It's time for a Kill Bill, multiple volume approach to these movies.

Rating: 6/10 (22 November 2005)

This might just be due to the fact that Goblet of Fire was the first Harry Potter book I actually read. After seeing the first three movies, I began to enjoy the storyline and background developments quite a bit. So when I happened to read Goblet by chance, I could not have been more excited for this movie to come out. Now, lacking the history of reading the three previous books, this might be an observation already accepted by those who have read them prior to watching the first three movies. But for me, this was quite literally one of the worst film adaptations I have ever seen in my life. This film carelessly left out some of the more interesting and key elements of the book. Not only that, but those elements it did leave in failed to convey the meaning, relevance and emotion of the book.
In an effort to save time, important character development was blatantly left out of this film. With it's breakneck pace moving through the elements of the book as if it were skipping chapters at a time. Not only did it limit the effectiveness of this film. But it already cripples the next book's (The Order of the Phoenix) ability to make a worthy adaptation.
Rowlings book contains so many plot elements and so much character development, that it they can simply not be brought to the big screen in one fell swoop. This movie and easily the adaptations to come would benefit greatly by taking some queues from Quentin Tranatino. You could have easily made two movies from Goblet of Fire alone. And the director would have been able to maintain the story's developmental structure.
As a movie, it's not bad. But to be honest, it really isn't that great either. As mentioned before it moves from one event to the next with such speed and lack of set-up it is like a scene to scene versions of a jump-cut. The inability to dazzle me with effects, while still being an effect laden film is equally disappointing. The mystique of the Beuxbaton girls was non-existent. The gloomy and dark presence of the Durmstrang students was noticeable for about one second as they first entered the great hall. Not to mention the casting for Viktor Krum was equally poor. On the whole, the acting (especially from the main three, Radcliffe, Grint & Watson) was sub-par. This book had the potential for an amazing film. Now, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who has read the book.