Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Full Screen Edition) (Harry Potter 4)
When Harry Potter’s name emerges from the Goblet of Fire, he becomes a competitor in a grueling battle for glory among three wizarding schools – the Triwizard Tournament. But since Harry never submitted his name for the Tournament, who did? Now Harry must confront a deadly dragon, fierce water demons and an enchanted maze only to find himself in the cruel grasp of He Who Must Not Be Named. In this fourth film adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, everything changes as Harry, Ron and Hermione leave childhood forever and take on challenges greater than anything they could have imagined.The latest entry in the Harry Potter saga could be retitled Fast Times at Hogwarts, where finding a date to the winter ball is nearly as terrifying as worrying about Lord Voldemort’s return. Thus, the young wizards’ entry into puberty (and discovery of the opposite sex) opens up a rich mining field to balance out the dark content in the fourth movie (and the stories are only going to get darker). Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral) handily takes the directing reins and eases his young cast through awkward growth spurts into true young actors. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe, more sure of himself) has his first girl crush on fellow student Cho Chang (Katie Leung), and has his first big fight with best bud Ron (Rupert Grint). Meanwhile, Ron’s underlying romantic tension with Hermione (Emma Watson) comes to a head over the winter ball, and when she makes one of those girl-into-woman Cinderella entrances, the boys’ reactions indicate they’ve all crossed a threshold.
But don’t worry, there’s plenty of wizardry and action in Goblet of Fire. When the deadly Triwizard Tournament is hosted by Hogwarts, Harry finds his name mysteriously submitted (and chosen) to compete against wizards from two neighboring academies, as well as another Hogwarts student. The competition scenes are magnificently shot, with much-improved CGI effects (particularly the underwater challenge). And the climactic confrontation with Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes, in a brilliant bit of casting) is the most thrilling yet. Goblet, the first installment to get a PG-13 rating, contains some violence as well as disturbing images for kids and some barely shrouded references at sexual awakening (Harry’s bath scene in particular). The 2 1/2-hour film, lean considering it came from a 734-page book, trims out subplots about house-elves (they’re not missed) and gives little screen time to the standard crew of the other Potter films, but adds in more of Britain’s finest actors to the cast, such as Brendan Gleeson as Mad-Eye Moody and Miranda Richardson as Rita Skeeter. Michael Gambon, in his second round as Professor Dumbledore, still hasn’t brought audiences around to his interpretation of the role he took over after Richard Harris died, but it’s a small smudge in an otherwise spotless adaptation. –Ellen A. Kim
Rating: 
(out of 699 reviews)
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Tags: Wizarding Schools, Potter, Rupert Grint, goblet of fire full movie
Review by B. Schlein for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Full Screen Edition) (Harry Potter 4)
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Contrary to what others may tell you, all this copy has is the Film itself, nothing more, nothing less. If you truely want a good copy, get the two-disc special edition. It has far more materieal, including Deleated Scenes! So just spend a few dollars more and get more.
Review by Jennifer Reif for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Full Screen Edition) (Harry Potter 4)
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JK Rowling’s Book Four was as fabulous as all the rest, unfortunately the film version turned out a great deal of choppy editing and some personal scenes that were so deeply compressed that we rarely had a chance to enjoy them before they were gone. The extra scenes provided on disk two add background and texture, particularly when Alan Rickman (Snape) is present.
Emma Watson is a wonderful actress and the Yule Ball gave her a chance to shine…but… it seemed to me that as Hermione, her pitch rarely varied, mostly shrill and shrill (believe me, I love the actress, but I know she has a greater range than what appeared on screen). Fortunately, we were saved by the time that was given to the Weasley twins, by Miranda Richardson’s artfully wicked portrayal of Rita Skeeter and by Rupert Grint’s (Ron Weasley’s) comedic flair. Other highlights via actor Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), were the bubble bath egg sequence as well as the dramatic closing scenes with Harry’s enemy Lord Voldemort.
To the Director of Film Five…Enough money has already been made that you can successfully convince the studio to extend the time of the next film to at least three hours. If someone thinks that the audience can not sit through three hours, then they don’t understand their audience. Come on, give the next film the time that it deserves and listen to the screenwriter..work together to give us scenes that have not only the excitement required, but the small moments between friends that are full and complete.
