By itself: Great. Part of a series: Bad

Rating: 3/10 (18 November 2005)

"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"...yeah, right. I don't know if it was mistake on Rowling's part (I didn't read the book) or if it was the makers of the movie that botched this one up, but I was all excited about going to the midnight showing of this...I left very disappointed. I actually wanted to leave after the first half hour...I was bored - BORED! With Harry Potter! I LOVE Harry Potter, and this one was awful in comparison to the other three. I went to this movie with the expectation of being mystified and taken aback by the wondrous magical things in this world in which everyone, child or adult, likes to get sucked into for a couple hours and pretend that they are a part of. It's such a fantastical world. Well, the only magical thing in this movie is that they had their wands out a couple of times, I think. That was about it. Everything else was just the magic of the bad evil powers coming after them...no mysticism or awe to it...just the bad guys around every turn. In short, it was an action movie - sexual innuendos included - with a slight magical twist.
Voldemort...where do I begin? Is it just me, or should one NOT do something so crass as to completely resolve and reveal all about the underling thread to the series in the middle...we've got four more to go, kids...and here, half-way through, is Voldemort in the flesh with it completely revealed what he looks like, who his followers were/are, where Tom Riddle's grave is...etc. So, I think I can pretty much guess what's going to happen in the fifth one...I'll bet it's anything BUT Voldemort trying to kill Harry...yup. Wow...that's a mystery, I must say. Since they ENDED the movie like everything was just fine 'n' dandy, what with Voldemort OFFICIALLY on the loose now and all, was - pardon my word, but - retarded.
Now, I hadn't read the book, and I've seen where other people have said that not reading the book and seeing this movie will make you completely lost...they're right! Good thing my husband had read it, because I had to lean over every 10 seconds and whisper, "What's going on?" They give names on things, and don't explain them...the beginning - where the heck where they??? Very bad form.
The sexual innuendos...they do NOT belong in something that is children's book-based. Again, I don't know if Rowling is to blame, or the money-hungry movie makers trying to get more guys in to see the film with all the tit for tat in this one...but I'm only 21 and I was offended. I can just see it now...an eight year old girl sitting next to her mother at this movie, "Mommy? Why is Harry moving the bubbles around in the tub? What's he trying to keep Myrtle from seeing? Why's he doing that? What's he hiding?" Yeah...that's real good there...a reference to Harry Potter's penis...just wonderful. And I absolutely LOVED the orgasmic entrance of the...whatever the heck they were called...the girls in the blue things. Just wonderful. Why did the focus go completely off of the main characters and onto these sex-objects? Isn't that kind of a mundane thing, yet they put it into a "magical" story? Terrible.
Where was Malfoy??? The only time I remember seeing him was when the guy with the weird eyeball turned him into a ferret...which wasn't even that funny. A cute little ferret...what a horrible punishment for being mouthy! I love Malfoy, and I was very disappointed to see him basically left out of this film, only to be replaced by a skinny, foreign blond that was put there clearly only to get a "rise" out of the now 15-year old boys that have been fans of Harry Potter since the get-go. I just can't wait until the 8th one...what is there going to be...a sex scene? I wouldn't doubt it.
On it's own, maybe it could pass for a decent movie...but trying to link it to the other three marvelous films...no way. There is absolutely no connection whatsoever. Terrible.