Harry Potter 4 -- The Goblet of Fire

[Chimera]

After tonight this will probably need to be changed to a spoiler thread, since many of us will have seen it and I know that at leas *I* will want to discuss it.

[stacer]

I'd say start a new spoiler thread. That's what we usually do with big movies--one thread for non-spoilers, another for spoilers.

[Chimera]

If it was me, I'd put the link to the review in the spoiler thread. Since reviews to some people are spoilers and since the movie reviews we have had on this site often lead to discussions with spoilers. But I'm not an admin, just a lowly little Chimera.  

[The Jade Knight]

Personally, I was highly disappointed.  It's not a bad movie, except I think it would be difficult to follow even if you've seen the other movies, if you haven't read the books.

It's either my 3rd or possibly least favourite HP film, I think.

[Shrain]

Wow, I had the totally opposite opinion of HP 4. It exceeded all my expectations and made muggle's meat out of the other movies. Okay, I'm exaggerating a little. But no. 4 is by far my favorite, with no. 2 being the runner up. To each his own, of course. But I loved my journey to Hogwarts last night and want to go again before the month's up.  

[stacer]

What an awesome movie. I want to go back and see it again tonight. I never bought the first two on DVD because I didn't like the adaptations, but I did buy the 3rd, and I think Goblet of Fire is even better than Prisoner of Azkaban. I completely agree with the review--it's the best one yet.

[Baba_Yaga]

I enjoyed the movie.  I was surprised at the different level of humor.  From what I had heard about it beforehand, I thought the film would only be action, but it had some endearing personality quirks too (for instance, I giggled when it showed Neville practicing his waltzing for the Yule Ball).

I was also anxious to hear how the soundtrack worked w/o John Williams, and I was pleasantly surprised.  It came together very nicely and made a good contribution to the story.

*kind of spoiler alert--but not bad*

I have to admit though, that I felt a bit let down by the graveyard scene (although Ralph Fiennes was great).  I know that there was an incredible amount of information to condense, but that scene is pivotal and I couldn't help but feel that it was swept past with as much emphasis to it as any other scene.  I would have enjoyed it more if there had been a bit more time for what was happening to sink in.

The next scene, when he returned to Hogwarts, grabbed me a bit more.  Dan Radcliffe's crying abilities have definitely improved since PofA.  I would have liked to have savored it a bit more, and I'm still disappointed that they cut the hospital scene and Molly's motherly hug.  I know, that's the girl in me.

Overall, I'd say it was pretty darn good!  I'm anxious to hear what others thought of the movie.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

I definitely liked the third one better. The fourth one was okay...I don't think anything they did was done badly, but...well, my opinion may have been affected by my experience. It seemed to me that the projection where I was watching it was dark; things toward the dark end of the spectrum were all too dark, though the light areas all looked good. But Karen didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, so it may have been just me.

Anyway, they skipped a TON of stuff. This movie had like...3 plotlines, while the book had more like 7 plotlines. Even in the plotlines they had, they noticeably skipped a lot. Like, we didn't see even a few seconds of the other dragon fights.

I never got the impression from the book that Durmstrang was all-boys' and Beaubaxtons was all-girls', which was what was implied in the movie. Were they?

Anyway, what was there on screen was pretty good, but the lacks were pretty noticeable. Like, they introduced Rita Skeeter, but...never did anything with her. Sigh...

[stacer]

Yeah, there were some things lacking and some things they pulled up but didn't follow through on, I agree. But overall I think it was a great adaptation. In the books, you're right Ookla, the other schools weren't one-gendered, but it sure made their introductions tight visually in the movies, didn't it? I really liked the looks of the different school uniforms.

And ...

**possible spoiler**

...did anyone catch that Fleur de la Couer in this one was the same Fleur from book 6? It just occurred to me while watching the movie why I should know who Fleur was when I was reading book 6--I'd known the name was familiar, but couldn't remember why. Makes sense now that I've figured it out--she had to be at least 17 in the Triwizard Tournament.

[Chimera]

**possible spoiler**

...did anyone catch that Fleur de la Couer in this one was the same Fleur from book 6? It just occurred to me while watching the movie why I should know who Fleur was when I was reading book 6--I'd known the name was familiar, but couldn't remember why. Makes sense now that I've figured it out--she had to be at least 17 in the Triwizard Tournament.

