Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire a Hit!

Rating: 9/10 (18 November 2005)

First let me say that I am an avid reader and Harry Potter fan. Yes, I am one of those fools who stands in line at midnight for Rowlings books as well as the movies.
As such, I was certainly not expecting to see the more than 700 pages of Goblet of Fire on the screen. This movie, however, flowed much better than Azakaban and was certainly action packed. Even more though, I got a bit of comedy that I was not expecting to see.
If you're an avid reader you will certainly miss the Dursley's, the unusual behavior of the dustbins at Moody's house, the levitation of the campground family by the death eaters, the majority of the Quidditch World Cup, Doby, Winkie, and Hermione's obsession with the house elves enslavement just for starters. Much more will leave you saying, "Well, what happened to...". You will also note that a few things are there, but "out of sequence" and/or done by a different character than in the book.
The background of new characters is left completely out and indeed they are given very little screen time. I do believe they did this to focus on the three main characters. As a reader of the books I had the background and didn't notice anything untoward. I went to the movie with someone who has never read the books and he did have questions.
As far as all the new actors and actresses go - I can't possibly name them all, but here are a few. Brendan Gleeson did an excellent job as "MadEye" Moody and Miranda Richardson was a superb Rita Skeeter. Stanislav Ianevski was much too good looking for Vicktor Krum while Clemence Poesy was a perfect Fleur.
In all, this movie gets a thumbs up from me! Super!