Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - The Rebirth of Voldemort (Possible Minor Spoilers)
Written: Nov 18 '05 (Updated Jul 15 '09)
Product Rating:
Pros: Very entertaining movie that stayed fairly close to the book.
Cons: Some characters under used. Voldemort's snake. I missed some of what was left out.
The Bottom Line: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was a very entertaining movie that I think lived up to the book well. Fans of the series should enjoy it.
dragonfire88's Full Review: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
In November of 2001, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the first movie based on a book in the very popular Harry Potter series of books, was released. By that time, I had read the first three books and was hooked on the series. I have also seen Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the movies based on the second and third books of the series. I have been both looking forward to and a bit wary about seeing Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire since that is my favorite book in the series. I actually had the chance to go see the first show on opening day here, something I don't get to do very often.
Before discussing anything specific to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, I want to share a little bit of background information on the Harry Potter series. The plots for each book, and therefore each movie, build on what happened in the previous installments, so I do think it is necessary to know some of the background information. There could be some minor spoilers in this part for anyone who hasn't seen the first three movies or read the books. I am not going to include any major spoilers for this movie when I discuss it. A few things I will mention could be minor spoilers.
The characters in the Harry Potter series live in a magical world full of witches, wizards, and many other magical creatures. Non-magical people, muggles, remain unaware of all the magical things in the world. Some children with magical abilities are able to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for seven years to learn how to use their magical abilities. It was possible for a child of muggle parents to be chosen to attend. Harry Potter had been raised by his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. The Dursleys kept the fact that Harry's parents were magical from him along with the truth about their deaths. When Harry turned eleven, he finally discovered that he was a wizard and that his parents had been killed by a very powerful dark wizard named Voldemort. Harry was the only person to ever survive one of Voldemort's attacks, making Harry well known in the magical world. Harry headed off to Hogwarts like his parents had. He made friends with Ron and Hermione and the three of them have had several adventures during their time at Hogwarts.
So far, there have been six Harry Potter books written by J.K. Rowling and one more is planned. Each book covers a different year of Harry's time at Hogwarts. Each year Harry and his friends face new challenges and dangers. Voldemort vanished after he failed to kill Harry, but he was still able to try to go after Harry. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is based on the fourth book in the series. The books and movies have their own plots while being connected to tell a longer overall story. I do think it is best to either read the books in order or see the movies in order so that there would be less confusion when a previous incident was mentioned.
**Possible Spoilers** I will be briefly discussing the plot of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire now. People that don't want to know about the plot should skip the next two paragraphs.
During the summer before his fourth year at Hogwarts, Harry was able to go to the Quidditch World Cup with the Weasley family and Hermione. Harry was having bad dreams about Voldemort that involved Wormtail and someone Harry didn't recongize. After the game was over, the mark of Voldemort appeared in the sky and death eaters, Voldemort's followers, were there as well. The first day back at Hogwarts, Dumbledore announced that Hogwarts would be hosting the Triwizard Tournament and students from two other magical schools, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang would be participating. A champion would be chosen to represent each school in the competition. The champions would compete in three magical events that could be dangerous so only students that were seventeen or older would be allowed to enter their names in the goblet of fire for the chance to be chosen as champion for their school. The new defense against the dark arts teacher, MadEye Moody, was also introduced then.
Viktor Krum, who had played on one of the teams in the Quidditch World Cup, was chosen to represent Durmstrang. Fleur Delacour was chosen to represent Beauxbatons and Cedric Diggory was picked for Hogwarts. Unexpectedly the goblet produced the name of a fourth champion, Harry Potter. Many people, including Ron, believed that Harry cheated someway to get his name entered when he hadn't. It was decided that Harry had to compete since the goblet selected his name. Harry had to deal with facing very dangerous tests while dealing with the trouble in his friendship with Ron and his first crush on Cho Chang, a student at Hogwarts from another house. Harry's nightmares continued, making him believe that Voldemort was attempting to somehow return.
**End of Possible Spoilers**
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the darkest of the Harry Potter movies so far and is the first of the movies to be rated PG-13. There were a few disturbing scenes and some things that could be scary for younger children. A few scenes included violence, though it wasn't really graphic or that extreme. This movie was more violent than the previous three movies without it being as violent as some other PG-13 movies, like The Lord of the Rings trilogy, have been. It seemed like this was a mild PG-13, but I do think it could be too violent and even upsetting to younger children. This is not a movie for really young children even though there were many in the theater when I saw the movie - frankly I was surprised there were so many children there during school hours. Anyone that has read the book would know what to expect about the darkness and violence in the movie. It should be all right for older children to see the movie, especially if they have read the book without out problems. Parents should see the movie first themselves if they have concerns about their children seeing it. The movie was serious for the most part. Humor was added here and there through the movie, usually by something Ron said or did. One of the funniest things was seeing Ron in his dress robes for the ball. Fred and George also added to the humor.
