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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Being the fourth installment in the Harry Potter series (and the first book which I haven't read), The Goblet Of Fire has all the spit and polish you'd expect from a high profile blockbuster such as this, but all the bling can't hide the messy script that belies its shiny exterior.
The film gets off to an intriguing start but by the time we sit through seemingly endless expositions of inter-student courting and personal feuding between Harry and Ron you begin to wonder when the crux of the story will kick in. It's admirable that the producers have attempted to preserve many of the themes and sub-plots from the novel, but there is scant time to do them justice; the result being that major themes are glossed over so that insignificant plot details from the book are given their share of screen time. Some sequences such as the Quidditch World Cup, the ballroom dance sequence and the preceding student courtship rituals could have been excised or severely condensed in order to further develop critical characters such as the Tri Wizard Cup competitors and their individual attempts in each leg of the competition. It is a travesty that we know virtually nothing about Harry's fellow competitors, especially Fleur whose apparent incompetence in the face of every challenge makes for a very poor role model for young girls indeed. The script needs to be a little less precious about preserving the exact structure and detail of the book, concentrating instead on the major themes and preserving the spirit of Rowlings story.
The film also struggles to legitimise its central premise, being Harry's supposed illegal under-aged entry into the Tri Wizard Cup. Given that the competition is touted as being mortally dangerous, Dumbledore's failure to remove Harry (a 14 year old) from the competition is morally questionable to say the least. There is an explanation given to the effect of there being some kind of magically binding contract in place but later in the film it becomes apparent that the competitors may withdraw at any time anyway. As a result, Harry's compulsion to compete in the Tri Wizard Cup seems a contrived plot device used to propel him towards the film's climactic conflict.
On the plus side, Ralph Fiennes is excellent as the evil Lord Voldemort and it's amazing he is still recognizable under all that make-up; and Miranda Richardson is delightfully mischievous as tabloid journalist, Rita Skeeter. The rest of the players submit textbook pantomime performances and, as stated previously, the film is very pretty to look at.
It's not boring, but like its predecessors, it's very average.
Stuart Jamieson
www.harrypotter.warnerbros.com
Check out the Harry Potter and the Half Bloof Prince and the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
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