***Spoiler Response*** Yeah. That's part of what makes her so funny in book 6. And you are inclined to think she's a shallow bimbo because of what you see here in book 4, so you are pleasantly surprised when it turns out different. At least, I was--when she didn't stop loving Bill after his face was ruined. But that made me like her and feel like I had misjudged her. But I had been viewing her through Harry's viewpoint, so it's his fault.  

I liked the movie. Yes, they skipped a lot--but they kind of had to. I actually feel like they did a good job of streamlining the story and a better job of having fewer plot holes in this movie than in the last one. Don't get me wrong, I loved the third movie--but there were some huge things they left out that you would only get if you had read the book. (Such as the whole relationship between Harry's father, Sirius, Lupin, and Wormtail and how they all became illegal animagi and how James and Snape hated each other--that was super glazed over.) Although, Earl had the same complaint about this movie. He hadn't read book 4 and he said he felt this movie was geared toward people who had and everyone else just had to muddle through. I don't know of anyone else who has seen it who hasn't read the book, so I can't say whether that is valid or not.

But I enjoyed it and am happy to add it to my HP movie collection. I, too, was moved by the scene following the graveyard when Harry is crying over Cederic's body. But I have my nitpicky things that as a "guardian of the text" I missed. Such as the Dursleys--in all the HP books #4 has my favorite Dursley encounter between the Dursleys and the Weasleys, involving a blown up fireplace and a ton-tongue toffee. That would have been fun to see, but alas there just wasn't time for everything.

[scAri]

Fleur didn't come off as so bad in the movie though. There was that part with her little sister.

I did think that in the book the other two schools were one-gendered. Maybe that wasn't explicitly in there, but I did get that impression.

I hate to think what the fifth movie is going to be like, because they always have to cut so much out of the books. Like, in this movie, I feel like if they just gave it an extra half hour, the plot would have been much tighter and more true to the book.

[The Jade Knight]

But no. 4 is by far my favorite, with no. 2 being the runner up.

2 is the only one that I might rank lower than 4.  But that's because I've seen it the most, I fear.  I'm sure I'd like it a lot more, otherwise.  Probably.

I didn't like the soundtrack, personally.  Didn't do much for me.

But yeah, I generally agree with Ookla, but feel more disappointed than him.


Moreover, I strongly disliked the fact that the film was dirtier than the book (from what I remember, at least).


I liked HP4 WAY less than the other books.  And it's the only one I've read before I saw the film.  HP3 was my favourite book.

[Lightning Eater]

Overall, this movie was definately my favorite out of the four, the third being my second favorite. I liked the how they changed the mood of the movie.

The music I didn't like very much, I just didn't find it very attractive or distinctive or anything. The music from the first three I found better.

--- watch out, there are sort of soilers in these next paragraphs, if you haven't read the book or watched the movie you know what to do---

I had three major compaints about it though. First, I didn't like how it didn't seem at all like a school year, just like a big tournament at the school, there was only one quiddich or class scene, and only because it directly related to Moody and the tournament (I don't count the first quiddich scene, since it was only like 30 seconds). I can't really blame them though, since they had to condense such a big book.

My next two are more related to the story, what was the whole point of the first two challenges if it was just the winner of the third who wins the tournament? I'd understand it if you were disqualified if you failed one of them, but that wasn't the case, the girl from Beaxbatons (I'm not sure how you spell it) had dropped out of the second challenge but was still in the third. I know whoever did the best in the first two got to start first in the third, but how much of a difference did that make? They all met up like eight times in the maze.

On the topic of the second challenge, why did Harry save that girl? It's not like they were going to die if they weren't saved , and if they were, that would be even worse. It's not like Hogwarts'd be able to tell the dead kids parents "Were sorry she's dead and all, but it's not our fault she was the best friend of one of the competitors."

Anyway, that's basically what I thought of the movie.

[Entsuropi]

Girl in danger kicks off all sort of macho and muscular mental responses in male minds. Why do you think it's always the princesses that need saving, never the princes?

[stacer]

Well, didn't that happen in the books? That Harry saved Fleur's little sister, I mean?