As an adaptation, I liked Prisoner of Azkaban better, but as a movie, I liked this better, mainly because I liked the book better. Catch my drift? A very well crafted adaptation, but it felt rushed and actually slow in some parts. Yet, it succeeds to deliver solid entertainment.

A-

As I mentioned above, this is EXACTLY how I feel about it too.

I watched it again on DVD recently and liked it a lot more than I did in the theaters.

My changed grade: ***1/2

The best in the series (book-wise and film-wise). The actors are all getting so comfortable with the roles, they just know how to handle different situations better now than they did four years ago, and its showing in the movies.

Stone: B
Secrets: B+
Azkaban: A-
Goblet: A-

This follows the third film in finally capturing the magic of Harry Potter. My grades for the franchise:

The Philosopher's Stone - C+
The Chamber of Secrets - B-
The Prisoner of Azkaban - B+
The Goblet of Fire - B+

The entire series suffers from poor child acting. The adult cast is so remarkable (Maggie Smith, Emma Thompson, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman!), that the poor child cast really is a little weird.

The first two films feel way too literal. They hardly made me feel the magic.

The third film is the best so far. Cuaron spreads his magic here.

This film (Goblet of Fire) felt rushed sometimes, but overall, it had some of the most pitch perfect scenes on the entire franchise so far. It is the darkest film by far, and it succeeds a lot on that. One scene still sticks in my mind: the return back to the start of the maze after Cedric's death. The juxtoposition of the horror of Cedric's death and the bouncy school orchestra music is chilling. I loved it.

B+

PEACE, Mike.

I've probably gone into this whole Harry Potter series a tad arse about face since I've never read the books (bar a few pages which i didn't warm to) and never seen any of the first 3 films.

I ended up seeing this on the opening night due to my little sisters threatening me with immediate castration if I didn't drive them out to the cinema to see it.

Needless to say I liked my little men firmly attached to my body so off I went to the packed cinema feeling like a interloper among all the Potter maniac's.

My biggest surprise however was that I actually did enjoy the movie. I had no problem following the plot for some bizarre reason (it seems like your standard youth/great promise/wise old men/unseen evil type thingie, am i right?) and as a popcorn spectacle it ticked all the boxes with ease.

I mean its not a masterpiece by any means's, its not terribly original is filled with mildly annoying dancing at the crossroads style stereotypes and the less said about poor old Radcliffe's idea of acting (he seems to think shouting louder is enough to convey emotion) the better but its no worse then most summer style blockbusters, and since the primary role of these movies is big brash entertainment it does the job admirably.

Have to admit i'll be curious to see the 5th one.

B

Just slightly lower than POA as the second best of the series. The visuals are the best of the franchise, the underwater task and the dragon are very impressive. The story moves swiftly, and even though a lot was left out of the book non-fans can still understand most of it. The acting keeps getting better and better and its nice to see Ron and Hermione didn't get thrown on the sidelines like in Order of the Phoenix, they each have their "moments". Plus Hermione breaking down into tears and saying "you ruined everything!" was great. Plus we got some insight into wizard teenage life with a punk music band and wierd dancing (not to mention lyrics, "move your body like a hairy troll"?? LOL). The ending is powerful and Voldemort's return is very well done.

A-/A

Only HP film in my top 100. The last 20-30 minutes is epic.


A-

Don't they have child protective service there?

Liked the graveyard scenes, everything else, not so much, if at all.

That is one aspect of the series I do find utterly baffling. I mean they aren't all going to be master superduperwizard beasts most of them will end up working office jobs in London, lay off the excessive child abuse lads.

Solid follow-up to Azkaban. Definitely still miles ahead of the first two, which I'm continuing to look at as a prologue to the real movies. They're fun stories that really introduce the characters and as I've watched 3-5, I do appreciate the first two more for the character development as we haven't seen a ton of that compared to the books. But that's understandable.

Grade: B+

I've been watching the films again lately, and think Goblet of Fire is my favorite.

