...among best fantasy adventures of the past few years.
New to the cast are Miranda Richardson as the meddlesome reporter, Rita Skeeter, a delightfully nasty character whose role in the film, as I say, is much reduced from the book; Brendan Gleason as Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, an eccentric old wizard pressed into teaching duties at Hogworts; Robert Pattinson as Cedric Diggory, Hogworts' co-champion; Stanislav Ianevski and Clemence Poesy as Viktor Krum and Fleur Delacour, rival champions; Roger Lloyd-Pack as Barty Crouch, a representative of the Ministry of Magic; Katie Leung as Cho Chang, the light of Harry's eye; Frances de la Tour as Madame Maxime, a rival school's headmistress and the light of Hagrid's eye; Pedja Bjelac as Igor Karkaroff, another rival headmaster; and Ralph Fiennes, practically unrecognizable under a ton of reptilian makeup, as Lord Voldemort.
If anything, there are probably too many characters, new and old, for the good of a two-and-a-half hour film, so it's a good thing the filmmakers cut down some of the book's exploits. This single movie could have turned into a ten-hour miniseries. But I found the sets and costumes as impressive as ever (the movie was Oscar nominated for Art Direction) and the visual effects and CGI great, with only the graveyard scene appearing a little too stage bound and static. In fact, I thought "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" was among best fantasy adventures of the past few years.
Video:
As with the previous "Potter" films on HD DVD, the screen size for "The Goblet of Fire" closely approximates its 2.40:1 theatrical-release ratio, measuring about 2.25:1 across my widescreen HD television, given its small degree of overscan. The opening sequence is purposely dark and murky, but it is now much clearer than in standard definition. A light veneer of natural print grain is hardly noticeable and, in any case, provides a realistic texture. Despite the director's iron-gray color scheme, the picture is remarkably vivid and lifelike. Faces are still a tad glossy, and there is a small degree of roughness in select scenes, but these are minor distractions. Sharpness and detail are excellent. Because the disc opens with WB's old HD promo spot, I suspect it is an earlier VC-1 encode than the others in the "Potter" HD series, probably the same transfer used for the European issue, which came out some time before the American release.
Audio:
As with the other HD DVDs in the "Potter" series, we find the sound options Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 surround, both of them again impressive if not quite matching the sheer impact of "Chamber of Secrets" or "Order of the Phoenix." In TrueHD, particularly, there is a strong, deep bass; a wide, smooth, natural frequency balance; good midrange clarity; and an abundance of subtle but pinpoint surround-channel activities. The climactic maze and graveyard scenes are where the rear channels come into their own, though, so wait for it.
Extras:
The big bonus on this disc is the "In-Movie Experience," a series of picture-in-picture inserts you can watch simultaneously while viewing the film. Oliver and James Phelps, who play the Weasley twins, host these commentaries, which also include words from others among the filmmakers; and you can use your remote to move about, if you choose.
Next up is a collection of behind-the-scenes featurettes, all in standard definition, with the usual cast and filmmaker comments: "Harry Vs. the Horntail: The First Task," five minutes; "In Too Deep: The Second Task," nine minutes; "The Maze: The Third Task," six minutes; "Meet the Champions," twelve minutes; "He Who Must Not Be Named," eleven minutes; and "Preparing for the Yule Ball," nine minutes.
After that is the longest of the bonuses, "Conversations With the Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson," thirty minutes, hosted by Richard Curtis. Joining them later are some young contest winners who meet and ask questions of the cast members. Then there is a fourteen-minute featurette called "Reflections on the Fourth Film," where we get more cast interviews and comments, followed by about ten minutes of additional, deleted scenes.
The extras conclude with twenty-nine scene selections but no chapter insert; a widescreen theatrical trailer; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; English, French, and Spanish subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired. As always on a Warners HD DVD, we also get pop-up menus, bookmarks, a zoom-and-pan function, a guide to elapsed time, and an Elite Red HD case.
Parting Thoughts:
"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" demonstrated that the "Potter" movie series had not only not run out of steam but appeared to be getting better as it went along. With more movies to come, that was a good sign, indeed. And it is also good to see (and hear) that the movies seem to be getting better and better in high def.
If anything, there are probably too many characters, new and old, for the good of a two-and-a-half hour film, so it's a good thing the filmmakers cut down some of the book's exploits. This single movie could have turned into a ten-hour miniseries. But I found the sets and costumes as impressive as ever (the movie was Oscar nominated for Art Direction) and the visual effects and CGI great, with only the graveyard scene appearing a little too stage bound and static. In fact, I thought "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" was among best fantasy adventures of the past few years.
Video:
As with the previous "Potter" films on HD DVD, the screen size for "The Goblet of Fire" closely approximates its 2.40:1 theatrical-release ratio, measuring about 2.25:1 across my widescreen HD television, given its small degree of overscan. The opening sequence is purposely dark and murky, but it is now much clearer than in standard definition. A light veneer of natural print grain is hardly noticeable and, in any case, provides a realistic texture. Despite the director's iron-gray color scheme, the picture is remarkably vivid and lifelike. Faces are still a tad glossy, and there is a small degree of roughness in select scenes, but these are minor distractions. Sharpness and detail are excellent. Because the disc opens with WB's old HD promo spot, I suspect it is an earlier VC-1 encode than the others in the "Potter" HD series, probably the same transfer used for the European issue, which came out some time before the American release.
Audio:
As with the other HD DVDs in the "Potter" series, we find the sound options Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 surround, both of them again impressive if not quite matching the sheer impact of "Chamber of Secrets" or "Order of the Phoenix." In TrueHD, particularly, there is a strong, deep bass; a wide, smooth, natural frequency balance; good midrange clarity; and an abundance of subtle but pinpoint surround-channel activities. The climactic maze and graveyard scenes are where the rear channels come into their own, though, so wait for it.
Extras:
The big bonus on this disc is the "In-Movie Experience," a series of picture-in-picture inserts you can watch simultaneously while viewing the film. Oliver and James Phelps, who play the Weasley twins, host these commentaries, which also include words from others among the filmmakers; and you can use your remote to move about, if you choose.
Next up is a collection of behind-the-scenes featurettes, all in standard definition, with the usual cast and filmmaker comments: "Harry Vs. the Horntail: The First Task," five minutes; "In Too Deep: The Second Task," nine minutes; "The Maze: The Third Task," six minutes; "Meet the Champions," twelve minutes; "He Who Must Not Be Named," eleven minutes; and "Preparing for the Yule Ball," nine minutes.
After that is the longest of the bonuses, "Conversations With the Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson," thirty minutes, hosted by Richard Curtis. Joining them later are some young contest winners who meet and ask questions of the cast members. Then there is a fourteen-minute featurette called "Reflections on the Fourth Film," where we get more cast interviews and comments, followed by about ten minutes of additional, deleted scenes.
The extras conclude with twenty-nine scene selections but no chapter insert; a widescreen theatrical trailer; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; English, French, and Spanish subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired. As always on a Warners HD DVD, we also get pop-up menus, bookmarks, a zoom-and-pan function, a guide to elapsed time, and an Elite Red HD case.
Parting Thoughts:
"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" demonstrated that the "Potter" movie series had not only not run out of steam but appeared to be getting better as it went along. With more movies to come, that was a good sign, indeed. And it is also good to see (and hear) that the movies seem to be getting better and better in high def.
Average user rating (1-5):
[release]22521[/release]