Magic has been important to all of the books and movies since most of the characters are students or professors at a magical school. The villain of the series is a powerful dark wizard that used magic to kill. Students at Hogwarts learn about many different magical things like potions, defense against the dark arts, and herbology. Mad Eye Moody showed students how powerful dark spells worked so they would know what they were against. Very little class time was shown during the movie and that did disappoint me a little bit. Only one defense against the dark arts class was shown along with one potions class. The students learned other new spells in the book that would have been interesting to see. Even Hermione, who has always been concerned about her grades, really said nothing about school and wasn't even shown studying which was just weird for her character. The champions had to use different magical spells in the tournament to successfully complete the tasks. I think the magical elements of the books and movies are very interesting and I would have liked if there had been a bit more of the magical things.
Different special effects were used throughout the movie, usually in connection with a magical creature or a spell. The students from the other schools arrived at Hogwarts in unique ways that had to be accomplished with effects. Voldemort's snake, which I really, really didn't want to see, was created with effects as well. I didn't like seeing that at all, though I didn't freak out as much as I have in some other movies when a snake has shown up. The snake wasn't in as much of the movie as I had thought it might be, so that was good. Certain effects were used to make Robbie Coltrane appear to be so much taller than everyone else as Hagrid. I believe the same types of things were done for Frances de la Tour as Madame Maxime. The effects were well done without being overly showy like has happened in some other movies. The story wasn't scarified so more time could be used showing off effects. The story just needed effects to be properly told.
Anytime a movie is based on a book, things are changed or left completely out. Sometimes the changes work out well and the movie ends up being good. Other times the changes are horrible and ruin the movie. The first two Harry Potter movies, both directed by Chris Columbus, stayed very close to the books which I did like. The third movie had a different director that decided to change things in the series that had been firmly established in the previous movies, like the location of Hagrid's hut and the whomping willow. I still haven't figured out why that decision was made. Thankfully, nothing seemed to be moved to a different location in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Areas of the schools that turned up for the first time in the third movie, like a covered bridge, were used again while Hagrid's hut and the willow were left out completely. There were a few locations around the school that might have been new. I only saw one moving painting in one scene and that did disappoint me a little bit. I don't mean that I think they should have been a main focal point in the movie. It just would have been nice to see them moving around in the background more like happened in the third movie.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire had a different director, Mike Newell, making him the third director for the series so far. Before seeing the movie, I had read some things where Newell said that he wanted to do things different and change things for the movie which did concern me a bit. I had first heard before production even started for this movie that the Dursleys wouldn't be included in the movie. They are far from my favorite characters in the series, but I was a bit disappointed about that because the way Harry leaves to go to Ron's house was very funny. The book contained a few more minor subplots in addition to the focus on the tournament. The one subplot that I really didn't like was the one that was left completely out of the movie, which was fine with me. It really didn't have impact on the overall story.
Another subplot in the book involved a new character, Rita Skeeter. She was a reporter for one of the magical newspapers. She did make it into the movie, though she was only in a few scenes and most of her subplot was gone. I'm really not sure why they bothered to even leave her in the movie since the majority of her storyline was cut. Miranda Richardson did do a good job with the part. Sirius was also almost completely eliminated from the movie. Ron's older brothers, who had already graduated, turned up for a few scenes in the book but that didn't make it into the movie. One of them was mentioned once and that was it. Percy and their mother were mostly missing as well.
Several events in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire were condensed in some way. Harry and even Hermione spent more time with the Weasleys in the book before going to the Quidditch World Cup. The actual game was described in the book but left out of the movie. The stadium and introduction of the players were shared and then the next scene was after the game was over. I was disappointed that none of the game was shown. It seemed like a waste to have them there and then not show any of the game. Events leading to Voldemort's mark appearing in the sky after the game were slightly different in the movie. The students from the other schools arrived at Hogwarts on the first day while some time passed before that happened in the book. Harry was dealing with his first crush and while not much happened with that in the book, there was small amount more than what made it to the movie. The relationships of some other characters, like Hermione, were just briefly touched on in the movie. I think Harry was more concerned about Voldemort in the book than he was shown to be in the movie. There was some information shared in the book that did add a bit of mystery to certain events. The information was left out of the movie. There were a few minor events that were also left out of the movie. I think people who haven't read the book version would be able to follow the movie. I do think this was a good adaptation of the book. I just missed the greater depth and detail about certain events.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire contained many characters, several of which have returned from the first two movies. The actors that play the students have grown and changed a lot since the first movie was made. That just fits in with the fact that the characters themselves are growing up and changing as the books progress. New characters were introduced as well and since there were so many characters, several ended up being very under used. I didn't think that anyone in the cast did a bad job. Basically the only students that were shown much were Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Fred and George also ended up with a decent amount of time, though they were usually goofing off in some way so they weren't really developed. Ron did go through some changes during the movie. Ron, Fred, and George tend to make me laugh a lot and I do like them. James and Oliver Phelps are perfect as Fred and George and even look like they could be Rupert Grint's older brothers. That casting was perfect. Ginny, the only girl in the Weasley family, was kept mostly to the backgrounds of scenes.
