Along with other first time Potteresque filmgoers, Brett wasn’t so taken in by Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire . . . I suspect this may be because he isn’t familiar with the rest of the body of Potter worx. Hiromi noted that The funny thing is, “Brett was the only person in the theater that didn’t know what was going to happen.” Our daughter, Kaye, enjoyed it quite a bit . . . naturally. Lorraine and I both liked it but we were left a bit on the high and dry side in that we really had the impression that the story was very choppy. The special effects were wonderful, as always, and the Horntail Dragon and merfolk kicked butt . . . but the character relationships were not to be found other than at the most superficial level. Cedric came off as a twink rather than a really kool guy and his girlfriend Cho was a throwaway with no real establishment that they had a meaningful something going on. I suspect it may cause problems establishing her grief in the next film. Granted it’s a big book and it is difficult to distill it all into a single film (one of the original plans was that this one be two films but it was dropped due to consistency and costs). While it certainly is the most exciting of the HP films to date and the most mature, I am holding off on saying it is the best as so many others are saying. In all honesty, I believe the best film has yet to be made. It was an exciting and worthwhile film and we enjoyed it quite a bit . . . but it’s praises stop there. It did not have the sophistication of the novel nor the maturity of character. It was a series of scenes edited together rather than a single story that demonstrates the trials of friendships tested and of mortal danger and heroic moral fibre. I sincerely hope they give Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) some intensive quality acting lessons as he needs to work on his range and stage presence. He has some potential but needs more work, particularly if he is going to pull off the much more demanding duties of the role that are to come. Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) has such a flair in the earlier films so it is such a disappointment that she is almost wasted in this piece. Her lines are more throwaways than actual character. Of the three lead child roles, the one that shines is Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) who is a natural. He has been gaining more non-Harry acting roles and his ability to create and maintain an engaging character has grown through the experience and talent. Snape was a disappointment in this piece as his screen time was extremely low with none of the deep tug-pull-push-shove of previous films. Granted, they have limited time and needed to get Mad Eye Moody screen time. The relationship between Harry and Mad Eye was a disappointment as it didn’t feel as close and as valuable as in the book. This is partly the style of the film which didn’t really develop character at all, it was treated more as an effects piece rather than a character piece . . . personally, I believe effects and character don’t have to be mutually exclusive in a project like this . . . and the filmmakers (second-guessing here) may not have wanted the audience to be too disappointed if they made him out to be a good guy and then betrayed us all at the end but I think that’s pretty much what the point of the role’s function is . . . to show us that in a war of this type anyone can be the enemy . . . the whole series is built upon the premise that evil will stop at nothing and that sometimes your closest friend may betray you . . . it may not be Rowling’s intended message but the entire series is full of very classic examples of that particular message. Death Eaters are the terrorists waiting to strike or the hasshishan assassins . . . Voldemort is Hassan i Sabbah and Machiavelli and the insane bits from Zarathustra and pals . . . he is all 48 of Robert Greene’s Laws of Power on speed with a few new ones thrown in such as The Law of Fear, the Law of Torture, the Law of Terror, the Law of Scaring the Beejeepers Out of ‘Em, the Law of Grind Them Underfoot, the Law of Crush Them and Anyone Even Remotely Associated with Them, and the Law of Kill Them Kill Them All. In fact, I wouldn’t be too terribly surprised if someone comes out with a “Business According to Voldemort” course or book soon that models Voldemort’s management style to apply it to business and relationships – sadly, there certainly would be a market for it.

Still, overall, a fine film well worth seeing . . . although I strongly encourage folks to see the first three films prior to this one to get a bit more of the backstory and attachment to the characters. It doesn’t seem to work as well as a standalone pice but is more of a lynchpin in the series where the transformation from child to adult truly begins to take place. Begins, there are even scarier things and deeper transformations ahead. The movie site is here.