Fireworks of Fantasy

Rating: 8/10 (22 December 2005)

After the brilliantly dark Prisoner of Azkaban directed by Alfonso Cuaron, my expectations for the fourth Harry Potter movie Goblet of Fire were very high. All directors bring in to the soup their own spices, and I was excited to see Mike Newell's (director of "Four weddings and a Funeral") handiwork with the world's most famous boy wizard. And my high expectations were pretty much met.
Goblet of Fire is a story of Harry Potter's fourth year in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft. This year is different: Hogwarts is playing host to Tri-Wizard Tournament and students from other witchcraft schools, who have come to participate in the tournament. Only one participant is chosen by the Goblet of Fire from each school to be the champion from that school, but for some strange reason Harry is chosen as the other Hogwarts champion along with Cedric Diggory. This is where the story begins, taking students through the year and through strange and even sad and scary matters, ending in the end of the school year.
The Goblet of Fire is even darker than its predecessor. This is not a children's movie anymore. The author, J.K. Rowling has mentioned that all her books (and that way also the movies made of the books) are meant for the same age group that Harry himself represents. Harry and his friends are 14 in the movie, and director Mike Newell has not started to clean up and polish things or the rough story for very young audience. This is why I definitely don't recommend the movie for the youngest of the family, because it may cause nightmares to the more sensitive.
For more adult audience Goblet of Fire is the fireworks of fantasy, wonderful, amazing story. The world of magic has been spiced up with (British) humour (Draco Malfoy's ferret screen, Harry meeting Myrtle in the bath, everything the Weasley twins do...). However, in general the colour of the scenery is dark, with the fear of Lord Voldemort's return over everything. The fear, which materialises in a very dramatic way in the last meters of the movie.
Goblet of Fire is a thick book and a lot of the story has been left away from the movie. Nothing very important is changed though, and the movie works very well as such. In the beginning everything goes almost "fast-forward" speed and in this spot I would have hoped for a few minutes more for clarifying the backgrounds of things. After the breathtaking beginning the movie smooths down to tell the actual story, the story of Harry's participation to the Tri-Wizard Tournament and his journey to meet He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, as well as his struggle with the teenage problems with for example girls.
For a viewer who has never read any Harry Potter books or seen any of the films, Goblet of Fire won't necessarily open as such. In the movie there is no time for anything extra and all extra explanations of things have been cut off. To be able to fully enjoy the movie, it requires the viewer to watch the previous ones or read the books.
But it definitely leaves the viewer to wait for more!