Harry had to deal with a lot of dangerous situations that caused him to grow up even more. He had his first crush on Cho Chang, though it wasn't explored that much, so she ended up in very few scenes. Daniel Radcliffe handled the part well. He did have one scene that took place in a bath and was shirtless in it. Teenage girls may really enjoy seeing that. Radcliffe is on his way to becoming a handsome young man. Hermione seemed to be struggling with her feelings for a few characters at times. She was still a bit bossy at times, but that did seem to be toned down some. She didn't seem as much like a know it all as she has in previous movies. She managed to surprise a few characters with her appearance at the ball and showed that she is becoming a beautiful young woman. I think that Emma Watson was good in the part. Shirley Henderson was back in one scene as Moaning Myrtle, the ghost of a former student. She was the only ghost in the movie.
Cedric Diggory, Viktor Krum, and Fleur Delacour were all new characters that were really only shown when they were competing in the tournament and ended up being rather flat characters. Viktor was already a well known quidditch player, which was all that was really shared about him. Cedric seemed to be a nice guy that just about everyone at Hogwarts liked. The actors in those parts just didn't have much to do. Many of the students really were just around in the background of scenes. Neville isn't one of the main characters so he didn't get much to do even though his part was a bit bigger in the book.
Severus Snape has never been one of my favorite characters, but I do think he is under used in the movies. Alan Rickman is absolutely wonderful in the part and it is a shame that he doesn't get more screen time. Maggie Smith as Professor McGonagall didn't have many scenes either. Draco Malfoy was only briefly around. His father Lucius may have had a slightly more important part even though it was also small.
Albus Dumbledore has been in every movie, though this is only the second time Michael Gambon has played the part since he was cast after the death of Richard Harris. Gambon did fine with the part and was around a bit more than he was in the third movie. I still like Richard Harris in the part more. MadEye Moody was a rather unique character with his mechanical eye and how he was always drinking something. I have been curious ever since I read the book how he would look in the movie. The eye was a bit strange looking, but I think it worked for the character. He was around in much of the movie, but there were still some things he did in the book that I would have liked to see. Brendan Gleeson was very good in the part.
**Possible Spoilers** I am going to discuss a few things related to one character that could be spoilers for people who haven't read the book. People who don't want to know more about the movie should skip this part. The character that many people were probably very curious to see was Voldemort. His presence was felt in the first two books and movies, though he didn't have an actual body. That changed by the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and he was shown in a human form for the first time. He was very creepy, having a reptilian look to his face. Part of him was barely shown in a strange form during Harry's nightmares. He really wasn't developed any more than he has been in the previous movies. Ralph Fiennes was unrecognizable in the part because of the way Voldemort was made to look. I think the appearance worked for the character, making him look evil and menacing. **End of Possible Spoilers**
MAIN CAST
Robbie Coltrane - Rebeus Hagrid Frances de la Tour - Madame Maxime Tom Felton - Draco Malfoy Ralph Fiennes - Voldemort Michael Gambon - Albus Dumbledore Brendan Gleeson - Mad Eye Mooney Rupert Grint - Ron Weasley Stanislav Ianevski - Viktor Krum Jason Isaacs - Lucius Malfoy Robert Hardy - Cornelius Fudge Katie Leung - Cho Chang Matthew Lewis - Neville Longbottom Robert Pattinson - Cedric Diggory James Phelps - Fred Weasley Oliver Phelps - George Weasley Clemence Poesy - Fleur Delacour Daniel Radcliffe - Harry Potter Miranda Richardson - Rita Skeeter Alan Rickman - Severus Snape Maggie Smith - Professor McGonagall Timothy Spall - Wormtail Emma Watson - Hermione Granger Bonnie Wright - Ginny Weasley
Directed by Mike Newell
I really enjoyed Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Since it was my favorite book, I was concerned before seeing it that it would be changed too much or have important events left out. Thankfully that didn't happen, at least in my opinion. People who enjoyed the book should give the movie version a chance. Fans of the movies should also enjoy it. I'm now ready for the next movie even though it won't be released until 2007.
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