Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

Nice... not THAT good, but still nice.

[some spoilers ahead, so in case you haven't read or watched the movie, I'd advise reading on until the last few paragraphs otherwise]

A friend of mine commented that she liked this particular movie installment better than Harry Potter Prisoner of Azkaban. Personally I feel that this one doesn't live up to my expectations compared to the previous movie.

Don't get me wrong, its not crappy or anything. There are a lot of noteworthy mentions for this movie, considering that the director had to wade and preen through a lot of storylines, comparing the previous movie's 448 pages to this one's 752 pages.

Its just that, the movie feels a bit rushed and choppy, particularly in the start of the movie when they introduced the Quidditch World Cup and the other two schools who will be competing against Hogwarts for the Triwizard tournament, as it was too abrupt for my taste.

The movie concentrated particularly on the triwizard tournament, and the interaction between students as they are growing into teen-hood. Some parts seemed to be too obvious, perhaps like the exchanges between Hermoine and Krum, or a bit vague, as with Cho Chang and Harry Potter. But I'd rather like how they presented Neville in this particular bit of movie, as it helped to introduce the character in an altogether different light, besides being one of the usual ad-lib Gyffndors. In fact, he seemed to be the only one in the movie who didn't seem all that childish to me, compared to Harry and Ron's incessant pratting (yes, I know, they've always been a little childish) but then again, since the story has progressed this far into the story, I'd expect some sort of respect for its audiences and maturity for the characters, at least in the way there were presented. It could very well be a flaw in the storytelling, but there is simply no need to treat the audiences with the obvious.

I liked the new casting for the triwizard contestants though, particularly for Krum. He actually fits right the bill. Cedric was also well casted, as well as Fleur Delacour and Cho Chang, although their screen time was much less to my liking.

The best part of the movie was actually the meeting with Voldemort at the graveyard. Ralph Fiennes would make a great Voldemort, as can be seen in this part of the movie. I could already imagine him eminating evil in his full glory, but that's another installment altogether. Similarlyas with the rest of the movie, the final ending was a bit choppy, as I would've prefered that the movie had gone into elaborating and finishing up the movie on the doom that everyone felt right after Cedric's unfortunate demise and Voldemort's return, but it seems that the director chose otherwise, opting instead to show a merry send off by Hogwarts students to the congregations of Beauxbatons and Drumstrang Wizarding schools. How weird is that!

The movie is entertaining at best, but the whole movie didn't come out as how it was imagined from my reading the actual books. Its probably a difference in perspective altogether, but in the end, the movie remained with a good impression, though something that's not likely to last for too long in memory. Despite that, its still good entertainment for the money.