I Saw Harry Potter, I Saw Harry Potter!
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was an enormous book. When I first heard they were going to make it into a movie I truly didn’t believe they would be able to fit everything into one film without making it six hours long.
Mike Newell and Steve Kloves do an admirable job, fitting the majority of the story into two hours and 45 minutes. I do worry though, that the stuff left out will make the future films increasingly complicated for those who have not already read the book. The friend I watched Goblet of Fire with commented to me that he thought at least half an hour could have been cut because it seemed pointless to the story. As an avid fan of the books I disagreed with him, but can see that for those who do not know the books some parts of the film may drag a bit.
The actors are really starting to hit their straps. The adult cast has always been impeccable but the children often left a little to be desired. It is hard to fault them for this, they were all very young and relative newcomers to the acting game. Now though, they are on their fourth film as these characters and that experience is starting to show through. They are now believable as their characters and are enjoyable to watch. Daniel Radcliffe as Harry coped particularly well with the emotions this film required.
Just as the books get darker as they progress so have the films. Goblet of Fire is truly the darkest film yet, it’s M rating can attest to that. This is a good thing for the adults in the audience but is putting the films slowly out of reach for the younger viewers. Goblet of Fire deals with a lot more death and destruction as Voldemort gains strength. Harry is once again thrust into a situation he has no control over when his name is pulled from the Goblet of Fire and he is chosen as the fourth Tri-Wizard champion. The Tri-Wizard tournament involves completing a number of challenging tasks, each one seemingly far to dangerous for Wizards who are not yet even fully trained.
There is a lot of CG in the film. As well as being the darkest film yet Goblet can also boast the most CG of all the films so far. There is a lack of quidditch playing which is disappointing as they finally seem to have gotten the hang of the CG when characters are flying on their brooms. The computer generated parts of the film are still not perfect, perhaps for the next film Warner Brothers would do well to hire Weta Digital who’s CG far outstrips anything we have seen in the Harry Potter movies to date. They are getting better though, it is just a pity that the early films are probably not going to stand the test of time due to the poor graphics. For the most part Goblet’s CG was satisfying, while it was still obviously CG, it was not painful to watch.
Goblet was without doubt my favourite Harry Potter film to date. While it still does not live up to the books in my mind I don’t think any film really ever will. This one got pretty close and was well worth the lack of sleep I had to suffer in order to watch it. If the films continue to improve as they have from film to film I very much look forward to the last film, it may well get pretty close to perfect.
Mike Newell and Steve Kloves do an admirable job, fitting the majority of the story into two hours and 45 minutes. I do worry though, that the stuff left out will make the future films increasingly complicated for those who have not already read the book. The friend I watched Goblet of Fire with commented to me that he thought at least half an hour could have been cut because it seemed pointless to the story. As an avid fan of the books I disagreed with him, but can see that for those who do not know the books some parts of the film may drag a bit.
The actors are really starting to hit their straps. The adult cast has always been impeccable but the children often left a little to be desired. It is hard to fault them for this, they were all very young and relative newcomers to the acting game. Now though, they are on their fourth film as these characters and that experience is starting to show through. They are now believable as their characters and are enjoyable to watch. Daniel Radcliffe as Harry coped particularly well with the emotions this film required.
Just as the books get darker as they progress so have the films. Goblet of Fire is truly the darkest film yet, it’s M rating can attest to that. This is a good thing for the adults in the audience but is putting the films slowly out of reach for the younger viewers. Goblet of Fire deals with a lot more death and destruction as Voldemort gains strength. Harry is once again thrust into a situation he has no control over when his name is pulled from the Goblet of Fire and he is chosen as the fourth Tri-Wizard champion. The Tri-Wizard tournament involves completing a number of challenging tasks, each one seemingly far to dangerous for Wizards who are not yet even fully trained.
There is a lot of CG in the film. As well as being the darkest film yet Goblet can also boast the most CG of all the films so far. There is a lack of quidditch playing which is disappointing as they finally seem to have gotten the hang of the CG when characters are flying on their brooms. The computer generated parts of the film are still not perfect, perhaps for the next film Warner Brothers would do well to hire Weta Digital who’s CG far outstrips anything we have seen in the Harry Potter movies to date. They are getting better though, it is just a pity that the early films are probably not going to stand the test of time due to the poor graphics. For the most part Goblet’s CG was satisfying, while it was still obviously CG, it was not painful to watch.
Goblet was without doubt my favourite Harry Potter film to date. While it still does not live up to the books in my mind I don’t think any film really ever will. This one got pretty close and was well worth the lack of sleep I had to suffer in order to watch it. If the films continue to improve as they have from film to film I very much look forward to the last film, it may well get pretty close to perfect.
Labels: Harry Potter, movie review
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on Thursday, November 24, 2005 at 10:55 AM.
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