| Film Review | Dana Place |
Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter-Daniel Radcliffe
Hermione Granger-Emily Watson
Ron Weasly-Rupert Grint
Albus Dumbledore-Michael Gambon
Severus Snape-Alan Rickman
Plot: In his fourth year at Hogwarts Academy, Harry
Potter is forced to face his legacy as the “boy that
survived” when during the Quidditch World Series Lord
Valdemort’s minions unleash the signal that portents his
return. At school, Harry is picked to participate in the Tri
Wizard tournament, a life or death tournament for only the
strongest wizard apprentices in the world. Also, in his
fourth year, Harry faces his most difficult opponent yet,
girls, as the Hogwarts Yule Tide Ball approaches and he has
to find a date.
Review:
This is the first PG-13 rated Harry Potter movie in the
series and for good reason. This is by far the darkest and
most serious of the movies, and the entire mood of the film
seems to be setting a pretty ominous tone for the rest of
Harry Potter’s years at Hogwarts. If you are expecting a
light hearted movie about a wizard kid that gets into
trouble you are going to be surprised. This is the film
where Harry Potter starts growing up, and the style of
filmmaking seems to be following right along and may not be
appropriate for your seven year old in his Harry Potter
costume. But what do I know. I don’t have any kids.
Harry Potter is a growing boy and in between his duties in
the Tri Wizard tournament and looking over his shoulder for
the evil whose name must not be spoke, he learns about
girls. This movie does a wonderful job of following an
awkward 14 year old boy balance his duties all the while
realizing that there is an entirely new world of the
opposite sex that he was never really aware of, and this is
by far my favorite part of the film. While used for the most
part as comic relief and breathing room between Harry
Potter’s CG laden action scenes, there was something sweet
and endearing about watching Harry and his pals learn about
something just as wondrous as Hogwarts academy.
This movie is a CG marvel. Nearly the entire movie takes
place in make believe places that had to be at the very
least decorated and probably more so, completely recreated
in CG and although you know it isn’t real it all looks
really seamless. All in all, although I really don’t know
much at all about the Harry Potter series, this was a great
movie that told a great story about a little boy growing up
and learning about the responsibilities of being an adult,
and although this movie clocks in at two and a half hours it
is a fast and fun two hours. This is the first of the four
movies that I think adequately shows the weight on Harry
Potter’s shoulders and is my favorite of the four movies.
