Remember that rumor that Prisoner of Azkaban director Alfonso Cuarón might return to the Potterverse for the first Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movie? Turns out Nikki Finke was just getting our hopes up. She and Cuarón have cut me. They’ve cut me deep.
Said Cuarón to Spanish news agency EFE:
“It was a very beautiful experience for me. I have a lot of love for that universe and I tremendously admire JK Rowling, but today, for the present, projects based around lots of visual effects don’t attract me.
“I’m coming out of a five-year process of doing visual effects and now I sort of want to clean my palate of that a little bit.”
Cue sobbing. I respect Cuarón’s decision, and him wanting to take a break from visual effects after the behemoth that was Gravity certainly makes sense. But… judging by some of the comments when we first reported this rumor, I might get some blowback here, but oh well: Prisoner of Azkaban is not only my favorite Harry Potter movie, it’s also, to me, the only movie in the series that was good as a movie, not just as an adaptation of the books.
The other movies, particularly the later ones in the series, came across to me like Cliff’s Notes versions of the books—”We have to do this scene. OK, now skip ahead 50 pages for the next one.” All the plot points were there, but none of the style, none of the feeling—none of the, dare I say it, magic—of what it was like to be a student at Hogwarts. Prisoner of Azkaban had a distinct visual style, which is good when you consider film is a visual medium and all. If I want every little plot detail and tidbit of background information, I can reread the books.
Children of Men, Gravity, Y Tu Mamá También, A Little Princess: The man has skills. But it’s a moot point anyway. When magizoologist Newt Scamander hits theaters on November 18, 2016, it’ll be with another director.
(via: Digital Spy)
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