'Goblet of Fire' is the best Harry Potter

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Chintna Desai

@cdesai12

Voyager

Posted: 20 years ago

'Goblet of Fire' is the best Harry Potter yet

By ELEANOR RINGEL GILLESPIE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
http://www.accessatlanta.com/movies/content/shared/movies/re views/H/harrypotterandthegobletoffire/ajc.html

Giant spiders. Killer chess pieces. Professor Snapes' constant sniping. Intimations of the return of He Who Must Not Be Named.

None of these are as frightening as the horrifying ordeal our wonderful wizard of Hogwarts must face in the fourth installment of J.K. Rowling's sensational "Harry Potter" series: Asking a date to the annual Yule Ball

But ask he must in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." Many think this is the best book in Rowling's lineup, even better than those that have come later. Debatable perhaps, but this isn't: "Goblet of Fire" is indisputably the best movie in the franchise thus far.

Mike Newell ("Four Weddings and a Funeral," "Donnie Brasco") is the first Brit to direct a "Potter" picture. Perhaps that's why he "gets" the books better than his predecessors. He's more comfortable with the boarding-school setting — the rush between classes, the heart-to-hearts in hidden rooms, the petty estrangements and the unnecessary hurts.

Further, he brings a vigorous, muscular style to the film. Something's always moving in "Goblet of Fire" — students, owls, dragons. The camera is always in motion, too — quick cuts, aerial glides.

Reflecting the direction Rowling herself takes in "Goblet," Newell's made Hogwarts a much darker place. (Parents, please note the PG-13 rating.) The sun rarely shines on the school's lofty spires and the surrounding countryside sometimes looks so ominous, you half expect to hear the Hound of the Baskervilles in full howl.

By now, Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) are like our old school chums. They're older, taller and, yes, someone's voice has changed, but most of all, they're adolescents and there's no magic spell for raging hormones.

The talk of the school this year is the Triwizard Tournament, a kind of Olympics for the magical community in that it brings together students from all over the world to compete. The finals are being held at Hogwarts, and Professor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) expects his students to be good hosts.

The finalists along with Hogwarts are: the distinctly feminine students of Beauxbatons Academy, whose two-by-two line and schoolgirl capes and hats are straight out of "Madeline"; and the decidedly brawny boys from Durmstrang Institute, whose coach looks like Rasputin was his great-great-great-grandfather.

Typically, only three champions — one per school — are chosen, but the Goblet adds a fourth — Harry, even though he's underage and not even eligible.

It's a distinction he doesn't want, especially since it makes Ron, who's tired of being known as "Harry Potter's stupid friend," even more jealous. Plus, there's a reason there's an age limit. People have died during these trials.

But Harry has more than fire-breathing dragons, dangerous mer-men and a treacherous maze Stephen King would envy to worry about. For one, there's the Yule Ball and all it's adolescent terrors. For another, there's Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), who finally makes a flesh-and-blood appearance. Well, more like scale-and-blood since his head is singularly snake-like.

Dumbledore has more to do this time, but professors Snape (Alan Rickman) and McGonagall (Maggie Smith) have less. That may be because of two marvelous new characters. One is gossip reporter Rita Skeeter, played with pursed lips and a wicked magic quill (it writes down things the interviewee doesn't say) by Miranda Richardson. The other is the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, "Mad-Eye" Moody, played by a gloriously hammy Brendan Gleeson with a cyborg eye and a loose-cannon wand.

The kids are all right, too. More than all right. Especially Radcliffe, who's showing signs that he's an actor, not just a Harry look-alike.

Despite the movie's length (a hefty 157 minutes), Newell still had to cut entire plots from the even heftier book (734 pages). No more Free the House Elves campaign for Hermione and Sirius' visits (Gary Oldman, reduced to a burning face in a fireplace) are kept to a minimum.

But Newell has done something much more important than maintaining fidelity to the text. He's made a film that fully conveys the transcendent appeal of "Harry Potter." That shows those not yet won over by the idea of a boy wizard why grown people with jobs and second mortgages are so bewitched by Rowling's works.

Though he makes it clear Harry isn't just for kids anymore, Newell doesn't skimp on the magical stuff. The Beauxbatons girls arrive in a carriage drawn by a team of flying horses. The Durmstrang boys on a majestic vessel — part Viking ship, part pirate galleon — that rises like a submarine out of the lake. The Great Hall is decked out for the Yule Ball like the best Christmas prom imaginable.

Some fans may feel the girly-girly dance sequence goes on too long. And the scene in which Harry shares a bubble bath with Moaning Myrtle is downright creepy.

Still, those are a just few stumbles in a movie that races along like the wind, spreading enchantment in its wake. At the same time, the film never loses sight of the series' crucial moral fulcrum. The choice, Dumbledore tells Harry, is between what is right and what is easy.

But Newell has out-magic-ed the headmaster. He's done "Harry Potter" right. And he's made it look easy.