Film missing Cuaron's creativity

Rating: 8/10 (23 November 2005)

I found "Goblet of Fire" to be good, but rather cryptic for those who've never read the book. I noticed that, to make up for time, it had multiple things happening in each scene, which made it feel like I was reading the book in fast forward. I cracked up at the scene when Ron puts on his "dress robe" and Ralph Fiennes did an awesome job -- they couldn't have found anyone better. While staying mostly true to the plot lines of the book, this movie (and perhaps the book as well) exchanged some of its magical awe for more grown-up "teen angst" conflicts between the characters. I missed the cool quirky beautiful style that Alfonso Cuaron brought to the series (think the talking head in the Knight Bus and Harry's surprise flight on Buckbeak), but Mike Newell got the job done nicely.