jumbled mess of a film

Rating: 3/10 (18 November 2005)

First, I am a big fan of the books but understand that the films need to stand on their own. This one does not though it is so rushed and chaotic at times that it assumes that all have read the books and can follow what in the world is going on. Prisoner of Askaban was creative inventive and a clear case of someone doing everything right from the use of soundtrack to spell bounding lighting and visual effects. The opposite is true of Goblet of Fire. We are sadly back to square one with the films back to the paint by numbers approach that still can't save the director from getting lost in his own jumbled mess of a film.
Luckily the source material is some of the strongest that JK has yet produced and it saves the film from being a complete waste. But there isn't the sense that the director cares knows or believes in the source material or at least not enough to have been inspired by it. Nor does he seem skilled enough to be able to take us on a fantastic ride. I kept relaxing my grimace and telling myself now it is going to come together and it would for a flicker have its's moments and then sadly the film would rush on when it should have waited and hurried when it should have sped up the pace. Where as Prisoner of Askaban enchanted from the first notes of the score all the way through the clever ending credit sequence, Goblet of Fire feels half cooked and rushed with little in the way of something like dare I say magic. And those poor kids must feel like the characters of the books always facing a new director or is that defense against the dark arts teacher? Lets hope they find someone better next time. That is if the franchise can survive this clunker.