Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire (18 November 2005) Reviews/Comments

[Guest]

[Martyn]

Release Date 18th November 2005

Released tomorrow! Anyone pre-booked?

Post reviews when you have seen the film!

I have booked my tickets for tomorrow, Starts at 20.40pm tomorrow, Can't wait 

[darthmactor]

I'm going to the midnight plus one showing tonight. I'll post a review when I get back. 

[Nienna]

We've got tickets to see the 11am showing and then we're going again at 18:00 and taking our lad with us!!

[darthmactor]

    Just got back from the 12:01AM showing of Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire. Is it good? That's a resounding yes. Is it the best? Personally, I will always have a special place in my heart for the Chris Columbus Potter films, and it is not as visually unique as PoA, but it may just be, in the opinion of a great many, the best yet. It is also, at 2 hours and 45 minutes, the longest of the Potter films, so make sure and visit the pisser before hand.  One of my big concerns going in was how much of the book I heard was going to be cut from the film, and you know what? A lot was cut, but by God what remained worked, and worked well. One thing this definitely has over the other films is a fine sense of humour, thanks largely to the Wesley Twins, Brendan Gleeson as Mad-Eye Moody, and Matthew Lewis as Neville Longbottom (he has, in my opinion the most humour line in the film, just after Potter is pushed into the lake for the second task; I'm really glad he is getting more screen time). The acting is, for the most part, very good. The main trio are maturing wonderfully in their roles, the standout really being Emma Watson ('course, maybe I'm a bit biased on that point  ). The music, which I didn't think would be equal to the task at first, really did impress me by the end.
    There are, of course, some points I didn't like. Snape, McGonagal, Krum and Fluer, among others, were vastly underused (Krum and Fluer had two lines each, and Snape and McGonagal had not many more then that), though Snape does get a brilliant bit where he gets to bash Harry and Ron in the back of the head a couple o'times. Ralph Fiennes didn't really meet my expectations of what Voldie would be, though he certainly looked creepy enough. Don't get me wrong, he did good, he just wasn't what I expected. All that is, admittedly, small points against a vastly larger good. There was one thing that did get on my nerves though. I am from the Richard Harris school of Dumbledoring, and while Michael Gambon is a fine enough actor, I believe he took Dumbledore in a direction that is very much the opposite of what the character in the books and previous films had been; not a direction that I, personally, liked for the character. But, like I said, there is a vastly large good to this film, and it is a very fine film at that. I'd say 3 1/2 stars outta 4.


This review has been brought to you by Casey, foreign beers, and the Grindylows for Fair Wages Association. 


P.S. Okay, and what's with Flitwick? I liked his look from SS much, much better. Anywho, sorry if the review is short. I will try to add more to it later today, when it is not 3:11 in the AM.

[Sharon]

I have also now seen installment four.  I thought I would digest it a bit before posting as I am still a bit undecided.

I think it is the best film so far.  But - yes it is a big but - it is the worst adaptation of the book so far.  I know the book was big but some of the things they cut or changed really were just done for the sake of it.  For example at the World Cup Harry and co are in the cheap seats, whilst a big thing is made of the Malfoys being with the Minister for Magic.  In my opinion there is a huge blooper at the end which I will post in the Half Blood Prince Spoiler thread.

And MIA - Bill, Charlie, Percy, Molly, the Sphinx, Dobby and Winky.  There was definitely room for the Weasley clan to be included, even if they wanted to dump the house elves.

The opening scene is a perfect lift from the book but I was a bit disappointed that the opening music was changed (ie not the HP theme).  The Quidditch World Cup is breath taking and I hope there will be lots more of it on the DVD.  Same goes for the underwater sequence, I am sure there are lots of extra scenes we can see.

The script is fantastic with lots of funny bits but with enough menace to suggest what is to come in the next film.  Minor gripe is Ron using a 'strong' swear word; completely unnecessary.

This is definitely not a film for the little ones.  It is very dark - and I mean this literally.  They could have done with a few more candles.  I think kids will get bored with the 'wordy' bits and even the some of the magic is just not suitable for them (the torture of the spider and Harry is quite grim).  IMO if you have a child under about 10 or 11 you should see the film on your own first and then decide if they should go; this was given a 12a for a very good reason.

Overall I loved this film.  I think if I hadn't read the books I would have thought it was amazing.  But then again I think if you haven't seen the other three films you will be very confused.

Now I just need to see it again to let it really sink in 

Oh and Darthmactor that wasn't Flitwick, that was the Choir master (I know it is the same actor but he plays lots of different characters - the Warwick Davis auto's are my favourite  )

Little footnote:  Gary Oldman - was it worth it?


Second Footnote:  Sorry Darthmactor I have just looked at the auto's and that is listed as Flitwick.  But that is definitley not Flitwick, it is the Choir Master from POA 


Third and final footnote:  There was a picture of Harry in another thread falling down what looked like a lift shaft.  The guess was that it was when he looked in Mad Eye Moody's chest.  It was in fact Harry falling in the Pensieve.

[kbmum]

Second Footnote - Sorry Darthmactor I have just looked at the auto's and that is listed as Flitwick.  But that is definitley not Flitwick, it is the Choir Master from POA 

I just double checked that, and Artbox says the character is Professor Flitwick.  The producers might have permanently changed the appearance of the character.  Maybe someone could watch the credits for the name of Warwick Davis' character?

[Sharon]

It will be a real bummer if that is Flitwick.  The man is conducting the band for goodness sake not teaching Charms class 

[rns91294]

The card does say Flitwick on it.....  Odd...  Maybe Artbox got confused???

[Sharon]

Couple of fun things to look out for:-

The accents.  I was surprised that Cho is Scottish and that Rita has an Aussie twang, although both work perfectly.

