Anthony's Film Review - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

The series begins to take a dark turn and still manages to keep the audience interested...

In any series of stories, it's important to not let it turn stale by repeating the same story over and over. Audiences want to see a mix of the old and the new, and the storyteller must be able to deliver just that. With the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling's fourth entry, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, acts as a nice turning point. There may be some degree of darkness with the first three stories, but this one takes a much bigger step in that direction. As a result, the Goblet of Fire, both the book and the film adaptation, is a very good story and one that maintains fan interest in the series.

The film starts off quite well. Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) attend the Quidditch World Cup but soon run for their lives as Lord Voldemort's followers, called Death Eaters, raid a camp outside the sporting event. Once the three friends begin another year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, headmaster Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) announces the Tri-Wizard Tournament, a series of dangerous magical contests with one participant from each of Hogwarts and two other schools of magic. The contestants are chosen by the magical Goblet of Fire.

Aside from plenty of familiar faces, there are many new characters to see here. The Defense of the Dark Arts professor Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody (Brendan Gleeson) is frightening but willing to show the students the possessing Imperius curse, the pain-inflicting Cruciatus curse, and the Killing curse. There is also a nosy reporter for The Daily Prophet named Rita Skeeter (Miranda Richardson). Then there are, of course, the three contenders of the Tri-Wizard Tournament: Cedric Diggory (Robert Pattinson), Viktor Krum (Stanislav Ianevski), and Fleur Delacour (Clemence Poesy).

Now here is the central mystery of this story. Harry Potter is the fourth contender of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. For reasons unknown, Harry was entered into the contest by someone else and the Goblet of Fire announces his name. He has no choice but to face the three deadly tasks in the tournament. I won't say what they involve, but I will say that they are interesting to see, especially because Harry faces a real threat in each one. All of this leads to a dark climax where the true turning point lies.

The only issues I have with this movie are that a little more drama in certain scenes would help and that a sequence at a dance seems a bit unnecessary, even with other secondary plots from the book not appearing in this movie. Otherwise, compared with the first three Harry Potter movies, I would rank the Goblet of Fire between the excellent Chamber of Secrets and the pretty good Prisoner of Azkaban. The cast and production design deserve high marks as usual. That is still a good sign for the series.

Anthony's Rating:

For more information about Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, visit the Internet Movie Database.

In addition, check out my reviews of the following:

The Harry Potter Films