“Return of the King,” the third theatrical installment of the Tolkien trilogy was taken from a book of 512 pages. The film, a total of 3 hours and 10 minutes, garnished many Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. Described by the entertainment industry’s big mag, Variety, as an “urgently paced 200-minute film without an ounce of fat,” the film proved that most theater goers were happy to sit in their seats for three hours.
One last thing, please, I beg you, more light. Dark and darker is unnecessary and boring. It isn’t dark that’s better, it’s the contrast between light and dark that’s better. Please, don’t make me feel like I’m watching an unlit version of MTV. Good luck, Mr. Director, this is YOUR TriWizard Tournament.
Jennifer, a big JKR fan
Review by J. Yabut for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Full Screen Edition) (Harry Potter 4)
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****SPOILER ALERT****
Okay…the GoF book is 734 pages, and the movie adaptation is a little over 2.5 hours. Of course a lot of stuff was going to be cut. Some of the cuts I was able to deal with (e.g., Hermione and S.P.E.W.). Unfortunately, many of the characters (especially the other Triwizard champions) were severely underdeveloped as a result.
Giving Viktor Krum only two lines in the entire movie was inexcusable. So was cutting out the entire Quidditch World Cup match. The viewer isn’t given enough reason to care about Krum, or why he became a potential love interest for Hermione. He simply comes across as a dumb jock. The movie should have shown a couple minutes of the World Cup match to show off his prowess, and little scene here and there of him interacting with Hermione (I was actually quite peeved that the didn’t show her teaching Viktor how to pronounce her name).
The other champions were likewise poorly developed. You learn practically nothing about Cedric or Fleur Delacour (who got the least screentime out of the four champions). Fleur was simply another pretty face; they even cut the part about her being a quarter-veela (which was why the boys were swooning over her in the book). And if I didn’t read the book, I probably wouldn’t have cared too much about Cedric’s death near the end of the movie.
Even Ron and Hermione were mainly relegated to the background. They didn’t even use any kind of magic for the entire film! It would’ve been nice to show how exactly Hermione was helping Harry (like with the Accio spell), instead of just having her simper and worry. Ron seemed to be purely comic relief.
My other quibble was that the first task was WAY too long. The dragon chasing Harry around Hogwarts was ridiculous. They could’ve easily shaved off a good five minutes, and instead use that time for the World Cup match they DIDN’T show (can you tell that I was mad about that being cut out?)
Don’t get me wrong. I still enjoyed the movie; it did capture the spirit of the book pretty well. And I was VERY happy to see the ferret scene (YES!)
Overall impression: Good entertainment, but read the book first. That’ll help fill in the blanks. Three out of five stars.
3/16/06 UPDATE: I received the Special Edition DVD set last week. I liked the interview with the Golden Trio, but it would’ve been nice if they had other cast member interviews, like in the PoA DVD. The reflection of the fourth movie (which included sharing from other cast members) was a nice touch, but again, I wish they had more in-depth interviews with them. As for the deleted scenes, they weren’t worth it. I’m not giving away all of the deleted scenes, but I’ll just say that there was NO footage whatsoever of the Quidditch World Cup Match!
I’m also slightly puzzled at why there was a *seperate* Special Edition DVD this time around. I’m sure that confused a few people.
Review by SofaKing381222 for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Full Screen Edition) (Harry Potter 4)
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Ok, first of all, the movie is done as well as it could have been. It does leaves out some facts that the book felt was important to include. But miniscule things must be omitted. They did the best job possible that they could have done to eliminate less important plot lines. The opening scenes could have been allowed more time, and made it feel less rushed, but it worked out well. The acting in this movie is a definite improvement over those last 3 movies. You will applaud Daniel Radcliffe’s performance. Emma Watson is as much of an amazing actress as she has always been, and I still think that she is underused. Her scenes at the Yule Ball were awe-inspiring. The effects, visual and CG, are amazing. You can feel as if you are there right now. Ralph Fiennes plays Voldemort beautifully and sends chills down your spine and makes you loath him from his first second on screen. Miranda Richardson really hit the nail on the head with Rita Skeeter. Her scenes are some of the funniest of the entire movie. The Director of this installment of the highly successful Harry Potter series was Mike Newell. He does an outstanding job. There are some scenes that are so cinematically amazing. The overall feel of the film is without a fast-paced action thriller. You fear for Harry’s life every second of the film. I was thoroughly impressed with this film, and with the fifth book being my favorite, I am praying that the film works wonders.
