Book review : Harry Potter and Goblet of fire - PART 1

Long post ahead.

“Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire” has the intensity and emotion of the book it’s based from. In its totality, it has all the ingredients of a good fantasy adventure motion picture—a very gratifying story, raw and fresh main actors, a veteran stellar support cast, fantastic special effects and even a bunch of life’s lessons for its viewers. It’s very funny and wondrous. It casts us in a spell both true and imaginary. It weaves reality with a flick of a wand—a truly magical feeling.

The story shows us in effect three fourteen year old kids struggling through puberty—first love, adventure, danger and even death which is the central theme of the entire book series. There are a number of inconsistencies and differences with the film and the book. Though it is so, it didn’t murder the book at all. It made the film very concise and enjoyable unlike the first two movies which seem longer than they really are. It didn’t stray from the original plot. Instead, it highlighted the more important scenes like the Triwizard Tournament wherein three chosen champions from three schools of magic will compete in three amazing and impossible tasks, the accompanying Yule Ball, and the very satisfying climax everyone I am sure is waiting to see. Aside from the extreme intensity, the movie also offers emotional prowess. It has many cute and funny scenes which balances the very dramatic climax. All in all, it’s a very enjoyable movie that offers great all-around entertainment.

Since the beginning of the Warner Bros. deal, J.K. Rowling made it clear that she wanted only British actors to play her beloved characters. Many where skeptical about this idea but the movies that followed proved the skeptics wrong. The movies created new stars. “Goblet of Fire” established the three new stars status in Hollywood further. Daniel Radcliffe IS Harry Potter. I can’t imagine any other actor to fit the role more than him. Emma Watson and Rupert Grint who play the roles of Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley respectively are not that bad either. They have proved their worth in the roles that they play. I especially love the love-hate angle between their characters. The support cast is awesome. Alan Rickman is such a good actor especially when he portrays villain roles. In the “Goblet of Fire” though, Rickman seems to drive far from his character Severus Snape’s nature. Director Mike Newell added a scene where Snape knocks the heads of Harry and Ron with books when they were caught talking to each other. This is very British Boarding School but it is very un-Snape-like. Snape uses words and detention and not anything physical to provoke and torment Harry. Like Rickman, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane and various others reprise their roles for the movie. Sir Michael Gambon who replaced Sir Richard Harris as Professor Albus Dumbledore proves to be very adept in his role as Hogwarts Headmaster and Harry’s mentor. Ralph Fiennes is one of the additional actors in the set. He plays the very important and much-disliked Lord Voldemort, the arch nemesis of Harry Potter. He is so unrecognizable on screen. The slithering sight of him made me cringe at my seat and gave me a feeling that he is Lord Voldemort, merciless and snake-like in every way. The whole cast should be all praised for their effortless acting on screen.

I'll post the part 2 tomorrow.. I'm having a bad headache hehe