Was that it?

Rating: 6/10 (2 December 2005)

"It was awful!" - and that from the Potter loving Mrs Frames who had given an (inital)thumbs up to the previous three instalments but later, with two feet in a tub of cold water and a live wire dangling threateningly near by from your reviewer's own hand, conceded that they didn't hold up too well to repeat views. For her, Goblet of Fire just omitted too much of Rowling's book and fluffed the parts that were left. I didn't mind it so much, though I haven't read any of the novels (I'm over 18) and for that reason the film seemed to me OK - though a little patchy and let down by Radcliffe's half-grimace, half-gurning style of acting. Lacking Hermione's natural advantages he'll need to work bloody hard next time round to avoid looking like a new boy screen testing with the real actors.
Having been dragged along, though like sex I haven't paid for it once, I was again relatively surprised to find myself sitting in a packed house with hardly a child in sight. You'd have thought they'd have brought the little wizard-loving sprites along to cover their own fanatical devotion to a set of kiddy books but after 3 flicks perhaps all pretence was left (with the tots) at home. What drives them to see it is another matter. Mrs Frames belongs to the Hype Guild of Great Britain (HGGB) and its a condition of her membership that she must immerse herself in everything that resembles a bandwagon, regardless of quality, which is why she's currently on her 5th I-Pod. Harry Potter for me is the sort of thing I might have loved as a child to which you could add Matricide and Wham bars, but in my roaring twenties it seems pillaged from better stories and possessive of the same tensile strength as urine. The last film was far more successful in its craft and tone whereas Mike Newell, who prior to this would have got no closer to a blockbuster than watching one at home on DVD, isn't nearly as assured with the material and not in possession of so talented an eye.
Devoid of the fanaticism that seems to inflate these so-so stories, I'm rather tired of seeing each film with the promise of darker and deeper to come. When is this going to happen exactly? I could wait forever to find out. As Rowling's books get longer and more difficult to adapt my advice would be to dump them altogether and make an independent series based on the lead characters. Suggestions for future episodes include Harry Potter and the Turkish Prison, Harry Potter and the Hermione Granger Rape Case a.k.a. "Dirty" Harry Potter and Harry Potter Goes Wild! Wait a minute, I think I'm beginning to feel the hype...