The flame in the goblet is slowly diminishing

Rating: 4/10 (23 November 2005)

I am an avid reader of the Harry Potter books and love the movies despite certain well loved scenes being cut. J.K. Rowling said in an interview that she has always told directors to stay true to the spirit of Harry Potter if they couldn't do the movie exactly like the book.
I feel that this is the biggest monstrosity to befall the spirit of Harry Potter.
Why on earth does Dumbledore slam Harry up against a wall demanding to know if he put his name in the goblet? Is it not obvious that he loses his cool in almost every scene? This man is our inspiration in the Harry Potter books and Rowling consecutively portrays him as a man who does not need anger to solve situations. His humor and light heartedness has always seemed to give Harry a sense of hope. If we were to compare the past movies it would be obvious that this mishap is not one of the actor's own doing but that of the director.
So many Harry Potter fans said that Richard Harris was the perfect Dumbledore and that it would be extremely hard to find someone to fill in his shoes. Well the new man on deck in Prisoner of Azkaban was hard to tell apart from Sir Richard. He was that true to the spirit of Dumbledore. His mannerisms, his spherical character were more than enough to ease audiences fears of what could have been a drastically bad choice.
How could someone so perfect in the third, epic film change so suddenly in just a years time at Hogwarts? It is clear that the director of the film wanted every character to match the dark and ominous mood of Voldermort's return and in the headmaster he made a gargantuan mistake. Dumbledore is the only person He Who Must Not Be Named fears and there has always been great contrast in the two that make a child believe the angry and violent can be overpowered by the humble and wise.
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Voldermort and Dumbledore are one and the same and those who do not read the books can be extremely excited that the movies are turning into another Matrix film.
There is no spirit of Harry Potter left when you take away the glimmer of hope that a truly good book can hold the same feeling in a movie.
It's a lovely film for younger audiences who, of course, are only drawn to a film for more than ten minutes if something is fire breathing or adventurous, but I have to wonder whether or not the true spirit of Harry Potter that made the underdog children on the playground who were picked on feel they had something of worth has been lost in the glitz and glam of the Hollywood world we live in.