NBC4 review

Post by **Hilary the Touched** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 6:58 pm

Review: Measuring 'Goblet Of Fire' Up To Book
New Potter Movie Follows Basic 'Goblet' Book Plot
Lucy Barnett, Staff Writer

UPDATED: 7:32 am EST November 18, 2005

PHILADELPHIA -- As the boy behind me said after the credits rolled on "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" -- "They skipped a lot of important parts."

Those of us who have read the Harry Potter books multiple times will have no trouble pointing out missing characters, subplots and scenes from the new movie, but that is inevitable. The book is 734 pages long and the audio version takes almost 21 hours to listen to cover to cover.

From the beginning, the movie draws you in, and the pace is breakneck, from the dream to the Weasley house to the Quidditch Cup to Hogwarts and the immediate arrival of the other schools. The first third of the book is jumped through in what feels like five minutes, but I was not looking at my watch. It could be 15 to 20 minutes. Once the Triwizard Cup is announced, the pace slows.

Potter fans won't be disappointed with the Quidditch Cup. The scene may be short and there may be some deviations from the book details, but the amazing pictures make you forget all that.

The three tasks in the Triwizard Tournament are also amazing uses of movie magic, but there are definite deviations in the tasks, especially in tasks one and three. The dragon scene is made longer than necessary, leaving the stadium and continuing on the roof of the castle. Book fans may wonder if that extra time, as exciting as it is, could have been better used by adding another scene from the book.

The lake sequence is really amazing and Krum's first appearance in the underwater world is very well done, as is his transformation back when he reaches the surface of the water.

Readers looking forward to seeing a sphinx and the attack of the giant spider in the third task will have to settle for a different kind of maze with a mind of its own.

A lot of the scenes and subplots not used in the movie really helped to humanize the characters, showing how Harry is coming to regard the Weasley family as his own and vice versa and how completely evil Voldemort and his follows are. This is not a failing of the movie, but rather an ultimate compliment to J.K. Rowling's writing ability.

The tone of this movie is definitely darker than the others, but the graveyard scene makes that a necessity to a certain extend, but the movie could have a better balance. Some scenes from the book have been changed, eliminating some of the humor that helped balance the book. For example, when Fred and George Weasley are thrown from the goblet of fire after trying to fool the age line they grow beards, as they do in the book, but rather than laughing it off, the movie has the twins fighting each other, both verbally and physically.

The scene where Mad-Eye Moody explains the difference in the three curses using spiders also loses a bit of its light humor. Rather than having the brain-washed spider do acrobatics, which would have been very amusing to see, the spider lands on several students' heads poised to strike, but never attacking.

Although her character does not get the play in the movie it does in the book, Miranda Richardson plays a perfect Rita Skeeter, helped a great deal by her stand-out costuming.

As they have done in previous movies, Jason Isaacs and Tom Feltonno [sic] are right on in their portrayal of the evil Lucius Malfoy and his son, Draco.

Michael Gambon's second portrayal of Albus Dumbledore is no better than his first. His Dumbldore lacks the power and whimsical wit of Rowling's headmaster. When the goblet of fire flares up to spit out Harry's name, he seems overcome and cowed by the cup, rather than merely surprised and a bit worried.

Those who have not read the book will enjoy the movie, since it certainly stands on its own as a great work. Potter readers will also enjoy it, but those more firmly rooted in the books may be annoyed by some of the changes.

The bottom line: it's a very good movie, but nothing beats the book.

http://www.nbc4.com/entertainment/5347969/detail.html