Vastly flawed, but still an enjoyable chapter in the series

Rating: 8/10 (22 November 2005)

When you ask most Harry Potter fanatics what the worst film in the series is, most will probably respond with Goblet of Fire. If you ask a non reader what the best Harry Potter film is, most will probably respond with Goblet of Fire. That's a rare trait in a movie. To the mainstream audience, Goblet of Fire is the definition of a summer blockbuster (though it was released in November). It has far and away the most and best action of any film of the series, and is a beautiful movie in its production design, music, and other technical aspects, but on a direction level, it's weak and on an adaptation level, it's even weaker. Let's just say that most Potter fans are glad this is the only one Mike Newell got his hands on.
GOF follows young hero Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) in his fourth year at Hogwarts, where a new tournament is being held between three wizarding schools: The Triwizard Tournament. However, when Harry is unexpectedly chosen as a fourth champion in the potentially deadly tournament despite being below the age limit, it has become apparent that the legendary dark wizard Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) may be closer to returning than ever before.
I guess you could say that GOF is the worst acted of the Potter films, and the main problem lies with Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson. Radcliffe gives a pretty wooden performance, but shines towards the end of the film in the climactic Graveyard sequence. Emma "Crazy Brows" Watson needs to contain her eyebrows, which dance about so much that it's distracting. It's amazing how she went from best actor of the trio to the worst. Clearly her early success was the work of Christopher Columbus. As always, however, the adult cast is phenomenal. Alan Rickman's vile Severus Snape has to be one of the best performances of the year, even if he has little screen time. Coming from an avid reader, Rickman is absolutely perfect as Snape. Maggie Smith's Professor McGonagall is also one of my favorite performances, in addtion to the the showings from Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy, Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid, and Brendan Gleeson as Alastor Moody, a new character. I also must commend the performance of Ralph Fiennes as the sadistic and evil incarnate Lord Voldemort. In addition to his grotesque appearance, Fiennes' Voldemort is easily one of the most fearsome film villains of recent memory, just like his novel counterpart. He is hardly recognizable in the role, in fact, even the sharpest moviegoer may not recognize him.
As always, the Potter films continue to boast Oscar worthy art direction and visual effects. The brilliant sequences include a massive dragon chase, a dangerous underwater scene, and of course, the terrifying (though not as action packed) showdown between Harry and Voldemort. Mike Newell, however appears to be the wrong choice for the director's chair here, as the only thing he succeeds in is creating great action and divulging some great comedy from James & Oliver Phelps (the Weasley twins). This film is also very angsty, full of teenage hormones running wild, as Harry develops his first crush, and Ron and Hermione realize that they may feel more than friendly feelings for each other. Sadly, this is the weakest script in the series, in addition to being poorly edited. It's very possible to get lost in the plot (even though it's not that complicated as many subplots were cut). The character development of Ginny Weasley is nonexistent (even though she does get a couple hilarious lines), Voldemort's screen time is laughable, Snape is horrendously underutilized, Barty Crouch Jr.'s character is altered completely, and the characters Dobby, Winky, and Ludo Bagman are gone entirely. The fault for all these miscues goes directly to Newell and writer Steve Kloves.
On its own, Goblet of Fire is an outstanding action film that the average moviegoer will enjoy, however, it is a horrid adaptation full of bad editing, plot holes, and bad character development. Of course, I can forgive Kloves for the miscues, as this book is much larger than the previous three, but not Newell. He was probably the worst director for the series, while my favorites are David Yates and Alfonso Cuaron.