Good and Bad at the same time...

Rating: 5/10 (20 November 2005)

I had VERY mixed feelings after watching Goblet of Fire. As someone who's nuts over the books, I highly disagreed with the direction the director pushed the movie in. The movie would have been SO much better (perfect even) if, instead of piling on joke after joke about the yule ball and hollywoodishly (is that even a word?) over-dramatizing the first task, things more central to the overall plot were included - the introduction of Bill Weasley, some buildup to the excitement of seeing the quidditch world cup, actually SHOWING the quidditch world cup itself instead of just the opening (which was in itself very flawed compared to the book), Hagrid's blast-ended skrewts, Rita Skeeter's Animagus status, the Sphinx in the final task, etc etc. Not saying I didn't laugh at the jokes (ron saying "bloody hell" at the beauxbatons' entrance sticks out), or that I didn't appreciate the amazing visual effects - just that I wish the movie focused more on the rest of the story than the yule ball. oh, and I forgot to mention, Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort is simply ingenious. I couldn't even begin to imagine someone who could play the part better, and his appearance was EXACTLY how I imagined Voldemort would look. Overall, it's still an entertaining movie and definitely worth your money; but it seems like it was made for the people who have only seen the movies and never read the books.