Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Let me give my rating right up front.

On the March Hare Scale: 4.5 Golden Tickets (out of 5).

Even DS#1, who is 22, wanted to see this one. Word of warning: getting to the theater 15 minutes before show time was not early enough. We ended up trading in our tickets for a later show, although DS#1 and DS#2 braved the earlier showing and ended up sitting in the front (I think).

We all want to see this one again. Maybe in IMAX. Now that would be an experience!

Goblet of Fire was when I really became hooked on Harry Potter. There's a lot of emotion running through this book, misunderstanding, and tests of the bonds of friendship. Harry has been alone, emotionally, so long that one of his challenges is letting himself trust his friends. (This theme is developed through Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince as well.)

The movie clocks in at 2.5 hours, which the reviewer in my local paper thought was too long. I didn't notice it. He complained that the graveyard duel was too Luke Skywalker-Darth Vaderish and needed to be shorter; I thought it was too short. This movie is truly dark, in tone, in subject matter, and in setting.

We saw the show on Friday and yesterday, since we were all in the car, we dissected it. DD#1 and I are the only two who have actually read the books (I'm trying to convince DS#2, who is 15, that he'd enjoy this volume. No luck, so far.) so we were talking about what the screenwriter left out and how it may--or may not--have been important. In fact, I may have to go back and re-read it.

SPOILER WARNING--ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK!
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One thing that was barely mentioned was money: Harry has it; the Weasleys don't. Harry is generous and doesn't flaunt having money, but Ron is acutely aware that his family has to make do. Harry's rather insensitive to Ron's feelings about his family's financial situation; Ron is rather jealous that Harry has no financial worries and that fuels a lot of the misunderstanding between them. The movie refers to this only obliquely: Ron only buys one sweet from the trolley and doesn't let Harry treat him, Ron's dress robes are hideous while Harry's are elegant. But one important point is at the end of the Tournament, Harry wins a bag of gold. But the gold is tainted with Cedric Diggory's blood, so Harry gives the gold to the Fred & George Weasley to open up their joke shop--and to buy Ron some decent dress robes. This is not mentioned in the movie, but it becomes an important point in Order of the Phoenix.

Emma Watson, who plays Hermione, is turning into a beautiful young woman. A minor quibble: her hair is tamed in this movie, while in the book she still has trouble managing her frizz. In fact, she does manage to smooth her hair and wear it up for the Yule Ball, and Ron & Harry don't recognize her. I was a little disappointed in the physical appearance of the actress playing Fleur Delacoeur--I had visions of long, silver-blonde hair. Cho Chang was cute, but her accent threw me briefly. I had the same kind of momentary disconnect when I was in London. Of course British Asian would have a British accent--or a Scottish burr. I know that, but it's still, somehow, unexpected.

I'm not sure why the costumer decided that all the male students at Hogwarts had to have long hair. Rupert Grint (Ron) could have used a haircut. And I've seen publicity photos of Daniel Radcliffe (Harry) post GoF with a haircut and he looks much better.

Excellent makeup job on Ralph Fiennes for Voldemort, however.

I still miss Richard Harris's Dumbledore, although my children like the new one. They think he is more forceful and stronger emotionally, which Dumbledore has to be.

The Rita Skeeter plotline was minimal. Since how The Daily Prophet handles the story of Voldemort's return is important in Order of the Phoenix, I'm not sure how that will be handled. Miranda Richardson was good in the role, however brief her screentime. In fact, since her appearance is so minimal in this movie, I wonder if she was even necessary or if her character was just thrown in as a sop to those who've read the book.

Even though the movie ends in a different place than the book, I thought it was well-done. Dumbledore's speech at the end was powerful. But will it be enough?

Stay tuned... According to an interview with the cast in Girl's Life magazine, shooting has already started on Order of the Phoenix. Which is good, as J.K. Rowling has said it will be about two years before Book 7 is ready for publication!