A Great Spectacle

Rating: 10/10 (23 November 2005)

It's the Goblet of Fire with a very competent director and a fine cast. The result is a terrific movie -- fast-paced, gripping, scary, even occasionally heart-rending. After the first two dismal Chris Columbus efforts, and the good-but-not-great Prisoner, Harry Potter has finally come into his own on film. I mean this generically about the movie -- the actor, Daniel Radcliffe, continues to serve largely as the straight man for the wonderful characters and scenes around him. Whether or not he's capable of more remains unknown, as Director Newell has shrewdly kept him within his normal, passive range and thus made more of the outlandish, magical, unpredictable, sometimes terrifying world he inhabits. A note of caution, however, there are scenes that could frighten young children.