keeps getting better

Rating: 7/10 (30 November 2005)

The World Quiddich Final is being held, and the Weasly family, Harry and Hermione are off to attend. Joining them are Amos Diggory and his son, Cedric Diggory. During the aftermath of the match, the camping ground is attack by Death Eaters; followers of Lord Voldemort. At the start of the schooling year of Hogwarts, two other schools have come to compete in a legendary and dangerous tournament; The Triwizard Torniment. When the three contestants are chosen; Cedric Diggory, Viktor Krum and Fleur Delacour, under mysterious circumstances a forth contestant is chosen; Harry Potter. People start to question when Harry is chosen as he is under age and there are only meant to be three contestants, but its binding and Harry has no choice but to compete.
The three tasks are designed to test all contestants strength and knowledge, each harder than the last. Though there are much harder tasks at hand for Harry; the world of dating. Apart of the Torniment is the Yule Ball, and friendships start to wain and stretch. Ron is annoyed that Harry is in the Torniment, they both cant find dates, and Ron become irritate with Hermione when she is Viktor Krums date; to him being Harry's enemy. Though there is a darker, sinister force being awakened, with a re-occurring dream of the resurrection of Lord Voldemort.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is in essence the better film of the series to date. The book being a very thick book that has so much depth and story to it, starting to hitting emotional chords about teenage life. This isn't just about magic anymore, it starts to weave in the coming of age story; growing up, dating, betrayal of friends and being independent and seeing that adults don't have all the answers. The darker tones of the story are also being drawn out. The resurrection of Voldemort, back stabbing and betrayal of once thought allies and adding much more back story to characters, giving them more dimensional; instead of flat background characters. Though the draw back is that there is too much information in the book to bring to the screen. The opening Quiddich match is not shown and it jumps and moves really fast making it very erratic. Though it is about two and a half hours long, it would have been better if they went for another twenty minutes or so, adding those little details which would have given much more story and giving a better flow to the over all pace. They could have easily extended the length as the kids were taking in every second and would have sat through another twenty minutes easily.
The three tasks in the tournament are each spectacular and breath taking. The fight of the dragon is fast and has a great claustrophobic feel when inside the ring, and keeps it intensity even when it takes to the skies. The underwater challenge with the Mermaids, though not as intense is visually amazing. The mermaids are not the beautiful creates people are use to; they're brutal, menacing creates in the eerie algae green water. The giant, shape shifting garden maze is a wonderful sight. The very deep violets and blues add a very haunting feel, creating a very creepy atmosphere. Though it would have been better if they kept the creatures and challenges of the maze from the book in the movie, yet dropped from time constraints. The darkest part of the film is during the resurrection of Voldemort.
Whats makes Goblet of Fire a lot better than the other films is that they attained a more competent director. Mike Newell's direction is more comfortable for the story. Chris Columbus and Alfonso Cuarón both did great jobs on the previous films, but Newell was more adapt to the story and forced better performances from the cast. The acting also has made a jump for the better. The three leads Daniel Radcliff, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint have grown older and so has their acting. While still they are not great actors, they have gain a broader emotional range evoking much more drama between them. Alan Rickman and Maggie Smith don't seem as bored in their roles, Michael Gambon, as we saw from Prisoner of Azkaban he's no Richard Harris, but holds a strength to Dumbledore. Ralph Fiennes is perfect as Lord Voldemort, with a very creepy performance. Brendan Gleeson seemed to have had much to fun as the crazy, eccentric MadEye Moody. Miranda Richardson was also great as the forked tonged Rita Skeeter.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is step further forward in the series and shows that they just keep getting better.