Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

Title: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Director: Mike Newell
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure
Highs: All three of the Tri-Wizards Tournament.
Lows: Once again it had a Readers Digest feel.
RhynoBot Grade: B+

Wow, my first non-Netflix review. I actually saw this one in the theater and I'm glad I did - huge special effects that would have been wasted on the small screen. Another first for me was I ran a little experiment and for the first time I read "The Goblet of Fire" before I saw the movie. The three previous movies I read the book afterward for the back story. I think I will go back to reading after I see the movie from now on. There is a certain amount of disappointment by having a preconceived notion of how a scene should play out or what was important to me in the story that may be cut out. These are disappointments you don't face if you have not read the book.

Anyway, there are several aspect of the movie that I thought were done extremely well. First and foremost all of the Tri-Wizard challenges I thought were perfectly represented in the movie compared to the book. Sure they took a few liberties here and there but for the most part they were spectacular to watch and inline with the novel. The Quidditch World Cup was excellent, just wish there was more of it. Harry trying to figure out the egg in the Prefects lavatory was spot-on. And of course the grand finale in the Riddle estate graveyard was absolutely perfect - exactly how I created the scene in my mind.

Of course with all Harry Potter movies the things the director does really well always seem to balance out with things that were just not quite right. The first 10 minutes of the movie felt like the Readers Digest version of the book. One minute they are at the Quidditch World Cup the next minute Professor Dumbledore is announcing the Tri-Wizard Tournament. That spans something like 10 chapters in the book. The relationship between Harry, Ron, and Hermione was a bit strange. I know they were suppose to be fighting and all but the faces Ron made were rather silly. And it would have been nice to see good old Dobby again but I do agree with the director there, that whole storyline was expendable. Also I was a little disappointed the scene with the Weasley's picking up Harry at his Uncles house was left out. That would have been a hillarious addition to the movie.

I have to say of the three kids Daniel Radcliffe has really stepped up his dramatic acting ability. The final scenes in the graveyard and back on the grounds of Hogwarts when he had just brought back Cedric's body were very heartfelt and emotional. Don't get me wrong it wasn't a huge step forward but I do appreciate the effort.

All in all I really enjoyed this edition of the Harry Potter series and Mike Newell's vision for the story. I consider this redemption for the third movie which was really confusing. Still, I am of the opinion that the best movies in the series thus far are the first two. Anyway, I look forward to the next movie in 2007 so I can get reading "The Order of the Phoenix". Back to movies first, reading second for me.

This is a fun movie, you should see it.