This Did Not Meet Expectations

Rating: 1/10 (23 November 2005)

Over the last few years, people have been excited to see Harry Potter films. I know I am excited to see them, I like Harry Potter. But that being said, there are some major flaws with these films.
Chris Columbus - I was happy to see how he brought such a fantastical story to the screen. His directing was questionable, but the point is, he's the first one to do it. He was with us for 2 films.
Alfonso Cuaron - My favorite of the 3 directors. His dark style fit very well with the third story, and really made me a fan of the movies. Acting, Directing, Writing, and Producing was great in the third film. They hit their mark. It's a shame he didn't Direct "Goblet of Fire".
My problems with Goblet of Fire:
Directing - Mike Newell lacked any kind of style. He seemed to me, like another Chris Columbus. Cinematography wasn't great, cliché shots with no symbolic value. It seemed like he was trying to "wow" us by sweeping the camera around the actors, no reason for it. One of my major problems with his Directing is how he played with the character arcs. Over the last 3 movies we've started to love how these characters interact with each other, and we know "normal" for them. Dumbledore was an angry, paranoid, old man in this film. And any reader of the series would agree with me that Dumbledore would NEVER put his hands around Harry's neck and yell at him. Overall, weak Directing that should have been caught early on.
Acting - I'm not going to harp on how bad these actors are. They aren't bad. I enjoyed them in POA. But for acting, I once again blame the Director. It's not their fault for how they acted in this film. The Director tried something new, a new approach to these characters, and frankly, I didn't like it. It made them seem childish, and whiney. *Dumbledore is definitely the largest character change in this film.
Writing - Something was off with this script. I know that it's the original writer, but something was off. Too cliché. It didn't keep the rhythm that the other scripts had. Also, a fault of the writer's for changing the characters around, or at least writing them differently.
Producing - Finally, to end on a positive note. The producing in this film was great. Great CGI. Now, I have to confess, I hate CGI. It's hard to get drawn into a story, when nothing that you're seeing is real. A reason why the new Star Wars films failed, but that's another story for another time. I would've liked to see them build that giant ship that Bouxbaton's (i'm not sure how you spell it, forgive me) comes on. But that would be a lot of work for minimal screen time. No problem.
I left the cinema upset. I wasn't mad that they cut so much, I understand that aspect of the film. But I was upset at how they presented this story. In fact, Goblet of Fire is a much darker story than Prisoner of Azkaban, but to me, it did not seem like it.
I will let all of you of course decide on your own opinion, but these are my views on the film, and I think some will agree with me. Thank you.
Ken Kabatoff, 16