5. Harry Potter And The Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
While the Harry Potter movie series was overall a complete let down to a large majority of the fan base, many can agree that Cuaron's adaptation of the third book was one of the best. After taking the reigns from friend Christopher Columbus, Cuaruon set a much darker tone for the series in his movie, stepping away from how Columbus had safely navigated the first two by making them lighthearted and family orientated. Cuaron's Prisoner of Azkaban took the tone to a much darker level, but also retained a sense of humor, even if it was closer to Cuaron's humor, as opposed to Columbus' family friendly styling. While Cuaron was handed the same main cast as the first two films, the addition of Gary Oldman as Sirius Black, David Thewlis as Remus Lupin and Timothy Spall as Peter Pettigrew/Scabbers with a handy cameo from Dawn French as the Fat Lady. Cuaron's touch is seen in the scenery, the lighter colours of Hogwarts have been taken over by grimy greens which dominate the scenery. While some fans have credited Cuaron's Prisoner of Azkaban as one of the best in the series, it does end up coming short on Cuaron's usual work who was once again perhaps limited by how dark it could have gone as the movie was still targeted towards a family friendly movie. Stories of Cuaron's actions in this movie became a part of the aura that surrounds him as a director. Two stories or anecdotes stand out the most to me, firstly that due to the fact that he was working with children, a part of Cuaron's contract banned him from swearing, and the image of the firebrand Mexican director trying to hold in his passion seems exactly the right kind of conditions for a director who is most famous for his movies to older audiences. The other anecdote is that Cuaron set the three main stars of the movie series, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson the task of writing an essay on their characters, according to the anecdote, Emma handed in a several page essay describing in depth the character of Hermione, Daniel submitted a basic one page essay on the titular Harry Potter and Rupert submitted his essay late, in true Ron Weasley style.