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For me, 2005's "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" is the best "Potter" movie in the series so far, and watching it again in high-definition picture and sound only made it better.
The first two installments in R.K. Rowling's "Potter" series were cute and charming in a whimsical sort of way, culminating in exciting battles and all, but they were largely juvenile entertainments befitting Harry's young age. As Harry got older, the series got appropriately darker, with episode three, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," being very dark, indeed. I liked the look, but "Azkaban" also felt the most unfinished of the movies, like a mere transition, while the first two movies were fairly self-contained. In other words, although episode three looked good, it didn't have a lot to say. Now, we have "The Goblet of Fire," and all the best elements of the "Potter" films come together. The characters have matured, the tone and atmosphere are more serious, and the plot holds together on its own. I find the movie highly entertaining.
The biggest knock I've heard from naysayers about "The Goblet of Fire" is that it cuts out too much of the book. Well, think about it: The book is enormously long, and the movie is about two-and-a-half hours. Something had to give, and I believe the screenwriter and director made the right decisions about what to keep and what to toss out.
OK, so we no longer have an opening episode with the Dursleys, Harry's horrid aunt, uncle, and cousin. We can live without it as it offered up nothing new in the book, either. Hermione has no crusade to free the house elves. Again, no loss as it was extraneous to the story. The irritating, mean-spirited reporter, Rita Skeeter, shows up less often, as does Harry's godfather, Sirius; and there is little mention of giants. Plus, there are any number of tiny details that Rowling herself could have cut from the book to begin with. Face it, fans: Rowling seems to be an excessively wordy author who got wordier as the "Potter" books went on. She could have used a good editor, and the filmmakers probably did us a service trimming her material.
British director Mike Newell ("The Awakening," "Four Weddings and a Funeral," "Donnie Brasco") and screenwriter Steve Kloves (among others, "Wonder Boys" plus the previous "Potter" films) have appropriately pared down Rowling's sprawling 734-page hardbound novel into its most basic story constituents. The movie opens as the book does, with Harry having a vision of dire foreshadowing, and then it dispenses with the usual business of Harry's home life with the Dursleys. After all, we know that Harry has outgrown the Dursleys, and Hogwarts is Harry's real home now, so we shift immediately there and the Quidditch World Cup.
In this fourth installment, Harry has to face on the one hand his old nemesis, Lord Voldemort, determined to regain human form, and on the other hand an even bigger challenge--girls. Let's concentrate on the Voldemort side. It's time for the big Triwizard Tournament, a wizarding competition involving the best representatives of the three major wizarding schools in the world, and this year it's being held at Hogworts. However, you have to be at least seventeen years old to enter, so Harry knows he has no chance. If you're old enough, you throw your name into the Goblet of Fire, and the cup picks the best persons to compete; the goblet is kind of like the Sorting Hat, with a mind of its own. Then something surprising happens. Without entering his name in the competition, the Goblet chooses Harry along with another boy, Cedric Diggory, as Hogworts' representatives. So Harry is in whether he likes it or not.
The competition involves contending in several events with dragons and underwater rescues and mazes and such, but more important to our story is that Voldemort wants to use this contest to lure Harry to his death. It seems that only Harry's blood can help restore "He Who Must Not Be Named" to human form, and despite Dumbledore's best efforts to protect Harry, Voldemort is keen to grab him and do him in just the same.
The contests themselves are fun to watch, imaginative and exciting. Harry's interrelationships with his friends Ron and Hermione are more complex than ever, with mistrust and jealousies running amuck. Harry's evening at a big Yule Ball goes terribly awry. And his confrontation with Voldemort makes for a reasonably thrilling climax.
All the usual characters make an appearance, played by mostly the same actors as before, lending a nice continuity to the series; and a few new ones show up, too. Among others, Daniel Radcliffe is back as Harry; Rupert Grint and Emma Watson are again Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger; Michael Gambon is Albus Dumbledore; Robbie Coltrane is Hagrid; Maggie Smith is Professor McGonnagall; Alan Rickman is Servius Snape; Gary Oldman is Sirius Black (although you'd barely know him, his part is so brief); Julie Walters is Mrs. Weasley; Mark Williams is Mr. Weasley; Timothy Spall is Wormtail; Warwick Davis is Professor Flitwick; Robert Hardy is Cornelius Fudge; Tom Felton is Draco Malfoy; and Jason Issacs is Lucius Malfoy.
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[release]22521[/release]