Action Packed Potter Film

Rating: 8/10 (27 November 2009)

In terms of the books, Goblet of Fire is my favourite in the series, in the film series its around 3 or 4. The book was a well-written, well-built novel with a lot of subplots and full of surprises. The film is entertaining, action packed, but does have some faults.
Set in Harry Potter's (Daniel Radcliffe) fourth year at Hogwarts, dark times are starting to come with the Quidditch World Cup being raided by Voldemort's followers, the Death Eaters, and Harry himself is suffering from a recurring nightmare involving Voldemort, Peter Pettigrew aka Wormtail (Timothy Spall) and a man being given a task to bring Harry to Voldemort (David Tennett before his Doctor Who fame). When Harry returns to Hogwarts the students learn that the school is going to host the Tri-Wizard tournament between 3 magic schools. The rules that Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) lays out is that no one under 17 could enter. That doesn't stop someone entering Harry for him, and he ends up having to compete in dangerous tasks against Hogwarts' champion, Cedric Diggory (Roger Patterson, pre-Twilight fame), Bulgarian wizard and Quidditich star Vickor Krum (Stanislav Ianevski) and the beautiful French witch Fleur Delacour (Clémence Poésy). Hogwarts also gains a new Defence Against the Dark Art teacher, the nearly insane Alastor Moody (Brendan Gleeson), who aids Harry along the tasks with his friends Ron (Rupert Grint), Hermione (Emma Watson) and groundskeeper Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane). As well as the main story, there are sub-plots involving Harry and Ron's first falling out, Harry and Ron's quest to find a date to the Yule Ball, Harry's first crush with the lovely Cho Chang (Katie Leung) and hints of romantic involving between Harry and Hermione.
Goblet of Fire is one of the longest books in the series, and it was inevitable that some elements were going to be shorten or be cut altogether. The Dursley's are cut altogether, so is most of the Quidditch World Cup and so is Hermione's quest to bring about equal rights to House Elves and pretty much becomes a witch version of a hippy. Some elements could have been spared and others could have be cut in their place. But I'm a purest and that is my curse. There are good additions to the cast, Brendan Gleeson and David Tennett are fine actors and add to the film. Robert Pattinson and Clémence Poésy are perfectly decent, whilst Katie Leung is lovely. Timothy Spall is excellent at Peter Pettigrew, continuing where he left off in Prisoner of Azkaban. But it is Ralph Fiennes who steals the show as Lord Voldemort. He is only in the film briefly, but he was really excellent as the force of evil. Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson all continue to improve as actors. Alan Rickman is a little underused and Maggie Smith was very underused.
Alfonso Cuaron was ordinarily offered the director's chair, but he had to decline because he had to focus on post-production work on Prisoner of Azkaban. The producers turned to Mike Newell, a director with a decent reputation as a drama director, making films like Donnie Brasco. But he had no experience as a blockbuster director, and the marketing department made a big deal out of the first he was the first British director to direct a very British icon. Newell throws himself straight into the CGI special effects. He does direct some good action sequences, such as the dragon sequence and the fight with Voldemort. The scene involving Voldemort's resurrection is one of the best in the series. There are some decent moments of light comedy, though nothing really humorous. It's also good to see some big actors like Gary Oldman return for a cameo. There are some problems, Newell is not Cuaron, he doesn't have his visual flair nor as good at handling comedy or strong emotions. Some scenes like when Harry returns with Cedric's body are too overacted. I would have also like to have seen more involving the bad days of Minstry of Magic repression.
Goblet of Fire is a bridging story between the innocent story arc of the first three books, to the darker stories afterwards and the major arc involving Harry's destiny against Voldemort. Goblet of Fire is important in the series showing Voldemort's return and has the first major death. It came a surprise when I first read the book. There are also elements like the fact that Cedric and Victor were actually pretty decent people, you could care about them in the book. However, one element that I didn't like in both the film and the book is showing two 17-year-old men going out with two 14-year-old girls; it's not a positive message.
Enjoyable fantasy.