London. This was soon followed by the film’s release to cinemas, on 15^th November 2002, in both the US and the UK, coming to international markets either around the same time, in the following few weeks, or within the first couple of months of 2003.

In the UK, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets had a high opening weekend, making around £9.8 million in its opening weekend in the country[18]. It made an estimated $87.7 million in its first three days of release in the US, making this the country’s third best opening of all time, behind May 2002’s Spider-Man, with $114.8 million, and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’s $90.3 million. Across the world, the movie is said to have made $142 million in just those first three days. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was even in top position at the box office in eight other countries, including creating the highest openings ever in Taiwan and the Philippines[19].

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ended its run with a total worldwide gross of just under $880 million, in second place to the second film in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, which made a total of $923 million. Rounding out the rest of the Top Five were Spider-Man, with just under $805 million; Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, with $645 million, and Men in Black II, with a little over $440 million. This proves that studios even loved making sequels over two decades ago!

In comparison with the first film in the series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets did not end up surpassing its predecessor. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone made around $975 million during its initial release, and did top the worldwide box office for 2001. But the figures weren’t too far apart, showing that Harry Potter had a bright future as a film franchise, even though this was only two movies into an expected seven movie series.

Looking at audience reviews, there were plenty of positive comments for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and it seemed to have a similar overall view by the public as the first one had received. Many commented that Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets felt the same as the first, in terms of both the story elements and the production value. This would’ve been due to the benefit of having continuity with the direction of the films as the first two were both directed by Christopher Columbus, as well as perhaps the two films being filmed so close together, with many of the same settings. This second film was also seen as staying quite faithful to the original book, something that the first film had been praised for as well. The story of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was said to have developed the overall story and the characters further, being considered scary, in a good way, with the finale battle between Harry, Tom Riddle, and the Basilisk a particular highlight. The special effects were received well too. For new characters, many of the actors performing these roles were highlighted, including Kenneth Branagh, who was a total scene-stealer as Lockhart, and Jason Isaacs, who was quietly menacing in his role as Lucius Malfoy. Fans of the Weasleys also appreciated a closer look at the family in this film too. The acting of the child actors was seen to have improved quite significantly between the first two films as well.

However, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was slightly longer in runtime than the first movie, and for some, it showed, with the story said to have dragged in places, and just generally being considered too long for a family-friendly film. There were also some who commented that Richard Harris seemed tired in this film, lacking the twinkle that Dumbledore had had in the first movie. I can’t say I noticed this to be honest; I just thought Dumbledore didn’t have as much of a role in the story here. These were likely retrospective reflections after Harris’ death. The other problem with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was that you had to have seen the first to understand the sequel, because they waste no time in explaining what is going on; there’s too much to cover that this wouldn’t have been a good use of the runtime. There were also those who obviously didn’t like the first film for varying reasons, including that the book was stuck too closely to, or that Columbus had made the film too light and breezy, and since the first two films feel very similar, if you already didn’t like the first film, it was unlikely you’d like the second.

It also turns out that Dobby was quite a divisive character. I always liked Dobby; I thought he was funny in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and he was my favourite character from the film when I first watched it. However, some found him much too annoying, comparing him to Star Wars’ potentially most-hated character, Jar Jar Binks. Perhaps in both cases, the use of these characters for comic relief purposes took away from the story of their respective films? Or they were just generally irritating with their voices and appearances. I don’t know, but I should mention that I always liked Jar Jar Binks too – sorry!

In terms of awards, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone had turned out to be quite a surprise hit, even receiving three nominations at the Academy Awards for Art Direction, Costume Design, and Original Score, although it did not win in any of the categories. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ended up not being nominated at the Academy Awards for anything, this being only one of two Harry Potter films not to receive a single nomination here, but there were a few award wins and nominations for the sequel.

For example, the BAFTA Awards, seen to be kinder to the British film industry than some of the US academies, for obvious reasons, nominated Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in three categories: Best Production Design, Best Sound, and Best Special Visual Effects. There were no wins for Harry Potter at this ceremony though. Elsewhere, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets received six nominations at the Saturn Awards, including for Best Fantasy Film and Best Make-Up, losing out to The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers on both occasions; and Best Special Effects and Best Costumes, losing to Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones. Christopher Columbus and Daniel Radcliffe were both up for Best Direction and Best Performance by a Younger Actor, but also did not win.

A few other awards and nominations to mention include a win for Best Family Film at the Critics’ Choice Awards, alongside a nomination for Best Digital Acting Performance for Toby Jones as Dobby, which turned out to be a win for Andy Serkis’ portrayal of Lord of the Rings character Gollum. The same thing happened at the 2003 MTV Movie Awards. Sadly, Dobby was nominated in a much meaner ceremony, at the Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, for Most Annoying Non-Human Character. Luckily, he – and Jar Jar Binks – lost out to Scrappy-Doo in Scooby-Doo (2002)! Finally, I’ll just mention that Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was nominated for Favorite Movie at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards – and lost to Austin Powers in Goldmember, which I thought was definitely not aimed at children!

LEGACY

It is common knowledge that as the Harry Potter movies were being made, J.K. Rowling was still publishing the rest of the series. By the time the first movie came out in 2001, only the first four books of an anticipated seven-book series had been published.

A little while after Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets came to our screens, the fifth book in the series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, was published, in mid-2003. The publication date was announced in early 2003, with it being confirmed as 21^st June 2003, a Saturday so that children would not feel the need to miss school to be one of the first in line to purchase it! More than a third of million copies of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire had been sold on its first day of release in the summer of 2000, becoming the fastest-selling book in history at the time[20]. The release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix then broke that record with its 2003 publication.

