"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”
Warner Brothers Pictures
Directed by Mike Newell
Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Michael Gambon, Ralph Fiennes, Brendon Gleeson, Robbie Coltrane, Jason Isaacs, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith and Robert Pattinson
Rated PG-13

3 Stars

The fourth book in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series runs more than 700 pages in length, so it’s only natural that the filmed version of “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” might seem a bit incomplete. There’s simply no way to get all of the bits and bobs of Rowling’s story into the film and still keep it at a reasonable length. Fans will lament the characters that are shoved to the background out of necessity, and those who haven’t been keeping up with the famous boy wizard might find them selves lost this time out.

Still, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” is a lot of fun for those of us who’ve read the books. Year four follows Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) as he takes part in the Tri-Wizard Tournament, a legendary competition pitting the best young wizards and witches in three tests of magic and creativity. The enchanted Goblet of Fire chooses Harry as a competitor, even though he’s technically too young to take part. Headmaster Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) allows Harry to compete, despite fears that it might be a trap set by evil Lord Voldemort.

And thus Harry finds himself battling dragons and swimming among mermaids, but none of the Tri-Wizard tests bother Harry quite as much as the prospect of having to talk with the pretty girls in his class. Harry is now fourteen, and girls are far more troublesome for Harry than those pesky forces of evil that keep trying to kill him. The dragons are cool (sorta), but the best scenes in the film are those in which Harry and his friends deal with their budding adolescence.

That’s also part of the reason why the film got a PG-13 rating. The film is certainly more violent this time out (a student is killed) but I suspect that many parents will be more troubled when the ghost Moaning Myrtle slips into the tub with Harry, hoping to see his private bits hidden under the bubbles.

Our little boy wizard is growing up.

Then again, while the growing up stuff works for Harry, the budding romance between Ron and Hermione is barely touched upon. I’m sure that this emission was due to time constraints, but their relationship is far too important to be simply dismissed. The bottom line is that “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” is too epic to be contained in a two and a half hour film. The filmmakers should have gone with their original plan to make this into two movies. As it stands, it’s still a lot of fun, but you can sense all of the missing material which makes this Harry Potter not quite up to par with the other three installments.


Movie reviews by Sean, “The Movie Guy,” are published Wednesdays and Fridays in “The Port Arthur News” and he can be heard weekly on KOLE and KVIC Radio. For more reviews, log on to www.seanthemovieguy.com. Sean welcomes your comments via email at emshon@cox.net.