It wasn't until my recent rewatch that I realized just how stupid and convoluted the plot is (something that is unfortunately shared from the book). Though, the movie is still the funniest and most exciting of the Potters, and I found the acting to be all around even better. Brendan Gleeson is especially great.

No way. The second task is a bit lame and it fumbles the climax. Why did the Deus Ex Machinas come out of the wands again?

Why exactly Crouch has to go all the hoops to ensure Potter touches the Triwizard Cup has always bugged me. I can't remember, but does even the book give a reason why he couldn't turn any random piece of crap into a portkey?

No, but I'm willing to let that slide because the journey is fun.

But I hate the lack of explanation about the wands connecting. It has nothing to do with being a book cut, either -- this is the pivotal moment in the movie, and it's the thing that saves Harry's life, and they never explain it.

It's quite interesting rewatching all of these films. I still enjoyed this very much but it feels a little disjointed at times and I think there could've been a little breathing room between task 2 and 3. Also the ending is kinda oddly cheery even though Voldemort is back and a fellow student died.

I disliked this one the least. D+

For me, this movie is a roller coaster ride of things done well, and things done poorly. The dragon task was good, the bathroom clue scene was well done, the casting of Rita Skeeter and Mad-Eye Moody was perfect, and the graveyard scene at the end was great. However, Fleur was no where near as hot as she was in the book. Viktor Krum wasn't supposed to be good-looking. Dobby was completely cut out of the movie (his important role filled by Neville), and, my biggest disappointment, the maze was awful. I enjoyed the movie a lot, I was just frustrated by some of the changes made that didn't need to be made.

This is unfortunately my least favorite of the Harry Potter films. I'm sorry, but they did an okay job with what they had in it, but this should have been miles better. I understand things must be cut, but OOTP is a much longer book, had much more cut, but still is far more satisfying than this movie.

The film's main problem is its focus on action and not the plot. There is so much mystery in the books that is missing from the film. "Who put Harry's name in the Goblet?" Barely explored here. "What is up with Karkaroff?" Barely explored here. "WTF is going on with the Crouches?" Not explained whatsoever here.

The Triwizard Tournament, while obviously a big part of the story, the tasks are not so important to justify how much time they take. The dragon task is far too long and unbelievable. What was to stop the dragon from just flying away? How did Harry not die? And the dragon could have killed the audience, regardless if the champion was supposed to be in danger. Really, the scene should have been short and they should have given that screen time to more plot or character development. The Second task is by far the best of the film, it is not unnecessarily drug out and it hits all necessary beats. The third task has to be the worst though. It must have been a budget restraint, because I can't imagine another good reason to not make it full of creatures and shit, and instead to just make it move and crush them.

Rita Skeeter also really annoys me in this movie, because they do nothing with her character, and should have just been cut altogether. Same with Kreacher in film five. They make you think they're going to include her plot lines, but she is just there in the background for the most part.

Changes I"m okay with- Skipping the Dursleys, cutting the house elf freedom stuff (though Winky and Dobby were certainly necessary) The Pensieve scene was okay, I didn't mind them condensing them into one trial, except David Tenant was an absolutely horrible Barty Crouch Jr. Like so fucking bad it was unbelievable. Michael Gambon got better as he went along, but he was so bad in this movie. The part where he attacks Harry after his name comes out of the goblet always makes me cringe.

As many have said, easily the best part of the film is the graveyard battle. Except they don't explain what the hell happened with the wands (which was filmed and left on the cutting room floor.) This annoys the fuck out of me that they film scenes from the book and don't even release them on the DVD. I was also annoyed by Harry and Ron's emo hair in this one. I don' think this would have been good as two movies, but I really do think they should have paced it better and made it as long as is physically possible (Return of the King was 3 hours 20 minutes, this should have been also.)

I still love it because its Harry Potter though. A+

^it should've been miles better but it's still an A+?

There are different degrees of A+. 96, 97, 98, 99 and 100. This is like a 97 or 98, while the better ones are 99s and 100s.

THANK YOU!

It's like he had no idea what the character of Dumbledore was all about. He is miles better in OOTP and HBP though.