The bonus features for this DVD include:
Commentary by the Film’s Director, Mike Newell
Featuretts:
Reflections on the Fourth Film (14:11)
Meet the Champions (13:01)
Harry vs. the Horntail: The First Task (5:51)
Preparing for the Yule Ball (8:39)
In Too Deep: The Second Task (9:23)
The Maze: the Third Task (6:30)
He Who Must Not Be Named (10:40)
Deleted Scenes
SCENE 1: Dumbledore ask to his pupils to welcome the Durmstrangs and Beauxbatons students. All the Hogwart students then start to sing Hoggy Hoggy Hogwarts or the school song.
SCENE 2: A Durmstrangs student asks a girl if she wants to go with him to the Yule Ball. She says “yes” and the two friends make gestures in the background.
SCENE 3: Harry tries to speak with Cho Chang, but her friends are around her and the opportunity never works out .
SCENE 4: At the Yule Ball, Flitwick introduces the Weird Sisters band. The star singer addresses the crowd and then the music begins.
SCENE 5: Karkaroff tell to Snape about the mark on his arm. Snape ignores him and removes points to Fawcet and Stebbins, who are briefly shown, and Snape disregards Karkaroff’s concerns then.
SCENE 6: Mr. Crouch and Harry are speaking, then Madeye appears as Barty leaves.
SCENE 7: The trio speaks about the death of Mr. Crouch. Ron thinks that the Daily Prophet will cover it up on Fudges orders. Hermione believes that this death, Harrys burning scar, and the fact that the Dark Mark had been cast , are too much of a coincidence, and she thinks Harry should go talk to Dumbledore about all of this.
SCENE 8: The trio discuss their suspicions about what Karkarov has on his arm. Hermione asks Harry what ingredients Snape think he stole from him, and she relises that they are all ingredients in a polyjuice potion.
Games, AND MUCH MORE
P.S. It doesn’t matter that Hermione’s dress is Pink instead of Blue. It does matter that Harry’s eyes are supposed to be green, when they are Blue in the movies!
Review by Rei for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Full Screen Edition) (Harry Potter 4)
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In this forth instalment in the ever popular Harry Potter series based on the novel by JK Rolwling we see Harry mature in many ways, he must over come three deadly tasks, face a fully formed Lord Voldermort and possibly the most horrifying task of all for the 14 year old Harry, he must get himself a date for the Yule Ball!
The performance of the trio in the Goblet of Fire is amazing, every scene seemed to be executed perfectly and the on screen chemistry between the young stars is evident. Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) reaches new heights in this movie perfectly portraying the uncomfortable adolescent Harry has become; he faces the new emotional roles in the movie with confidence and enthusiasm, like wise for Radcliffe’s young co-stars Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) and Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) Once again we see terrific performances from the likes of Dame Maggie Smith (Professor McGonagall), Alan Rickman (Professor Snape) and Robbie Coltraine (Hagrid) as well as meeting some new faces amongst the students, including students from two other magical academies who join the students at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry to participate in the Tri-Wizard Tournament! Another highlight of this marvellous movie is Ralph Fiennes’ portrayal of Lord Voldermort which can be rather alarming even to an adult!
I believe this movie to be of an excellent standard not only due to the charismatic trio, but also thanks to the special effects of this movie. We see many fascinating creatures including a ferocious fire breathing dragon (which Harry must fight armed with nothing but his wand!) and while watching you can truly forget that these creatures were created using blue screen and you can honestly believe that you are in this world, that it truly exists just behind closed doors. This is very true to the novels making this a movie every Potter fan can enjoy and indeed fans of spectacular plots and mind-blowing special effects alike can appreciate this, making the Goblet of Fire a movie for all the family! Overall I would call this movie riveting and n absolute gem of the movie world. You do not want to miss this brilliant piece of film history, no DVD collection would be complete with out it! Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire amazing 5 stars!