Weaker of the series--but still Harry Potter!

Rating: 7/10 (4 April 2012)

It's year four at Hogwarts for Harry and his friends, and things are starting to go downhill, for both the film and the characters. Mike Newell is now director, and he brings more changes to the series.
It's the summer before his fourth year at Hogwarts, and Harry is having recurring dreams of Voldemort and Wormtail (Timothy Spall). But he is temporarily distracted when he goes to the Quidditch World Cup with Hermione, the Weasleys, family friend Mr. Diggory, and his son Cedric (Robert Pattinson). Everyone enjoys the match, Ron especially, who is a big fan of the young, Bulgarian seeker Viktor Krum (Stanislav Ianevski). But the match is interrupted by Voldemort's followers, the Death Eaters, terrorizing the fans, causing chaos and casting "the dark mark" in the sky. Everyone is shaken from the events at the World Cup, but the kids go to school and hear some exciting news. Hogwarts will be home to the TriWizard Tournament, a competition between three young wizards from three different schools. According to Dumbledore, the prize will include the TriWizard cup and eternal glory. So, a group of beautiful French girls from the Beauxbatons Acadamy and tough Eastern European young men from Durmstrang Institute arrive at Hogwarts. Dumbledore establishes the rules that no students under age seventeen can apply to the contest by placing their names in the Goblet of Fire. The Goblet then chooses the Tournament's competitors: Cedric Diggory from Hogwarts, Fleur Delacour (Clémence Poésy) from Beauxbatons, Viktor Krum from Durmstrang andHarry?! Poor Harry is shocked and confused at this revelation, and the entire school (all three really) are furious at him for "cheating". He quickly becomes a media sensation and struggles to get through the dangerous competitions. Luckily though, Harry is helped by the new (and somewhat frightening) Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher "Mad Eye" Moody (Brendan Gleeson). On top of putting his life on the line for a competition he doesn't want to be in, Ron isn't speaking with him, and Hermione is also fighting with Ron. Everything is a mess, and Harry must compete in life threatening games, make up with his friends, find a date for the Yule ball, and figure out why he's having so many dreams of Voldemort.
This is probably the weakest (or second weakest) of all eight movies. First of all, the direction for this series has become a game of musical chairs. Newell was at a disadvantage following Cuarón, who most fans consider the best HP director. Not only that, the fourth book is the second longest book with so much information that the plot was absolutely butchered. The book was so long that the film makers considered splitting the fourth installment into two movies. That might have been better, because this film is extremely rushed and still leaves a huge amount out. Ironically, this film is shorter than the first two films whose source material was barely half the length of the fourth book. It must be said that this film focuses almost completely on Harry. While he may be the main character, any fans of the books or movies knows that Ron, Hermione and other side characters have just as much to do with the plot as he does. Not only that, but the other competitors, Fleur and Viktor barely have ANY lines or screen time. I don't even remember hearing Fleur say anything except for screaming and one line in French! I also want to know who did the editing in this movie. There are a few scenes where Harry's hair is at least two inches longer/shorter than in the previous scene. Really, did no one have the hindsight to keep his hair a similar length during filming? Even so, didn't anyone think to film things in a way that would look like his hair grew during the year? And while we're on the subject of hair...Radcliffe (and Grint's) hair is absolutely dreadful in this film! I'm usually not one to comment on those things but...wow. But I digress, this film is not ALL bad. It has some great scenes of Harry fighting a dragon and swimming in the Black Lake. The scene in the graveyard with Voldemort's (Ralph Fiennes) return is probably the best written and acted in the film. Fiennes does a fantastic job as the scary, creepy and power hungry Dark Lord. Luckily they didn't leave out the parts that have to do with his return to power, thus confusing the viewers on later events. As for the other goings on in this film, it does establish that rising adolescent tension between Ron and Hermione the times they are on screen, and even has some sexual innuendos. It's kind of fascinating how the films age with the characters and even audience, as I don't think I've really seen that with any other franchise. While I have criticized this film a lot, that's only because Harry Potter films and books are held in such high regard. It butchered the source material, as well as created a sub-par film—in comparison to the seven others. However, the film itself is not bad in comparison to other films or fantasies. While probably the weakest of the HP franchise, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is still definitely worth watching for Harry Potter fans.