Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Review

In the words of my sister, "that was a rough movie." And to be perfectly honest, it is. But what a ride!

For those of you that haven't been keeping up with the franchise, The Goblet of Fire is the fourth movie out of seven in the series. The cast that we have all come to love and grow up with have matured to the point where they would be considered to be in their high school years. Year Four at Hogwarts is celebrated by the announcement that the school of Potter will be host to the Triwizard Tournament. However, something fowl is afoot. And this part of the story marks the start of the real story arch, the part that most of us have been waiting for.

The main cast of characters are definitely showing development in their acting skills. Harry finally comes off as the awkward teenager he is suppose to be. At this point in his character development, he feels comfortable in his magical abilities, but still very much out of place. Ron finally gets a little more rounded out, as a jealous streak you can drive a truck on appears in his character. He still plays the bumbling fool, however, which he apparently has perfected. Hermione is still the brains of the trio, but that role has been played down by a thousand fold. I don't know how to word this exactly, but let's just say she is becoming quite the fine female lead.

The story, from my understanding, has been trimmed down to just the events involving the tournament and the return of Lord Voldemort. This is a good thing, as it helps set a nice and steady pace for the story. The nearly three-hour time of this movie seems to go by unnoticed. Several alterations have been made as well, mostly in the form of cutting out and replacing characters at key points in the story.

There are three scenes to look out for. The first involves Harry's battle with a dragon. The special effects department has had some practice with this between the last movie and this one in the form of a fictional documentary for the Animal Planet channel, and the hard work in that program shows in this perfectly executed realization of the famous mythical beast of the sky. Definitely a not-to-be-missed seen. The second is the Yule Ball, which plays out kind of like the cast's first prom. The reason to keep an eye out for this scene is the fashion, particularly on the guys end when they display their formal wizards robe. Except for the one Ron has on, I, like most fashion conscious men, probably would want to invest in one or something similar for your next formal outing. The last scene to keep an eye out for is the return of Lord Voldemort. Without spoiling too much, let's just say that when this scene ends, you will not be looking at this franchise the same way again. With this single scene, the entire mood of the story changes in a way very few films have been able to achieve.

Surprisingly, for a fantasy-based film, the special effects are not all that important. They are there, and some of the scenes they are used in are nice to look at. But generally, they are the kind of special effects fans of the franchise and of fantasy films in general have come to expect. The only effect that impressed me was a wizard's duel late in the film where the two beams of spell meet in a clash causing what appeared to be molten metal to spew from the impact area the longer the spells fought with each other.

The music for the film wasn't as magical, and at times unnoticed. If I had to guess, it probably had something to do with the fact John Williams isn't in charge of the film's music anymore. A shame, too. With the Harry Potter theme being so recognizable, I was hoping for an iconic Lord Voldemort theme to make its debut, similar to the Empire's March in the Star Wars films. But, alas, it was not meant to be.

As far as the franchise goes, this is probably the best movie so far. For those that have no idea what the series is about and generally don't want to learn what happened the last three movies, the movie also does a pretty good job of supplying all the key elements and facts that are needed for the story to make sense. However, unless your children have read the book and are not traumatized by concepts like death and the practical embodiment of all things evil, parents may want to see the movie first before bringing the little ones.

It can only get better from here on out, people. We are done with the appetizer, and now we are going straight into the main course.