A good movie from a great book

Rating: 8/10 (5 March 2006)

The first thing I have to consider when reviewing this movie, is whether or not to view it as a movie by it's self, or as an adaptation of the greatest children's book ever. I feel that it is impossible to consider the movie without comparing directly or indirectly to the book. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is by far the best movie of the series. Though in comparing it to the book is falls just a little short. There is so much that is good about this movie, I am reluctant to say that it is anything but perfect.
The movie opens with a chilling dream sequence, during which a muggle grounds keeper is struck dead with advera kadvera curse when he accidentally walks in on a meeting between he-who-must-not-be-named and the rat guy from the third movie. This is one of the most chilling scenes in a fantasy movie ever.
From there Harry is awoken by Hermione, now a striking young beauty, and is rushed to the Quittich World Cup. I have to admit, I was disappointed by QWC scene. The book takes 175 pages to describe and detail what the movie rushes through in 15 minutes. I can't really complain however, as the 175 page prologue was a bit long in the first place.
After the disappointing QWC, there is a fantastic scene where students from two wizard schools arrive at Hogwarts for no apparent reason. The school of French beauties arrives by a giant carriage drawn my flying horses. The Eastern European team arrives by a giant submersible boat, coming out of the depths of the big Lake. Such amazing scenes, not described in the book, I really liked the artistic liberties taken with this movie.
There is another captivating scene where the French school with beautiful girls come in like a professional dance team, swirling and dancing to fantastical music, overtly flirting with the Hogwarts guys as they come to the front of the great hall. Then comes the guys from eastern Europe, marching in like the Russian army only with rhythm and magic flame throwers.
The comes the big announcement: The Tri Wizard Tournament. A nasty little tradition where three wizards from rival schools participate in a series of wizard challenge. There is minimum age of 17 to enter the tournament, but of course this movie wouldn't be titled Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire if Harry didn't mysteriously get entered into the tournament.
What follows in the movie, is a visually stunning, if somewhat accelerated account of the tournament. Though I absolutely loved the tasks where Harry has to fight a dragon for a golden egg, and then fight mer-people to save his friend, the last task where they enter a maze to find the Tri Wizard Cup, was disappointing. This is where any artistic liberties, and time saving cuts from the book become pure and simple butchery. There really is no excuse for cutting the sphinxes from the maze. This was the best scene from any of the Harry Potter books, and to cut it, is really a shame. Now I realize that they needed to cut certain aspects of the book, but did the REALLY need to cut that? I think not.
So in the end: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is a above average movie, from a great book. With stunning visuals and a palatable plot, I would absolutely recommend this to anybody.