MOVIE REVIEW: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire does a lot of what the earlier movies did, and a lot of what the earlier movies didn’t do. The special effects are excellent, ranging from animated fireworks to fire-breathing dragons, rendered in awesome color. The plot is well-represented for being based on a book. The one key problem with this movie, though, is the lack of representation of much of the book in general. By my guess, a good third of the book is left out, and even then the movie is a hefty 2 hours and 30 minutes.
As before, the movie stars Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, a boy of 14 attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Those of you who have read the books will remember that this one starts a little differently, though. For one, the threat and ever-ominous presence of Lord Voldemort has grown over the last summer away from Hogwarts, as is shown in the first ten minutes of the movie, where Harry, along with friends Ron and Hermione, attend the Quidditch World Cup, only to see a demonstration of “Death Eaters,” or those still loyal to Voldemort. The movie quickly rushes through the first few chapters of the book, and the brilliantly done quidditch scenes that we came to love from the previous movies are nonexistent, as the entire match of the World Cup is skipped over.
Showing how the creators of the film really were rushed, about 20 minutes into the movie, Harry is back at Hogwarts and the schools of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons have already arrived. The portrayal of the two schools makes this movie seem as if it was made for children; when each school enters the Great Hall, they perform a “cheer” of sorts. Durmstrang, all of its members wearing furs and appearing as brutish, march into the hall with magic staffs, doing backflips and the like, and the students from Beauxbatons enter clad all in blue, with magical butterflies hovering about…in my opinion a little overdone.
There is obviously more sexual innuendo in this movie, as is clearly seen when Ron remarks to Harry that he “loves seeing them walk,” referring to the students from Beauxbatons (all girls). Furthermore, the Yule Ball held at Hogwarts displays the trysts of young boys seeking dates, through portrayal of Harry’s “affair” with Cho Chang, who barely appears in one scene in the movie. Along the same lines, Sirius Black has a grand one scene, and then is not even seen in person; his head is seen in the fire of the Gryffindor common room.
Overall, the acting was brilliant. All of the adults complemented their younger stars very well, as has been the case with the previous movies. Alan Rickman (Snape) still makes his presence known, even though he appears in about 3 scenes, and Michael Gambon plays a wonderful Dumbledore. All in all, the movie was brilliantly done. Hats off to director Mike Newell for his wonderful work. Go and see the movie, you’ll like it.
MY SCORE:
Plot/Storyline: 8/10 (Not the hottest interpretation of the book…)
Acting: 9/10
Effects: 9/10
OVERALL: 9/10
As before, the movie stars Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, a boy of 14 attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Those of you who have read the books will remember that this one starts a little differently, though. For one, the threat and ever-ominous presence of Lord Voldemort has grown over the last summer away from Hogwarts, as is shown in the first ten minutes of the movie, where Harry, along with friends Ron and Hermione, attend the Quidditch World Cup, only to see a demonstration of “Death Eaters,” or those still loyal to Voldemort. The movie quickly rushes through the first few chapters of the book, and the brilliantly done quidditch scenes that we came to love from the previous movies are nonexistent, as the entire match of the World Cup is skipped over.
Showing how the creators of the film really were rushed, about 20 minutes into the movie, Harry is back at Hogwarts and the schools of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons have already arrived. The portrayal of the two schools makes this movie seem as if it was made for children; when each school enters the Great Hall, they perform a “cheer” of sorts. Durmstrang, all of its members wearing furs and appearing as brutish, march into the hall with magic staffs, doing backflips and the like, and the students from Beauxbatons enter clad all in blue, with magical butterflies hovering about…in my opinion a little overdone.
There is obviously more sexual innuendo in this movie, as is clearly seen when Ron remarks to Harry that he “loves seeing them walk,” referring to the students from Beauxbatons (all girls). Furthermore, the Yule Ball held at Hogwarts displays the trysts of young boys seeking dates, through portrayal of Harry’s “affair” with Cho Chang, who barely appears in one scene in the movie. Along the same lines, Sirius Black has a grand one scene, and then is not even seen in person; his head is seen in the fire of the Gryffindor common room.
Overall, the acting was brilliant. All of the adults complemented their younger stars very well, as has been the case with the previous movies. Alan Rickman (Snape) still makes his presence known, even though he appears in about 3 scenes, and Michael Gambon plays a wonderful Dumbledore. All in all, the movie was brilliantly done. Hats off to director Mike Newell for his wonderful work. Go and see the movie, you’ll like it.
MY SCORE:
Plot/Storyline: 8/10 (Not the hottest interpretation of the book…)
Acting: 9/10
Effects: 9/10
OVERALL: 9/10
posted by Roshan | 10:21 PM
1 Comments:
nice review.. i've heard similars, just havent actually seen it... looking forward to reading these and i might have to edit my blog template to link here...
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