Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire Reviews

[Highly rated reviewer]

Harry Potter with His Giblets on Fire

Like all the Harry Potter films this is excellent.

I always look forward to enjoying a good 2 hours of magic.

great to see Miss Jones from 'Rising Damp' on the screen again too!

Better than I expected

First off, I haven't read the books so I can't tell you how closely it relates. However as a film its a worthy watch. The effects are good, the acting is solid and the cast are certainly the 'best of british'. My only complaint is that the script is quite poor in places and there are noticeable chunks of storyline missing - some of the edits leave a lot to be desired and even though I haven't read the book, I could tell that there was pretty large pieces of the storyline missing. It appears that the editor/producer/director believes that no-one will be watching this film unless they've read the book first. This did make it a little confusing (and somewhat annoying) in places but not enough to spoil the overall effect of the film. I still thoroughly enjoyed it. One last warning though, do not let young children watch this film unsupervised - its really quite disturbing near the end and I could certainly imagine younger children getting upset. Possibly one you'd want to watch first before letting your kids see it. A solid 8/10 for entertainment value alone.

Can't complain

Being someone who's read all the Harry Potter books - I enjoyed them but am hardly an obsessive fan - I can appreciate the problems they had with making this film. It crosses the finish line at just over two and a half hours making it rather long for a 'family film' and yet it still missed or overlooked a hell of a lot of the material when compared with the book. The end result is something that I fear will dissapoint the hardcore potter fans while being overly long for those who've never read the books - and there is no doubt that there are many people who will see this film who have not.

This is a great shame as Goblet of Fire has been very well made and is certainly a lot of fun if you don't take it too seriously. The acting is still dodgy in places, especially from the kids, but there is no doubt they have improved since the earlier Potter installments, where the line delivery made me cringe.

The special effects are stunning, the dragons in particular. But this is no more than we expect these days, post Lord of the Rings/New Star Wars trilogies. There's very little character development of the main characters (with the exception of Voldemort) which takes the sideline in place of fanatsy action and all-around fun.

No, it's not and never was going to be as good as the book - I could list everything they left out and it would go on forever. But they gave it a fair shot and arguably produced the best Potter film yet. For that credit is deserved. Four stars.

best of them all so far

i really enjoyed this one, i thought it was better then the "prisoner of azkaban" which was a bit of a let down, but goblet was just fast paced and funny and stayed well to the book.

can't wait for the dvd.

Brilliant

Fantastic movie

This film was an amazing watch and my kids were quite for nearly 2 hours! Loved it but wonder how they are going to fit the 5th film into 2 hours.

I felt this film was a bit fast even though it was so wonderful.

Excellent: Best so Far!

I saw the film the day that it came out, you only had to step into the cinema to know that a big film was out, decerations, posters, and 5 sold out screenings for that night only!After reading the book I knew it would be something special, and it was! Slight change of some scenes captured from book to film but overall a great comparison that I felt definatly lay true to the great story it was portraying.

Harry begins his fourth year at Hogwarts but befalls upon the Triwizard Tournament, a traditonal event in which 3 schools, Beauxbatons, Durmstrang and Hogwarts compete in. From each school one champion is chosen, each will take part in 3 dangerous tasks, the winner will gain 'eternal glory'. Strange events start to unfold which find Harry competing as an underage student, the rest falls towards Harrys wizarding strength and ability... Great film, I would suggest it to anyone, a great treat!

Darker, but needed to be longer

An improvement on the Prisoner of Azkhaban, but the film really strains under the obvious compression of the book into 156 minutes of film.

There is greater depth and emotion to the characters, but it is at the sacrifice of tight plotting. The opening sequence sets up the premise of the film, but then falls away as the characters go through various unrelated trials. We don't come back to the point of the film until much later and then it's a bit confusing and sparse.

An enjoyable film with glimpses of genuine emotion, but it could have been so much better. I think Mike Newell needed 300 minutes to do the book justice.

Director's cut on DVD please Mr Newell!

[Highly rated reviewer]

Potter has been ruined by these crap money making pieces of can-barely-be-called-film!

