Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
By: Zach Smith
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Before I begin reviewing Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, I should atleast give you my “Potter history.” I’m not a big Harry Potter fan, to be honest. I’ve never gotten into the Potter mania the world has gotten into. Out of the six or seven books released thus far (can’t remember exactly, they just keep coming), I’ve read only one – the first one, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. It was good, but still, I just never read the rest. When the movies came out, I watched Sorcerer’s Stone, and to my surprise, it was quite mediocre. The sequel, Chamber of Secrets, was decent if not slightly mediocre as well. Because of those two, I skipped the third one in theaters, assuming I wouldn’t like it. Turns out, it was the best of them all, and was actually a pretty great movie. Every sequel in this series was better than the one prior, so I had some expectations for this one, especially after seeing the impressive trailer. I’m happy to say the trend continues, as we have the best Harry Potter film yet.
Any good Potter fan knows the story to Goblet of Fire, probably, but for those like me who skipped the books and went straight to the film, it goes a little like this. Harry Potter enters his fourth year at the Hogwarts School for Wizards. This year is special, however, as Hogwarts will be the host of the legendary wizard event – The Tri-Wizard Tournament. In this tournament, three competitors, each from three different wizard schools, compete in a competition for eternal glory where they must survive and accomplish the missions of three difficult tasks that might cost their lives. In an unusual turn of events, Potter finds himself chosen without even entering the event and becomes the fourth competitor in the event, something that has never happened. At the same time, the rise of his nemesis and the murderer of his parents, Voldermort, is beginning his plot to return and kill Harry Potter once and for all.
I think a big reason why I like each sequel more than the previous one is because the characters are much more interesting when they’re teenagers versus when they’re little kids. In Goblet of Fire, you get to see teenage love blossom as Harry Potter and his two best friends, Hermione and Ron, all try to seek out dates to the big Tri-Wizard ball. I enjoyed this part of the film a lot, even if it was the only part of the movie that didn’t contain any action whatsoever. It was amusing. Props to Daniel Radcliffe, who does an excellent job as Harry Potter. Also, Rupert Grint (Ron) and Emma Watson (Hermione) also give great performances as well. The whole cast makes this film great, actually.
The most noticeable and personally, most impressive aspect of the film is the cinematography. When I saw The Sorcerer’s Stone in 2001, the only thing that didn’t make the film completely awful was that it was a film that must be watched, even without sound. The film looked beautiful back then, and Goblet of Fire has made some improvements off of all three films in a big way. So much improvement, I’d go as far as saying that it’s one of the best looking films I’ve ever seen on the big screen. It’ll make your jaw drop at some of the intense sequences in the film. Even when there’s no action going on, the way they created this film is just so breathtaking; you can’t help but be amazed.
Harry Potter is a phenomenon, to say the least. From the amazing popularity of the books to the outstanding box-office totals that the Potter films have amassed to date, it’s certainly an eventful time when a book or film is released. Goblet of Fire is imaginative, beautiful, funny, and fun all in one box. My only gripe is the movie can be a little too long, running at a lengthy 150 minutes. Not that I wasn’t entertained the majority of the time, but I could definitely see some stuff cut out to make it a little shorter. I can’t tell you how well the movie is adapted from the book since I haven’t read it, but all I know is that Goblet of Fire is certainly the best Harry Potter film released so far. Let’s hope the next one can follow the trend and actually improve off of this one as well.
Grade: B+
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