Demo of its own computer game?

Rating: 7/10 (27 November 2005)

*** WARNING SPOILERS ***
I am not a reader of the Harry Potter books, yet, but I have become a great fan of the Harry Potter movies and I think that every movie was better then its predecessor. So naturally I was very much excited when I entered the movie theater to see "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire". Nobody would be allowed to tell me anything about it in advance, I wanted to be unbiased and surprised. And boy, what a surprise it was...
I sat through almost the whole movie wondering when it will start telling me a story. I was sitting there bored, watching a sequence of tasks of Harry Potter which are told in a very undramatic chain of events with almost no climax or heap in the suspension curve.
The movie is missing one crucial element of basic story telling - the plot itself.
In fact, the whole movie appeared to be a simple demo of a computer game rather than a real story told - a sequence of tasks to be performed in order to get to the final level. The 'plot' of the movie can be outlined in a few words like this:

Introduction of the players you can choose from.

Explanation of the game rules.

Level 1: Fight the dragon. Retrieve the golden egg to proceed to level 2.

Level 2: Save your friend from an underwater trap. (If you play Harry Potter, you have to save 2 friends.)

Level 3: Find your way through the maze to get the trophy.

Level 4 (Bonus Level): Utilize your own blood to revive Lord Voldemort and fight him. If you can't beat him, retreat while you can and try again in the next movie. (This level can only be reached if you play Harry Potter or Cedric)

That's what happens if - at the time of making the movie - you have already in mind to make the movie into a computer game. Sometimes it backfires and the movie suffers from trying to kill two birds with one stone. The only benefit of the movie compared to the game is that real actors still look better than their CGI-created versions in the game. But of course with the creatures and the scenery it's very practical since they already have the computer models which can be used in the movie as well as in the computer game.
It seems that the only purpose of the movie is to boost the sales of its own computer game. Apparently that is the bigger business. But ultimately the movie suffers dramatically from this method. Unlike the game, the movie does not allow any interaction of the viewer, therefore it needs a far more dramatic plot to make the movie exciting and to be able to play with the viewers emotions.
If i.e. Olympic Games with a predetermined winner in all events would give you a great deal of excitement then "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" is for you. But if you liked the first three Harry Potter movies because of their great story, then I recommend fast forwarding 2h 20min right to the 10 min graveyard scene. That will probably give you enough to carry you over to the next Harry Potter movie.
I would have rated it with 1/10 (awful) but Special Effects are still great and it's interesting to see the characters in their puberty - 3/10.