HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE SERIES
The enormous stadium where the match is held seems appropriately both in and out of this world, and it sets the stage for a series of magical moments - including the magnificent Durmstrang sailing ship rising out of the lake and the dozen winged horses drawing the gigantic Beauxbatons carriage - that are to come. That Quidditch match, the 422nd to be exact, is also the first tipoff as to how special “Goblet’s” special effects are going to be. The danger starts at the Quidditch World Cup, where the festivities are marred by rioting by Voldemort’s Death Eaters and the appearance of his Dark Mark in the sky. Newell also proves to be adept at bringing a feeling of page- turning propulsion to a grittier than usual narrative that, courtesy of one of the series’ better plots, is rife with convincing jeopardy situations.
HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE MOVIE
The presence of Voldemort in the creepy-crawly flesh signals that this is the first Potter movie to have a PG-13 rating for “sequences of fantasy violence and frightening images.” Fortunately, “Goblet” is not an R-rated movie trying to pass as something tamer but a genuine PG-13, pleasantly shivery but in no way savage or sadistic.
Newell works equally well with the preexisting cast and the film’s new British actors, principally a convincing Ralph Fiennes as the dread Lord Voldemort, a comic Miranda Richardson as weaselly journalist Rita Skeeter and, best of all, Brendan Gleeson as the irrepressible Mad-Eye Moody, the latest in Hogwarts’ notably eccentric series of Defense Against the Dark Arts instructors. Having been a boarding school boy himself, Newell, the series’ first British director, displays a comfort level with the world of Hogwarts that comes with knowing it in his bones. The first thing the Hertfordshire-born Newell has added to the mix is a welcome sense of ownership of the book’s setting. MORE: Every ‘Harry Potter’ movie review » Rowling source material, the same screenwriter (the excellent Steve Kloves), largely the same cast but a variety of directors, the Potter pictures have ended up reflecting the sensibility of their filmmaker more than that of the author. Viewed as a whole, the Potter movies are shaping up to be a fascinating experiment in big-budget filmmaking. Despite the reported $2.7 billion earned by the series’ three previous attempts, it’s not until “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” that a film has successfully re-created the sense of stirring magical adventure and engaged, edge-of-your-seat excitement that has made the books such an international phenomenon. It’s taken them long enough, but the movies have finally gotten Harry Potter right. The following review of “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” was first published on Nov. From our archives, we’re resurfacing The Times’ original reviews of each Harry Potter film adaptation. Today marks the 20th anniversary of the first book in J.K.
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