#105 - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry is entering his fourth year. He is invited to the Quidditch World Cup by the Weasley family, so he attends and has the time of his life...that is, until Voldemort's men, the Deatheaters, arrive and ruin the event. Harry sees a strange man cast the Dark Mark in the sky, but he escapes before anyone can catch him. When Harry and his friends head off to school, the time has come for the Tri-Wizard Tournament, and Hogwarts is hosting. Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, two other magic schools, arrive at Hogwarts for the festivities. The Tri-Wizard Tournament requires each of the three schools to have a champion that competes in various tasks. The champion from Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour; the champion from Durmstrang is Viktor Krum; and the champion from Hogwarts is Cedric Diggory. Each eligible student had to insert their name into the Goblet of Fire: a magical cup from which the champions' names were drawn. Somehow, Harry Potter's name spews out from the goblet after the Tri-Wizard champions have been chosen. This is the work of very dark magic, so it puts Dumbledore on high alert. He chooses the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Alastor 'Mad Eye' Moody to watch over Harry. Thing is, something is wrong with Professor Moody. He is not quite acting like himself. Harry enters the tournament, and with the help of his friends, he makes it to the final round. The final round is a maze that leads to the Tri-Wizard Champion's cup. Harry and Cedric battle it out, and they both touch the cup at the same time. The cup is a port-key, and it teleports them to a graveyard. There, Cedric is killed immediately by Peter Pettigrew. Pettigrew is there to resurrect the Dark Lord. With a drop of Harry's blood, the Dark Lord is reborn, and he comes straight for Harry. Voldemort and Harry duel in front of several Deatheaters. Harry outsmarts Voldemort, and he escapes back to the maze, carrying Cedric's lifeless body with him. The cheering in the crowd ceases, and Potter is dragged back into the school by Professor Moody. This is when we discover that Professor Moody is not who he says he is. He is Barty Crouch, Jr., a man loyal to Voldemort, who has been drinking Polyjuice Potion to pose as Mad Eye. Dumbledore, Snape, and Professor McGonagall save the day as they barge into the room and capture Barty. The real Alastor Moody is retrieved, and all is well again at Hogwarts.
This movie is a breath of fresh air compared to Prisoner of Azkaban. I think, even though yet another director took over for this one, it is a fantastic film. The team creating this had a great book to work with though, so I think that made all the difference. The idea of the Tri-Wizard tournament and the tasks is great, so that played well on screen. It's such an adventurous story.
Again, I think the director took too many liberties with his ideas. I absolutely cannot stand the end of the Yule Ball when there's a rock band jamming out, and the students are headbanging and moshing. I don't want to see wizards and witches behaving like your normal, average, every-day muggles. It was a bit jarring, and it ruined the idea of a magic world.
What I love about the students' fourth years at Hogwarts is that relationships are starting to develop between the characters. The scene when Hermione yells at Ron as they're leaving the Yule Ball is brilliant. Ron has been sitting there all night, absolutely miserable because Hermione is at the dance with another guy. When he says something to Hermione, she blows up on him and cries hysterically. I LOVE Ron and Hermione together, so this scene tugs at my heart strings. It's the first real sign of emotion towards each other that they show. It just builds within each story from here on out.
Overall, this movie was very well done. I am not a big fan of Mike Newell, the director, but apparently neither was JK Rowling or Warner Bros. because they replaced him for the fifth film.
I give Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 4 out of 5 stars.
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