As well as the new novel being published, a computer game based on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, with similar gameplay to the game based on the first film, was developed. Like the first Harry Potter game, I enjoyed playing this second one too. Plenty of merchandise and memorabilia for this first sequel have also been available to purchase over the years, including replicas of Tom Riddle’s diary with the Basilisk fang through it.

There was even a sketch created for the British charity Comic Relief which aired as part of its annual television broadcast in 2003 which parodied Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. It was created by Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, who played Harry and Ron respectively. The sketch was humorously titled Harry Potter and the Secret Chamberpot of Azerbaijan. As well as recreating moments from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, including having Harry meet “Dobby”, who was being played by the beloved Basil Brush, a puppet for any non-British readers who may be unfamiliar with the character, and the flying car sequence with the Hogwarts Express, it was also made like a mockumentary, with the “actors”, including Jeremy Irons playing Alan Rickman/Snape, Ronnie Corbett, known for his small stature, playing Robbie Coltrane/Hagrid and Alison Steadman playing Maggie Smith/McGonagall, talking about how they’d rather be working on The Lord of the Rings, or not understanding how to act to allow for special effects. The sketch was simply poking fun at the films, which had already become huge successes both in Britain and around the world. J.K. Rowling took the parody in her stride by recording a mock introduction to the sketch, telling viewers not to watch because she had “nothing nice to say” about it.

The real legacy of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets though is that its success, and that of the first movie, allowed for the series to be continued in movie form, because had this second one not proved to be as relevant as the first, this may’ve been the end of the film series. It wouldn’t be the first time a movie series based on novels was halted partway through due to a lack of financial success – thank you, Divergent… It also introduced the viewers, those who had not read the books, to the evil that was set to come later in the series. It gave us plenty of clues for upcoming plot points, although we were not aware of this until a few films later when everything was tied together.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Stylistically, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets feel very similar. This is thanks to the strong vision of Christopher Columbus, who wanted to stick as close to J.K. Rowling’s books as he could, without making the films hours and hours long. Columbus successfully brought in elements of dark magic and evil wizards without making the films too dark and scary for the children that would be watching.

However, with an expected seven-movie series, and a quick turnaround between the first and second films, to allow them to be released within a year of each other, Columbus was rightly exhausted and decided not to commit to directing any further Harry Potter movie.

This allowed for the remaining films to be taken in a new direction, with an even darker tone. Voldemort had returned once again for the sequel, and it was only a matter of time before the past he’d never even known about was going to catch up to Harry Potter.

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REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Martin Barber, ‘Harry Potter: ‘Percy Weasley changed my life’ says Chris Rankin’, BBC.co.uk, 22^nd November 2021.

[2] Credit: Zac Ntim, ‘Alan Cumming says he told ‘Harry Potter’ producers to ‘f— off’ after they asked him to audition for Professor Gilderoy Lockhart’, BusinessInsider.com, 9^th August 2021.

[3] Credit: ABC News ‘Kenneth Branagh Joins Second ‘Harry Potter’ Film’, ABCNews.com, 25^th October 2001.

[4] Credit: Veronica Vivona, ‘Jason Isaacs Wanted to Play Gilderoy Lockhart’, ScreenRant.com, 19^th October 2017.

[5] Credit: Warner Bros., ‘Conversation with J.K. Rowling and Steve Kloves (2003)’, from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) 11-Disc Blu-Ray Set (2011).

[6] Credit: Matthew Rudoy, ‘Harry Potter: 10 Differences Between The Chamber Of Secrets Book & The Movie’, ScreenRant.com, 21^st August 2020.

[7] Credit: Warner Bros., ‘Deleted/Extended Scenes’, from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) 11-Disc Blu-Ray Set (2011).

[8] Credit: Alnwick Castle, ‘Harry Potter at Alnwick Castle’, AlnwickCastle.com, date unknown.

[9] Credit: Visit Britain, ‘Visit Harry Potter filming locations’, VisitBritain.com, date unknown.

[10] Credit: BBC, ‘Harry Potter 20^th anniversary: The UK film locations’, BBC.co.uk, 20^th November 2021.

[11] Credit: Adam Markovitz, ‘Harry Potter: Casting the Spell’, EW.com, 1^st July 2011.

[12] Credit: Tamar Altebarmakian, ‘Secrets You Didn’t Know Behind The Making Of Harry Potter’, ScreenRant.com, 30^th January 2018.

[13] Credit: Alec Cawthorne, ‘Chris Columbus – Part Two Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’, BBC.co.uk, 28^th October 2014.

[14] Credit: HBO Max, ‘Harry Potter 20^th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts (2022).

[15] Credit; Warner Bros., ‘Creature Effects: Basilisk’, WBStudioTour.co.uk, date unknown.

[16] Credit: Warner Bros., ‘Behind Hogwarts: Building a Scene’, from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) 11-Disc Blu-Ray Set (2011).

[17] Credit: Lexy Perez, ‘‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ Turns 20: Director Chris Columbus Reflects on Pressures to Adapt Book and Hopes to Direct ‘Cursed Child’’, HollywoodReporter.com, 11^th November 2021.

[18] Credit: BBC, ‘Potter conjures up box office record’, News.BBC.co.uk, 18^th November 2002.

[19] Credit: The Guardian, ‘Potter breaks UK box office records’, TheGuardian.com, 18^th November 2002.

[20] Credit: BBC News, ‘June debut for Potter latest’, News.BBC.co.uk, 10^th February 2003.