Monday, November 21, 2005

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Beset by nightmares, Harry Potter is all too happy to escape his disturbing dreams by attending the Quidditch World Cup. But something sinister ignites the skies at the Quidditch campsite--the Dark Mark, the sign of the evil Lord Voldemort. It's conjured by his followers, the Death Eaters, who haven't dared to appear in public since Voldemort was last seen thirteen years ago--the night he murdered Harry's parents. Harry longs to get back inside the safe walls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where Professor Dumbledore can protect him. But Dumbledore announces that Hogwarts will host the Triwizard Tournament, one of the most exciting and dangerous of the wizarding community's magical competitions. One champion will be selected from each of the three most prestigious wizarding schools to compete in a series of life-threatening tasks in pursuit of winning the coveted Triwizard Cup. Ministry of Magic official Barty Crouch and Professor Dumbledore preside over a candlelit ceremony as the enchanted Goblet of Fire selects one student from each school to compete. Amidst a hail of sparks and flames, the cup names Durmstrang's Institute's Quidditch superstar Victor Krum, followed by Beauxbatons' Academy exquisite Fleur Delacour and finally, Hogwarts' popular all-around golden boy Cedric Diggory. But then, inexplicably, the Goblet spits out one final name: Harry Potter. Suspecting that whoever entered Harry's name wants to put him in grave danger, Dumbledore asks Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, the eccentric new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, to keep his magical eye trained on the teenage wizard. Events take an ominous turn when someone is murdered on Hogwarts grounds. As they edge closer to the Triwizard Cup, Harry soon finds himself hurtling toward an encounter with true evil.

I absolutely LOVE the Harry Potter books. I think they are extremely well written and present an excellent story as well as outstanding character development. I have also been impressed with the film translation of the books and this film is no exception. From the very beginning of this film you are shot through at an excellent pace that kept me from checking my watch until the credits rolled, amazed that two and a half hours had passed. Mad Eye Moody is incredible in this film and adds so much. I have a few issues with this movie however. At the beginning of the movie, we are introduced to Viktor Klum and the return of the Deatheaters at the Quidditch World Cup. If the director felt that he wanted to include the Quidditch World Cup as part of this movie that's fine, however I felt that the 15 minutes used for that could have been much better spent improving the character development of Cedric Diggory, Viktor Krum and especially
Fleur Delacour. Fleur becomes a fairly important character later in the series and it would have been beneficial to let us know her a little more. **SPOILER** The fact that Cedric's character was not fleshed out at all made me feel little to no sorrow when he was killed. He was no more an important character to me than the twins Ron and Harry took to the ball. The same can be said for the 2nd challenge where Fleur's sister is tied underwater. I didn't even realize who she was until later. **END SPOILER** That being said, the graveyard scene is absolute perfection. Lucius Malfoy is an excellent villian that is one of the best in the series. I would have also liked to see more flashbacks in the Pensieve as there is more in the book.

This movie has been given a PG-13 rating which confuses me. I don't think this movie is any more frightening than the Prisoner of Azkeban (which received a PG rating). I agree that both movies should have a PG-13 rating for scary scenes and a bit of language, but the inconsistency in the ratings is confusing.

Honestly, when the worst complaint I have about a two and half hour movie is that I wish it was longer.... there's not much to really complain about. I suppose they could have split it into two movies or made it a 4-6 hour movie with intermissions, but neither option is really viable. That being said, aside from the very beginning, I don't think this movie could get much better.

4.8 out of 5

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