Pretty good...

Rating: 6/10 (18 November 2005)

Don't know where to start, cuz if I start the wrong place I'll write a couple of pages, or just end up with a few lines.
Mind the holes when speeding!
The plot is off course very much like in the novel. The differences is the speed with which we are dragged through the story, and one understands if we keep the lenght of the book in mind. There are few important plot holes, but most are nicely filled in and the story goes along as we remember it. The many holes would be a huge minus if Kloves and Newell, hadn't managed to put all the things together without jeopardizing the storyline, and yet move things around. The speed on the other hand is a huge minus. I was left with the feeling that there had to be more.
Going for the throat
A huge plus is the acting, I was very positively surprised with the young actors: Dan, Emma, Rupert and co. They have all evolved into good actors. Dan really pulls every aspect of being Harry Potter off brilliantly and Emma proves those who thought she couldn't be Hermione wrong. Brendan Gleeson is crazy and wonderful as ever, Alan Rickman still deserves more screen time, Miranda Richardson is just awful, which in this case is good. The bad acting are found in places one may not expect to find it. Michael Gambon is, by name, a solid actor, yet he fare from pulls of a Dumbledore one will grow to love. He gives some of his lines good, but seems to forget that the body also tells a story. Who has ever seen Dumbledore go for Harry's Throat, literally. Ralph Fiennes is not bad in this picture he is just wrong. He plays Voldemort more as a pompous jerk than the more nonchalant dark lord I imagine him to be. A role I know Fiennes to be great in.
The good news
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is where you begin to se the differences between books and films. Not that you couldn't see it in the prior three movies. But now they have learned the universe to know, and know where to cut something and add something. And still it remains a little bit more loyal to the book than Prisoner of Azkaban. If you like me go to the movies to see a movie based on a novel, Goblet of Fire is just wonderful. It is a story set in this universe and it is given information of the background and through the text and image of who people are. Goblet of Fire gives most of the story in words and action, but still remains loyal to the book, by using small informations in the background and the pictures we are shown. They have like in PoA instead of cutting the film into several short scenes in a row, tried to bind everything together through longer scenes. The visual sides takes from PoA and thus have the same gloomy and dark fell to it. The tones are at points almost grey and death, yet the highly coloured world of Rowling gives it life. We see a huge development in the characters. Harry and Hermione are very deep persons with a lot of feelings that are shown in numerous ways. Those two characters are, along with Ron some times, the most interesting characters, and these two roles are very well filled. The best about this movies is that it really works well. We don't sit with the same feeling as PoA could bring: "but what about...?". It is more complete and enjoyable for those not familiar with the books I imagine. And even more so for us who knows them.
The Bad News
Again we see a very pathetic Ron, unaware of others, and what they feel, and that have been turned into a joke, along with his already humorous lines. Right in the middle of the film there are five minutes of sheer laughs, all centering around Ron. This is a shame, especially since Rupert shows in the more sensitive scenes, and more serious scenes that he can handle it. He says it himself: "just Harry Potters stupid friend" Dumbledore has really become aggressive in his old days, and a bad actor too. I once knew a Dumbledore calm and at ease, he would present himself as calm to the world and still be able to show emotion through actions. But he would never go for Harry Potters throat. He yells and hits, and even goes to become almost depressed at one point. It is what he feels. And you know what? For a guy one and a half century old, he can really move, running and jumping around, reminding one about Yoda. A thing also brought into Voldemort, as great as Voldemort looks, he for me brings images of Darth Mauls into mind, in his way of moving. The ballet-touch is overdone and didn't even fit in to Star Wars in the first place. Why should Voldemort then move like a dancer?
8/10
I see I started the wrong place!!!