Could Have Been Better in some parts

Rating: 10/10 (12 July 2007)

I am a fan of the books and for me this movie was a bit disappointing in some parts. First the casting of Michael Gambon as Dumbledore was a terrible decision. Especially the scene after Harry is selected as the fourth Triwizard champion is badly done, when Dumbledore walks in, he does not handle the situation calmly and carefully as in the book, in the movie he seems rash and by shaking and shouting at Harry he makes the situation seem far from the one portrayed in the book. Richard Harris was much better in the role of Dumbledore, when he was in a scene you knew that this is a very wise and cautious wizard with a calm and majestic presence as is portrayed in the books. Apart from the change in actors, Dumbledore's wardrobe seems to have also gone downhill from the second movie, in Goblet of Fire just like in the Prisoner of Azkaban Dumbledore looks like he is dressed in rags compared to the robes Richard Harris was wearing in the first two movies. Another badly done part of the movie was the maze. For those who have not read the books the maze probably looked amazing and I agree it had some good special effects nonetheless compared with the book it was a bit boring. The maze was meant to test different abilities of the champions, like the sphinx Harry had to overcome in the book or the upside-down charm. The maze in the movie had none of these elements and I think this was one part that could have definitely been improved with some work. Despite its flaws Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire had some spectacular special effects, I especially liked the Dragon scene, it also had a good flow and it was never boring. The Yule Ball scenes were also excellent. Maybe someday someone will take on the task to create a Harry Potter Series which will follow the books 100%, I am sure there are a lot of Harry Potter fans out there that would like to see the things they read about to come to life. I would highly recommend everyone to go and see this movie, however my advice is to first read the books and create your own ideas of what it should look like before seeing someone else's images on the screen.