it coulda been better... shockingly better!

Rating: 5/10 (18 November 2005)

Beware Potter fans for I am about to speak utter blasphemy: I was bitterly disappointed with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Okay, so I'll be fair, it is not that bad of a film. However, after already three films in this franchise some things begin to get too annoying to ignore.
For example, why is it that in every Potter film all the most important story points happen in a dingy room with Harry talking to some evil character we thought was on his side but was really evil all along, or vice-versa? And why is this always interrupted at just the right moment by the forces of the good guys? Also infuriating is that a lot of the minor characters are one-dimensional cardboard cutouts that take away from the impression that the Harry Potter universe is a fully magical world with living, breathing inhabitants.
For example, there is the Daily Prophet writer Rita Skeeter who is pretty much the same exact annoying character as Gilderoy Lockhart from the second film. She is a sensationalist liar full of her own arrogance.
Most of the villains of Harry Potter are just as shallow, too, fitting the old stereotype of evil being ugly and good being attractive.
Also, it has been said before but I will repeat it again: a film must stand on its own.
This particularly crippled Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban with the scene in the Shrieking Shack, as a lot of plot points were brushed over and everything became very unclear. Here the problem lies more in many of the little details that are vague or never explained.
For an epic film some of the spectacle is ignored, too.
Near the beginning there is a huge Quidditch match where one of the main characters, Viktor Krum, is introduced. However, as soon as the match is about to begin we are suddenly whisked away in time to the partying afterwards.
Would it have killed anyone to show a little bit of the match so we could at least get a feel for how great a Quidditch seeker Viktor Krum is while also getting a little bit of nifty action? The biggest disappointment, though, is a case where entirely too much is shown. Now, I am treading into minor spoiler territory here so read carefully.
After three movies, Voldemort is finally revealed.
Here we are supposed to discover the essence of wickedness but instead we find an Oscar nominated actor in some very silly make-up. As good as Ralph Fiennes is, here he looks like an aquatic fish-man.
Worse, though, is the fact that this evil villain is nothing new. He spouts nonsensically that Harry Potter will die, that he will get his power back, that his henchman are not loyal enough, that he will finish the job he began, that blah blah blah.
We've heard it all before. Why are you boring me when you should be threatening me? Not everything is a missed opportunity, though.
The very beginning is wonderfully creepy and Voldemort really seems threatening and mysterious (the two things he loses in his climatic appearance.) Also, the introduction of the death eaters is downright awesome and the images etched in the sky with smoke are suitably sinister and foreboding.
Overall the visual style that new director Mike Newell gives this fourth outing is beautiful and memorable, and this is probably the most spectacular Potter yet.
The main fault of Newell is that his pacing is somewhat clunky, as some scenes drag on too long while others are cut woefully short.
Thankfully the romance between Harry and friends is not nearly as sappy or overdone as feared, though some of it comes off as a little rushed and the Goth-rock band playing at the Yule Ball seemed hilariously out of place.
In the end, if you are a Potter fan you have probably already seen this blockbuster film and thoroughly enjoyed it.
However, for the rest of us there might be the discovery that beneath all the pretty colors and classic themes of good and evil lays an unoriginal story cobbled together by elements of other fables in search of that extra something that could be called magic.
Critic's Conclusion: Already an epic hit, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is a rousing action adventure full of both spectacle and many holes. Ultimately hollow at the center despite visual beauty, the pacing is sometimes maddening and by the end it is hard not to be disappointed, at least if you're not infatuated with Harry Potter.