Great Action, Terrible Character Managment

Rating: 7/10 (24 October 2006)

This fourth Harry Potter movie did a decent job of condensing such a large book. As mentioned in many of the previous reviews, several plot lines and characters were left out. Most notably, no house elves, Dursleys, Veela, Rita Skeeter the Beetle, Hagrid's blast ended skrewts, and the Barty Crouch story. The movie crushes the first 150 pages of the book into about 10 minutes and after a very short International Quidditch match finds itself at Hogwarts in which students from other wizarding schools are also arriving for an extended stay and a chance to compete in the Tri-Wizarding Cup.
This movie focused mainly on the Tournament and its challenges. I thought these parts were all handled very well. They were exciting and kept the viewers attention. I also enjoyed the Yule Ball, and Professor Mad Eye Moody's lesson on the unforgivable curses. A special treat was Harry's bathtub scene with ghost, Moaning Myrtle. I didn't care for Moaning Myrtle's portrayal in the 2nd movie but this one makes me hope we see her again.
My biggest gripe with this movie is how the writers and director messed up some of the most important characters. To start, there was not nearly enough Snape. He is one of the most engaging characters to watch. The parts we did see of him did not convey that he is one of Harry's biggest antagonist. No late night encounters in the hallways. No potions class. And no discussions between Karkroff and Snape. I think we saw him for about 5 minutes at best.
Fleur's character was also handled poorly. In the book she is described as a beautiful girl who is part Veela. Her hair is long, blond and pretty. She speaks with a French accent that adds to her sexiness. In the movie, we hear very little from her as she has few lines. For the entire movie, her hair is tide up in an unbecoming ponytail. I'm at a complete loss as to why they treated her character the way they did and can only conclude that they either did not read the book or did not want to show up Hermoine. Moaning Myrtal was more engaging than this portrayal of Fleur.
Of all of the character flaws, my biggest gripe is Gamdon's portrayal of Albus Dumbledore. I understand he may have a different acting style than the late Richard Harris but he is wrecking the character. Dumbledore is thoughtful, powerful, wise, and in total control of Hogwarts. He is the most powerful wizard of his time and is the only one Voldemort ever feared. This Dumbledore is no more ready to take on Voldemort or the Ministry of Magic than he is two students cheating on an exam. The Dumbledore I saw was confused and frightened. It's time for the screen writers and directors to pay attention to the books and the first two movies to obtain a better example of who Dumbledore is and how he behaves.
This movie was overall, enjoyable to watch, however, I considered the book to be one of the most important. It would have been far better to have made this large, complex and enjoyable book into 2 two hour movies as opposed to 1 three hour movie. The movies treatment of the tournament and Voldemort's return was good, however, it felt like it was a filler for something better and more important to happen in the future. So much was left out that it makes me wonder how they will deal will things in the 5th movie. Good Saturday afternoon viewing.