Movie Review: The Goblet of Fire

Goblet of Fire is the best Harry Potter movie so far! Kudos to the new director, Mike Newell. This film for me is definitely incomparable to the first three movies. Finally, the masterpiece of J.K. Rowling was treated right with a much more humane and realistic approach. In spite of the time constraints, the film translation still brought to life the major and more relevant details of the book without losing the cohesiveness of the story and magically creating a poignant tone of familial relationships and purity of love. The first three movies somewhat lacked the right emotions as they turned out to be chop-chops of the book versions, like lifting scenes from the pages and compiling them on screen. But the Goblet of Fire for me is seamless. There was the right mixture of drama, suspense and good humor.

This fourth serving of Harry Potter is simply grand, with all the overwhelming CGI effects of like the World Quidditch Cup, the Durmstrang’s ship and the whole Tri-Wizard Tournament. It had grand cinematography that engulfs the viewers into the world of magic, grand characters with human imperfections coming so alive on screen, and just grand everything! Hehe!

I assume the teenage girls have found fresh faces to swoon over on Cedric and Krum. Cedric is akin to Legolas; Krum is to Aragorn. But of course, no one beats my Ron Weasley (played by Rupert Grint). He is still the cutest! :) Thankfully, his role jumped out of the tiring deadpan humor that was glaring in The Prisoner of Azkaban (HP 3). Good for him that this time in The Goblet of Fire his talent shone more prominently. He justifiably leaped out of the shadows of Daniel Radcliffe (the famous Harry Pottah!). Rupert is really effective in comedy and I sure look forward that he be given a solo lead after the Harry Potter series.

Voldemort’s transformation is another one of the many scenes to rave for in the movie. And Ralph Fiennes really performed the role impressively. His head-on duel with Harry Potter was both suspenseful and gripping. There were several funny love angles which I think were sure fire ways to boost the movie as they are always safe formulas that sell to the viewing public. Still, what sets The Goblet of Fire apart is the overall maturation of the characters, the strong emotions that brought life to the story and the utter display of humaneness that no kind of magic could penetrate. Watch The Goblet of Fire to rejuvenate your moral fibers. :)