Dark, and funny.

Rating: 10/10 (18 November 2005)

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Harry (Dan Radcliffe) enters his fourth year of Hogwarts and is entered into the incredibly dangerous Triwizard tournament by an anonymous stranger. All hail to Mike Newell, the director of this masterpiece! The movie forgoes the happiness and frivolity of the previous movies and replaces it with teen problems (done very funnily of course), epic action sequences and hilarious British humor.
Coming back to the show are the fantastic three. Dan has come into his own. He is Harry. He is vulnerable, angry, not always sure what to do, and has actually gotten quite good at comedy routines. Rupert Grint is not just used for comedic relief this time. He gets jealous of Harry for getting into the tournament, and is tired of being referred to as "Harry Potter's Stupid Friend". Emma Watson is beautiful and plays the supporter of Harry largely, but does it well. The other children are a blast to watch, especially Neville and Fred and George. I liked how more attention came to the character of Cedric Diggory, and his brief relationship to Harry.
The adult actors are sparingly but well used. Alan Rickman only has two main scenes (He probably did about one day of filming) but it's just enough. Maggie Smith is equally funny and Micheal Gambon is used more than in the previous film. He thankfully has one fatherly scene in this film, which was lacking in PoA. Brendan Gleeson is hilariously over-the-top as "Mad-Eye", a vicious old dark wizard catcher assigned to be the new Dark Arts teacher.
The humor has grown more adult, which fits the growing audience better. Sexuality and Excellent Writing replace most of the repetition gags and silly physical humor of Columbus and Cuaron. This fits J.K. Rowling's style much better actually. It's all very funny and very British, as it should be. As for the teen problems? Getting a date for the dance, and learning to dance. Dealing with rejection and hormones. We've all been there. It's all very real and well done. These kids feel like real people, not mythical elves or gods.
The movie is close to 3 hours, but chances are you'll spend most of it either laughing or terrified. Harry's round with the dragon is intensely scary but amazing. His second task, slightly less so, but the dragon was a tough act to follow. The maze is scary, easily a villain by itself. Think "The Shining" on crack. The finale will leave pretty much anyone with a soul breathless and crying. Ralph Fiennes is terrifying as Voldemort. Dark times indeed.
Not for anyone who hasn't seen the other movies or read the books (or doesn't want to because it's not "cool"), but who gives a crap about them? Not for kids under 12 (they'll go to see it anyway, I've seen 7 year olds read the 6th book), but this stuff is scary for anyone. Diehards who want every side-plot of the book included will be disappointed. C'mon guys, the movie's almost 3 hours anyway (Though I was genuinely disappointed at the lack of further exposition about Neville Longbottom)! The movie does the best at being comprehensible without aid of reference from the books of it's predecessors, and is a genuinely exceptional comedy/thriller, and feels epic and yet real. And that's a tall order to deliver for a story about magic and a wizard. Mike Newell is a god truly.
Not for the faint of heart, this gets an A