The third Harry Potter film is often considered the best of the bunch. It marks a change in tone, look and feel, while retaining the strange feel-good vibe of the series. Despite this, its plot follows a child living in semi-fear of a man who seems to be a deranged murderer.
Even though this the only film not to feature Voldemort (and probably the film with the least actual plot progression) the creators of the franchise still manage to let a fair few mistakes make their way into the final product. Here are ten continuity errors in The Prisoner Of Azkaban.
Harry’s Invisibility Cloak Is Even More Magical That He Knows
One of the funniest scenes of the entire film comes when Harry uses his invisibility cloak to let himself wander the streets of Hogsmeade village. When Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle are out in the snow by the Shrieking Shack, Harry decides to have some fun by throwing snowballs and pulling down Crabbe’s pants. When the shot changes, it’s actually Goyle on the floor. Plus, Harry manages to not reveal his hands while throwing snowballs, and he isn’t leaving any footprints in the snow. Now that is powerful magic.
Why Is Harry Allowed To Perform ‘Lumos’?
There are a few distinct examples of Harry performing underage magic. One of the later examples almost gets him expelled, and the first one (where he blows up his aunt) is overlooked and pushed to the side. However, at the start of this film, Harry is shown under his covers in bed, using Lumos to read. That one isn't even noticed.
Why don’t the Ministry care? Is this such an inconsequential spell that they let it slide? Why does Harry have the guts to perform such unnecessary underage magic when he knows the potential consequences of his actions?
They Must All Be Superhuman To Survive The Whomping Willow
When the Whomping Willow tries to keep Harry and Hermione out, they are given a few truly spectacular moments to be thrown through the air. When the tree branch collides with them, they catch on and swing around. In reality, the speed and weight of this tree would have shattered just about every bone in their body. It might have been a lacklustre way to end the saga right when it was just getting started, but if it’s a real tree, then they just wouldn’t have made it through the night. Plus Hermione drags Harry up there with her, which is both an incredibly impressive feat of strength, and quite a mean thing to do.
Peter Pettigrew’s Changes Are Inconsistent
There are a few problems with Peter Pettigrew’s existence in the Harry Potter world. Firstly, why did Fred and George not question Ron, when they saw him on the Marauder’s Map sleeping next to a man they’d never heard of every night?
On top of that, his ability to switch between his human and Animagus form seems to pay no attention to clothes. When he becomes human for the first time in many years, he still has some tattered clothes on. Why does he shed them when he transforms back into a rat? Will he be naked next time he emerges...?
Lupin’s Fear Was Misplaced
When Lupin was leading his Defence Against The Dark Arts class through a session on Boggarts, he stepped in and stopped Harry’s encounter with a fake Dementor. We see that Lupin’s boggart took the shape of the moon and get some great foreshadowing, however, when Lupin tries to explain his intervention, he says it is because he thought it might become Voldemort and scare everyone. This makes no sense, seeing as he had already seen it become a Dementor. Was Lupin covering up for something, or did the writers just not check their own continuity?
Hermione Isn’t Very Careful With The Time Turner
Considering McGonagall gave it to her on some pretty serious and important conditions, Hermione doesn’t seem to have much respect for the power and value of her Time-Turner. When Hermione is telling Hagrid to take Malfoy to the hospital wing, it can be seen dangling around her neck.
In this case, the writers probably meant to do this in order to create a little foreshadowing and get the viewer to question what it was and why it was there. However, it’s just inconsistent with Hermione’s character. She’d have known the consequences of someone seeing it and made sure it was hidden away at all times.
And Doesn’t Pay Much Attention To Her Own Rules
When explaining to Harry that she has the power to control and interact with time itself, Hermione makes it quite clear that the most important rule of using the Time-Turner was to never be seen by anyone. Within about five seconds of going back in time, they wander straight past the executioner for the second time that day. Unless he was blind, surely he must have realized that something weird was going on. Be more careful next time, Hermione.
Plus The Time Travel Is Flawed
On top of all of Hermione’s misuse of time travel, the actual depiction of the time travel itself is flawed. And of course it is, because there has never been a plot-hole-free use of time travel in any film ever.
They go back, and various things happen differently, specific moments play out in different orders and a few things don’t even look the same. For example, when Hermione breaks the vase with a rock, it shatters completely differently. Plus, as they walk back up the hill to watch the execution, it all happens much more slowly than it did the first time around.
The Buses Seem To Be On Diversion
When Harry is on his first-ever Knight Bus journey through central London, he zooms his way from Surrey right to Lambeth bridge in about a minute. Inaccurate, but they’re on a magic bus, so it’s all fine. However, on that particular bridge, the purple triple-decker squeezes its way past two London buses, one of which is headed for Kings Cross. This is probably just a nice nod to the importance of that station in the franchise, but, as Londoners might know, it's north of the river. The buses are both going south, so unless one of them is on diversion, the driver should probably turn around pretty soon.
Hermione Repeating Herself
When Harry is approaching Buckbeak, Hermione seems particularly concerned for his welfare. Using a classic horror film trope, Harry makes a sudden loud noise by standing on a twig. Hermione grabs Ron’s arm suddenly, and then... grabs Ron’s arm suddenly. What?
As the shot changes, we see her do the exact same movement a millisecond after she does it the first time. It’s pretty obvious as well, so why did they not just go back and edit that scene a little better?