Slightly better handled than the third film and better acting on most accounts but just as dismal in almost every other respect. Films based on books are supposed to be based on the book aren't they? Why then did the GoF movie change the plot twist to suit it's own ridiculous ends? This movie put far too much emphasis on how it looked, it took scenes that should have been a lot shorter and expanded them ridiculously just to show off the cgi. This takes time away from what should have been the main focus... the damn story. Why not just do a Lord of the Rings and make the film four hours? In that instance, anyone who's going to complain about length shouldn't be going to see it anyway and book fans would be appeased as well as other viewers. As it is, major characters have been cut (Ludo Bagman), major plot points removed, major scenes removed (such as Sirius in the cave) with the result that the story is very diminished and not even a fraction as mysterious or as gripping as it should have been. Why spend about ten minutes on the first task when it only needed about 2 if done properly? Those extra minutes and the extra minutes from similar extended pieces should have ALL been used to expand the films ending and make it make sense. For all you people who haven't read the books, have a think here... in Azkaban the entire wizarding world is on red alert because Sirius escaped.... in Goblet, Barty Crouch Junior has done the exact same thing and no one has even realised??? What stupidity was that? This had a very in depth explanation in the books and was aided by the character Winky who, like Dobby, was cut from the film despite the house elf's massive part and the clues they provided to the answer. The people in charge of cutting these books down to film form don't know what they are doing. Also, Michael 'HAAAAAAAARRYYYY POOOOOOOOTEEEEEER' Gambon as Dumbledore? From cool, calm and collected Richard Harris to angry, scary and an accent that he can't maintain for more than a few minutes making him sound like he's forgot his nationality. I am relatively sure he only got the part because he's Sir Michael Gambon. I know Ian McKellan has said he wouldn't do the part if asked but will someone please convince him. The only saving grace is Daniel Radcliffe and his fantastic portrayal of Harry. Voldemort looked great and Ralf Fiennes played it reasonably well and the death of Cedric was convincingly sad, these points only merit one star however due to the rest of this abysmal movie. Oh and also, Moody was played very well but didn't look at all correct and what the hell was that strap all about? If you liked the other films and haven't read the books or you just like fantastical nonsense with a plot that isn't properly explained then you'll probably be fine but if you want a faithful adaption then avoid like the plague.

Mad Eye Moody

Whilst fans of the films who have never read the books might have been following the storyline admirably up to this point, this film might have them rushing out to the nearest Waterstones so that they can fill in the gaps.

The fourth book has definitely been the most action packed so far, and was going to be a mammoth task for any director to take on. Mike Newell might have been better doing a ROTK and stretching the film to 3 hours as much of the character development and the potterims that made up Rowling's fantasy world have been left out in favour of trying to cram as much of the storyline into 2.5 hours as possible.

The film skips erratically from one plot progression to another. Ron and Hermoine are almost superfluous, their emotional outbursts out of place and unexplained. Favourite characters, Nobby, the Durseleys and Mrs Weasley are notably missing, and the 3 triwizard contestants who are so important to the story - Fleur, Cedric and Klum - barely rack up more than a few lines each. Even the much awaited return of You Know Who, wonderfully acted by Fiennes, seems somewhat devoid of the dark dramatic tension which Newell tries to build up during the film, but which falls somehow short of expectation.

The film is dark in tone and much of it is filmed in grainy twilight. Criticisms aside, the appearances of characters such as Mad Eye Moody - wonderfully portrayed by Brendan Gleeson - are a joy. There are a couple of laughs, but childish humour has been left behind as Harry steps onto the path of adulthood. The special effects are completely breathtaking, and Hogwarts becomes one of the stars of the film, resplendent for being viewed in a more gritty light.

Overall the film is very different from its predecessors, but sets a new boundary for the next adaptations.

Hogwarts worthy champion !!!!!

I am not afraid to admit that I am a massive MASSIVE Harry potter geek. I had been waiting for this film to come out straight after they finished the third and must say overall I was not disappointed. The casting of Brendan Gleeson as madeye Moody was brilliant and he nailed the character. Alan Rickman and Maggie smith again nail there characters but the same can't be said for others. It was the performance of Michael Gabon as Dumbledore which lets the film down in a massive way. Dumbledore in the books is a graceful man who never seems to lose his cool no matter what happens and radiates power. In the film he is an aggressive bully along with being a complete wimp. Also what the hell is the accent about ? One minute he is talking the queens English the next he sounds like he is a leprechaun ! The 'HARRY PAAAAAAAATTOR!' when Harry name comes out of the goblet left me laughing out load ! He also looks like he is about to sh!t himself when the goblet lights up which is so out of character. The casting of Dumbledore is so important and as long as this man keeps playing him then the rest of the films will never be as good as they could be.

The trio are growing up and Emma Watson apart they are getting better. Emma Watson's overacting throughout the film is really REALLY bad. The end scene when she says 'everything is going to change now' makes me cover my eyes and ears every time as it is so cringe worthy. Along with grunting the whole way through I think she really has gone backwards as an actress which is a massive shame as she was amazing in the third. They are all getting love interests now and Ron and Harry trying to get dates for the Yule ball is brilliant and very very funny even if it does bring back horrible memories of my school day though.

The tasks are great and the action is amazing as you would expect and voldermort is exactly as I picture him even though I couldn't see voldermort dancing around the graveyard like Ralph Fiennes does but aside from that brilliant. It is a shame they have left dobby and winky out but unless the film was going to be 8 hours long I suppose they had little choice.

Brilliant film overall but rubbish acting from a few stops it being 5 stars but aside from that another brilliant effort