Sunday 14th August 2011
Director: Mike Newell
Stars: 2005
Year: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Brendan Gleeson, Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Jason Isaacs, Tom Felton, Bonnie Wright, Mark Williams, Robbie Coltrane, Robert Pattinson, David Tennant, James Phelps, Oliver Phelps, Stanislav Ianevski, Katie Leung, Matthew Lewis, Frances de la Tour, Predrag Bjelac, Ralph Fiennes
In direct contrast to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, I like this film a lot less now than I used to. The plot seems a tad contrived and implausible (even for Harry Potter), with a lot of it not really making much sense. It's Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts, and he ends up being entered into the Triwizard tournament - without having asked to be. Yet nobody seems to think this is particularly dangerous...
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was, when I read it, one of my favourite Harry Potter books. At the time I quite enjoyed the story because it was so different - but the thing I really enjoyed was how well J.K. Rowling captured teenage angst. She spent a lot of time doing this - time the film just doesn't really have. There are some lovely moments in the movie that still make me laugh, and remind me very much of being a 15 year old - the scenes at the Yule Ball are an especially good example. But in the book, for example, we spend a lot of time feeling for Harry when the whole school shuns him for having entered the tournament illegally. This is touched upon in the film, but it just doesn't have time to give it the focus the book does.
Still a solid effort from the Harry Potter team, but not one that has withstood the test of time in the way Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban has.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
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