Ralph's Movie Reviews: HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE

Friday, December 2, 2005

HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE

Fantasy

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Daniel Radcliffe: Harry Potter, student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Rupert Grint: Ron Weasley, Harry’s best friend
Emma Watson: Hermione Granger, another good friend of Harry’s
Tom Felton: Draco Malfoy, not one of Harry’s friends
Michael Gambon: Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster
Maggie Smith: Professor Minerva McGonagall with her witch’s hat
Robbie Coltrane: Professor Hagrid, the gentle giant
Alan Rickman: Professor Severus Snape
Brendan Gleeson: Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor
Miranda Richardson: Rita Skeeter, columnist for The Daily Prophet
Robert Pattinson: Cedric Diggory, popular good-looking student at Hogwarts
Ralph Fiennes: Lord Voldemort, scary head of the Death Eaters

REVIEW
Like earlier HP films, each one gets darker and more sinister than the ones that preceded it. The movie begins appropriately enough with a nightmare and a slithering snake. That pretty well sets the tone although true to form, there are lighter moments and even a few chuckles later on. Mention must be made of the special effects: they are spectacular and enliven the movie, especially at times when it drags on far too long.

CLASSIFICATION

for sequences of fantasy violence and frightening images.

P.S.
Dedicated fans of HP cannot get enough of course, but for anyone else, two hours and 37 minutes is a long time to sit and watch any film.

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my ratings system

I've always thought that telling too much about a movie or warning someone about a "twist" at the end deprives the person the pleasure of seeing it as it unfolds, so I don’t do it. You may not always agree with my rating of course, but at least it is an unbiased opinion unlike some of the full time professional reviewers who are on the studio’s payroll.

A few movies you won’t see any review from me:

Scary movies: I’m the world’s biggest chicken and just hate getting the crap scared out of me. I can handle an unexpected door slam, that kind of thing, but a movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat…not for me. Sorry.
Movies geared to the young teen and pre-teen crowd with dialog comprising mostly of crude remarks, awful jokes and lots of rude, socially unacceptable body noises. "The Spy that Shagged Me" comes to mind. (I wonder if the kids know what the British verb to shag someone really means? They probably do; I bet you it’s the parents who haven’t a clue).
Sometimes Hollywood gets on a roll and they produce a series of movies that are all very much alike. For example movies about the CIA were very popular and so we had The Bourne Identity and Bad Company and The Sum of All Fears. They all had the same basic theme and it becomes repetitive. I will see some, but not all of them.

FYI this is my rating system:

0 stars = Terrible: so bad it’s not worth talking about; in fact, I’d pay you not to go
= Lousy: I actually got up and walked out before the end it was just that bad (no kidding)
= Not so good: thought about walking out but hung in just in case it got better (but it didn’t)
= A so-so good movie: I enjoyed it somewhat but wasn’t all that crazy about it
= A really good movie: I recommend seeing it
= An excellent movie you just got to see! I suggest you put it on your "To Do List" it’s that good.

some favourite websites

For those into it, Nitpickers at

has more movie mistakes than you could ever imagine. My contributions can be seen if you check out the Nitpickers Registry and click on the link Nitpickers Listed by Nitpicker Number, select the group 45,401 - 45,500 and drill down to number 45411. Although I have 56 nitpicks to my credit, some have almost 2,000. You wonder sometimes where they find the time to do it.