Extremely Disappointing

Rating: 2/10 (20 November 2005)

Ever seen those companion books for kids that come out around the same time as a movie? They are mostly filled with big pictures and little explanation about what actually happens in the film. Goblet of Fire is basically the same thing - only opposite. It is a picture-book-type movie that has been made as a companion to a book already released. It offers no explanation to the plot (rarely even provides a plot), and is filled with lots of big pictures that only make sense if you have read the book.
I realize that the book was very long, and that kids only have a limited attention span, so some things need to be cut out, but hardly any of the scenes even connected together and there is little explanation as to why things are occurring to Harry and his companions. This film is just a series of unconnected scenes.
If you have read the books, then the following shouldn't be a spoiler, but it will spoil what they actually include in the movie.
As I said, they were pressed for time, but why then did they extend the scene with Harry battling his dragon for so long? Most of that scene was completely unnecessary. Very little is shown of the World Cup (no actual quidditch), little explanation is given for the Death Eaters' attack, Dobby and Winky are no where in the film (so they show Barty Crouch Jr. sending up the Dark Mark right away without Rawlings' intention of making it seem like he is innocent), the actual death of Barty Crouch is not explained at all (they just show his dead body), there is very little explanation of Harry's duel with Voldemort (Dumbledore simply says they went through Priori Incantatem, and thats it), they never explained how Barty Crouch Jr. escaped from Azkaban, they changed the maze challenge completely so that you don't realize that Krum is under the Imperius Curse, there are no obstacles in the maze (no sphinx, no monsters, etc, just the maze itself changing its walls around), and as I said before - very rarely do scenes actually connect; the plot just jumps around from one scene to the next. Those are just a few of the things that were very wrong with the film.
I hate to imagine how people who haven't seen the film would think of it. I think the reason why others are giving this a good review is because its been long enough since they have read the book that they don't realize what is missing, yet they still remember the plot enough that the missing explanations aren't needed - which is probably exactly what the writer and director of this film want.
I really really wanted this film to be good, and I realize parts need to be cut out - but this is inexcusable. This is easily the worst Harry Potter film yet - and as a film alone, it is absolutely horrible. I did enjoy the other films, and really like the books, and anyone who is a fan probably will not like this film.
The only reason I give this 2 stars instead of 1 is because it was actually very beautiful, and a lot of the scenes did look really cool - enough for the film to get a thumbs up from little kids, but no one who can read at a level necessary to understand the books.