November 24, 2005 -- The fourth in the series of Harry Potter movies is more of the same old black magic. I did not like it quite as well as the third film, but liked it better than the first two. I have to confess, I'm not a Harry Potter fan. I've read the first book and that was quite enough for me, especially after watching the first film. I like to have some surprises when I go to see a movie. Not having read the book and not having read any reviews of this latest Harry Potter film, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” it still held no surprises for me. It was painfully obvious what was going to happen. In one key plot development especially, you would have to be a complete idiot to do what they did in the movie. I assume the only reason for this movie plot point is that it was following the book. The concept of destiny is a tiresome one.

Nevertheless, I liked the movie because for once, Harry Potter is pushed to his limits in the Triwizard Tournament, fighting a dragon, among other things. He doesn't just wave his flippin' wand and win the day. He has to show some real courage and ingenuity for a change. In short, he has to act like an actual hero. The kids are growing up and are filled with adolescent angst. They are forced to go through an ancient ritual far more scary than any magical curse, namely a school dance. It is fun to watch Harry (played by Daniel Radcliffe) and Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) have to work their courage up to ask girls to the dance. There is some nice comedy involved in that whole sequence, which also involves Hermione Granger (Emma Watson).

The Triwizard Tournament is a special effects extravaganza, with an extremely menacing-looking dragon chasing Harry Potter all over the place. Then there is the climactic battle scene between Potter and Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes). Some people have called this movie scary. It is not scary, but it does have some violence, intense scenes, an evil, foreboding mood and some creepy images. It is not a children's movie and may be too intense for some youngsters, I don't know. I will leave that up to the web sites that specialize in evaluating movies for children (listed on my movie links page. In any case, it is not a movie that will make much sense to anyone who hasn't read the book, or watched the previous films.

The characters are interesting. The main new character introduced in the film is Alastor “MadEye” Moody (Brendan Gleeson of “Kingdom of Heaven”), a complex, enigmatic character who is assigned to watch over Harry Potter in the Triwizard Tournament. Moody's “mad eye” is creepy and unsettling. It wanders around and seems to have a life of its own, much like the wandering-eye of the character Aughra in “The Dark Crystal.” It was a little disappointing that my favorite character in the series, Hermione Granger, had a more limited role in this film. I'm told the film does cover the major plot points of the book, which is quite an achievement considering the film is less than three hours long and the book is over 700 pages long. Director Mike Newell (“Donnie Brasco”) maintains the quality of this series, which has been high since the beginning. Two reasons for the high quality of this series are, one -- lots of money for special effects and two -- tons of veteran actors with Shakespearean experience. This film rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in video and/or DVD format, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2005 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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