Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Printer-Friendly Version | Email This Article

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
The Saga Continues…
2005-11-22
Article Written by: Sami Jo

The much-anticipated fourth installment of J.K. Rowling's literary phenomenon has made its way to the big screen just in time to fill the deep Quidditch void that had been left in fans' lives. The main event in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the Triwizard Tournament. Harry is the fourth competitor in the legendary tournament made for three and the only entrant to fall below the age requirements. As such, he must snatch a golden egg from a fire-breathing dragon, avoid creatures of the water to rescue something of great importance to him and capture the trophy from a moving maze, all while enduring nightmares of Lord Voldemort. In addition to all of this, for the first time, Draco Malfoy isn't the only student at Hogwarts that despises Harry. If this were a regular school, he would be suffering through middle school, also known as pubescent hell.

Like each of J.K. Rowling's previous books in this series, the screenplay for Goblet of Fire was adapted by Steven Kloves, but there has not been such a consistency in the films' directors. In fact, Mike Newell ( Mona Lisa Smile ) is the third director to meet the series. This Thanksgiving, you can be thankful that he took advice from Alfonso Cuarón ( Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ) and decided against the original idea of turning the 700+ page novel into a two-part film. With no disrespect meant to Newell, it would be nice to see Cuarón direct another Potter film. Even though Newell brings forth fantastic character development, The Goblet of Fire lacks the magical sensations of the other films.

After years of exposure to these films, the plot has become more and more predictable: all the students return to Hogwarts excited about the new year, then something happens that forces Harry to save himself (and, of course, others along the way), and, finally, everyone merrily goes off to enjoy summer break once again. As previous hinted, the most fascinating part of this film is the character development. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) has his first crush on a girl, Cho Chang (Katie Leung) and faces a mild rejection, only to later disappoint another girl who had been longing for him. Hermione (Emma Watson) yells at Ron (Rupert Grint) for not asking her to the school dance – I mean, Yule Ball. Ron, of course, remains clueless as to Hermione's feelings, but his little sister Ginny (Bonnie Wright) dances the night away with Neville Longbottom (Matthew Lewis). The question is this: Did Hermione, who turned plenty of heads in her ball gown, actually receive her first kiss? The film briefly hinted at an off-screen kiss with Krum—the boy all the girls wanted. Apparently reading the books comes in handy after all.

With there being so many Harry Potter books (Rowling is currently working on the 7 th ) and a lengthy amount of time between each (the next film isn't due to hit theaters until 2007), audiences are getting a tremendous look at three actors (Radcliffe, Watson and Grint) growing up un-screen. Nonetheless, these adolescents aren't the only ones that make these films work. Michael Gambon brings high energy and spirit as Albus Dumbledore; Maggie Smith conveys great comedic wit in her portrayal of Professor McGonagall; and Alan Rickman gallantly entertains as Professor Snape. Real-life twins James and Oliver Phelps play off each other in an amusing way as Fred and George Weasley, and you'd have to have magical abilities of your own if you could recognize Ralphs Fiennes ( The Constant Gardener ) playing Lord Voldemort. Together, this ensemble cast makes their far-fetched world of wizardry highly believable, leaving audiences with strong desires to see what happens next.

Final Thought: Can anyone tell me if Hermione kissed Krum in the book? Please?!?!?!

Movie Guide

User Poll

Recent Movie Articles

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire