Disappointing Adaptation

Rating: 7/10 (9 March 2006)

In the Harry Potter series, "Goblet of Fire" was perhaps the pivotal book, leading to the more grownup aspects of the later stories. The film perhaps couldn't do that, but it didn't even try.
The film starts at the International Quiddich Match, but the whole game was sidestepped, including the introduction of the Veelas, who were supposed to be stupefyingly beautiful ladies. In the book, Fleur was supposed to have a Veela in her ancestry, but that whole aspect was sidestepped in the film, leading to minor complications two books down.
But in the film, the match wasn't even finished, so its whole purpose was to introduce an idea that was utilized later in the film.
Then, the school year begins, and Harry finds himself an unexpected contender in the Twiwizard Tournament, a dangerous contest where the players -- ordinarily limited to one student per school -- vie for the cup/trophy that will, in one sense, transform their lives. There were two visiting schools, each of which had an entry into the tournament, and Hogwarts, which had its champion, and inexplicably, also Harry.
Spoilers follow. The contenders have to face three trials, and for two of them deviate significantly from the book. Harry has to face a dragon, and in the book he uses extremely skillful flying on his broom to snatch the egg. In the film, he uses more luck than skill to outlast the dragon, with most of the action well outside the contending area, and some offscreen.
Likewise with the underwater sequence. In the book, Harry (and Dumbledore) can communicate with the mer-people; in the film, little of that.
The film has some entertaining sequences, but with the truncation of the story elements from the book, a lot is lost. Some of what's left becomes rather confusing if you're trying to follow the book series' grand scheme.