Sunday, December 11, 2005

Movie review: Harry Potter 4: The Goblet of Fire

Hmm...this will be a difficult review to write. On one hand, I walked out satisfied but on the other, I wasn't blown away the way my friends were and found myself thinking that the book was better.

So lets start off with whats good about the movie. Trying to cram 629 pages into less than 3 hours of movie was never going to be an easy task, but they managed to cram in most of the pertinent information and events. The CGI has improved a lot since the first movie. I recall thinking that the Quidditch match in the first was like watching a 3D sports game - something like the FIFA games cos the polygons weren't quite smooth. But now that it has become a lot better, the visuals of landscapes, events such as the first round of the Tri-Wizard Cup, and characters such as when Gary Oldman/Sirius Black comes through the fire are a lot more convincing. My personal favourite scenes were the arrival of the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students at Hogwarts - real effort there with the choreography to show off the personalities of each school, and of course the ball - love how it turned from an ultra-formal ball with formal dancing into a kind of rave, and who else spotted Jarvis Cocker as part of the band?!?! Ruper Grint and Emma Watson were amusing as Ron and Hermione and the adult actors were great as usual in their limited roles (special shout-out to Ralph Fiennes - Mr. Awesome Villian)....which I guess then takes us to the bad.

Daniel Radcliffe...I guess this is the payoff you get from when you're hiring an 11-yo for a series of movies. His acting has improved, but compared to Emma and Rupert and the amount of time focussed on him...its unfortunate. The amount of makeup on all the young actors!!! I'm aware theyre British and going through a difficult stage in life, but really! They were all milky skinned with rosy cheeks and pink lips. It looked a bit like old-school theatre. The most incredibly disturbing and uncalled for scene in the whole movie - where Harry takes a bath to figure out the clue to the second task and Moaning Myrtle attempts to flirt. I'm aware that he has legions of pubescent female fans, so i'm chalking this up to pandering to that crowd, but I myself am not turned on by the sight of bare 15yo chest, and the knowledge that the actress playing Myrtle (Shirley Henderson) is 40yo....that just made the whole thing kinda disturbing.

I remember during the movie feeling fairly entertained, but I couldnt help compare my feelings to Ruilin who was laughing out loud for most of the movie. Apart from when Harry does a spit take when Cho Chang smiles at him, nothing about the movie particularly moved me. I'm aware Katie Leung/Cho Chang has been under fire for not being beautiful enough, but you know, she fits the standard asian teenager look, so everyone who thinks she's ugly - GET OVER IT.

While I was fairly entertained, I've received comments (from Martin in particular) that the movie was terrible...and to an extent I agree with him. One of the things that disappointed me was that a lot of the sub-plots that elevated Goblet of Fire away from being a mere-childrens/teen book were cut out. Things that showed the machinations behind the scene at the Ministry for Magic - their willingness to use Harry as a political pawn and then refusal to take his warnings about Voldemort seriously. The clues that were dropped as to the identity of the villain. The bits that show the characters are growing up and their conflict. While I understood what was going on and could therefore fill the gaps, for people who haven't read the book (such as Tina), the movie was an incoherent mess consisting of vignettes linked by common characters.

So I guess then what we have is a flawed movie that while servicing its fans well, is ultimately let down because it has been tailored to suit the fans. It was good, but not outstanding. I suspect it won't stand the test of time, but we'll see when that comes.

3/5

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