The Weird Sisters.  After all the hype they couldn't have been more wrong if they had tried.  But the crowd scene with Flitwick/Choir Master is great.

Fleur's date.  I see he signed an autograph for the set.  Well I blinked during the film so missed him.

Madam Maxime.  I have a feeling Francis may have been using stilts.  If you watch carefully in nearly all her scenes she is holding someones hand.

The Patil twins are both in Gryffindor in the film.  Wasn't one in Ravenclaw in the book?

The scenes where Ron and Harry have to get dates.  These really are straight from the book, especially the Fleur bit 

Ginny is no longer a redhead!!!

[Morningangel-Iola]

OK I haven't seen it yet but all this is interesting and how can Ginny not be a Red red she's a weasley!

[Nienna]

Just to set your mind at ease that Artbox haven't lost the plot, Warwick Davis is credited at the end of the film as playing Filius Flitwick - I've just come from the second viewing of it and checked the end credits for you!

[grecopa]

My husband and I saw the film today at 10am in a 3/4 full theater. 

Things I didn't like:
The quidditch scenes were much to short.  I just loved that part and wanted to see more.

I was kind of hoping that Krum and Cho would have more to say.

I'm still confused over Flitwick and the chior conductor.  They looked nearly identical. 

Things I loved:
Neville's part was great this time.  I've come to really like his character a lot.

The casting of the new characters was perfect.  I wasn't sure about Mad eye, but after I saw him I knew it was right.  Rita Skeeter was superb!

Hermione/Ron's "relationship"  is so obvious!  Sorry HP/HG shippers.

Special effects were amazing as usual. I especailly liked the Quidditch.

Lots of humour in this film.  Phil and I were laughing out loud many times.  Mostly at the twins and at Ron/Harry trying to get a date!

All in all I'm really happy with the film.  I plan to see it again in the theater which I hardly ever do with any movie.  Phil has seen all 3 other HP films, but knew nothing about the GOF book, and he had no problem following along.  I really can't say which film of the 4 I like the most, but I would say CoS is my least favorite.  Maybe GOF has a slight edge over the other 2, but then again it might be because it's still new. 

[savage727]

Saw this one at the first showing yesterday - theater was only half full!     Anyway I liked the movie but was also disappointed at the Director's changing of scenes and omitting of others.  I wish these film makers would leave well enough alone like Chris Columbus did in the first 2 films! 

[gimli]

This film was a much more mature film in terms of the filming, casting, Content and Overall mood and in my opinion the best film yet much better than the first 2 by Columbus who I have to say I think ruined them and made them too fluffy. Dumbledore needed to be more agressive with the part in this film and i think we will see this continue especially with the next film where he is trying to avoid harry. If we got to that without this change now it would be too much to beleive. I expected it to be different from the book and to suggest it should be like it would be mad as we would have been at the cinema at least 6 hours if not more. It had to be shorterned and something had to go (a lot had to go) as for Ron using a "strong" swear word these are older kids and that is what they are like. Up til now they are shown as children they are becoming Teenagers they are rebelling and that is exactly what I expected.

Last thing that goodness at last we have a british director who understands the books and has done a great job of bringing of of the most difficult books to make into a film, and he did it in less than 3 hours. people will complain about it being not like the book, but it isn't the book it has to stand as a film in its own right too or it would have failed at the first hurdle

[grecopa]

For those wondering what the stong swear word is, he didn't drop the "F" bomb or anything.  He say's P*** off.  Not something I want either of my kids to say, but I don't want them saying "bloody hell" either.  I'm not sure which is considered a stronger swear in the UK.  I would say those 2 are about equal here in the US for children.

[gimli]

well for me bloody hell is actually quite week and i wouldn't be upset at all if someone said that to me where as P*** off is slightly stronger and what I would expect of a teenagers vocab although I wouldn't want them to say it. I have to say it ain't that bad really. I can understand that elsewhere and to others it would seem stronger but bloody hell is no where near as strong here as P*** off as you can see i will type one on this forum but as more sensitive about the other in an open forum of all ages

[Sharon]

Maybe I was a bit over sensitive about what Ron said.  I think I was just going by the fact that JKR avoided using these terms in the book by saying things like bloody hell.  I hadn't really given much thought as to whether other parts of the world view this term differently.  I was just thinking about a 10 or 11 telling someone to p*** off cos Ron said it.  Probably in the UK the 'f' word and 'p' word are about the same. It was such a throw away comment I felt it was unnecessary. 

And I know what you are saying about not putting everything from the book in the film but some things in the film were not in the book - the dance lesson, Neville dancing in the bedroom.  Wonderful scenes but I just wish they had used those one or two minutes to put Molly in when they returned from the World Cup to show she really thought the twins had died.

I did love the fact that the exterior of Hogwarts looks the same.  Hopefully they will stick with this for the rest of the films.

Did anyone notice if they altered the gravestone?  I have a feeling I saw a dodgy copy as the film was so dark you couldn't read the gravestone when I saw it.  Oh and I should have mentioned I think the cinema was only about 5% full when I saw it.

[gimli]

don't get me wrong I understand what you mean there was a big laugh when Ron said it in the cinema

There were loads of things i would like to have seen in the film and hopefully we may see some of them in the special features (fingers crossed)

but as a film It worked better than all the rest

[HPfamily]

Fleur's date.  I see he signed an autograph for the set.  Well I blinked during the film so missed him.

I thought this was weird too!!! He didn't even have a speaking role, but yet he has an auto? 

What about Filtch!!!!  He was HILARIOUS!!!!!

[Sharon]

What about Filtch!!!!  He was HILARIOUS!!!!!

Now that was one bit I didn't mind them making up 

One of my favourite 'lift straight from the book' bits was how Fred/George (can't remember which) asked Angelina out.  Brilliant