The Worst of the Harry Potter Movies by far

Rating: 1/10 (11 January 2006)

Four Funerals and one Satanic Sacrifice would not be enough to condemn Mike Newell to the flames of the Underworld for this monstrosity. How the Harry Potter revolving door of directors could settle on Newell is disconcerting as he produced the single worst movie in the Harry Potter franchise, perverting J.K. Rowling's excellent work into trash, plain and simple.
The big thing with the Goblet of Fire was that it was darker than the three previous works as Harry and Co. had turned 14 and would face death and the return of a powerful foe. Unfortunately, Newell took "darker" a little too literally, as there is virtually no light in the movie at all, whether in terms of the forces of good (Albus Dumbledore, along with the rest of the supporting cast, is practically nonexistent) or simply scene lighting as almost every scene, whether at the Yule Ball (where Harry and Ron experience that typical teenage angst from unrequited and unacknowledged love), the Triwizard Tournament events, or even inside Hogwarts. The complete absence of light makes the final battle much less powerful, unlike Narnia, which so beautifully balances and separates light and dark, clearly opposing the two and making each more powerful than if one completely dominates. The scenery of Goblet lacks the majesty and beauty so present in Azkaban as the settings are dull and uninteresting.
In Newell's defense, Goblet is massive, more than 600 pages, which could not be easily included into a still long 2.5 hour movie. Still, it is the little things in the movie that are most annoying: there is no Quidditch, he does not use a "Hedwig scence change" (where Harry's pet owl flies off and changes the season), and the supporting cast of professors and other wizards are incredibly underused, although newcomer Mad-Eye Moody and old favorite Snape each have one great scene, one with transfiguration and the other with a textbook.
For a supercondensed story (as if the movie doesn't do that on its own), Harry enters his 4th year at Hogwarts with a burning scar and dread after the appearance of the Death Eaters, Lord Voldemort's followers, at the Quidditch World Cup. All of Hogwarts is concerned with the Triwizard Tournament, which pits one 7th-year student from each of the three wizarding schools in a three-task competition to win eternal glory. However, Harry's name comes out of the Goblet, and he becomes the first ever 4th champion. As he tries to deal with the difficult tasks, he also must confront his love of Ravenclaw's Cho Chang, Ron's hostility and jealousy, and the everpresent school, including new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Mad-Eye Moody.
Although it is necessary to see the movie in order to understand the 5th movie, I beg you to read the book and get a true image of Rowling's story instead of forking over your hard earned coin for this. Oh, it will be in my DVD collection, but I won't be happy about it.