Here are my original reviews of all the movies in the Harry Potter series. My review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2 will publish here by Thursday.
Harry Potter can conquer almost anything at this point: Hungarian Horntail Dragons, the Golden Snitch, Dementors of Azkaban, the Serpent Basilisk and, apparently, puberty.
No longer wide-eyed children, Harry Potter and his rightfully monopolizing actor Daniel Radcliffe have gone and grown up. When Ron Howard’s voice dropped an octave and his chin started sprouting whiskers on The Andy Griffith Show, the show’s demise was not too far off. With Harry Potter, though, his growth and maturity is only closing the gap on his ultimate showdown with Lord Voldemort, the evil wizard who killed his parents and branded a scar on his forehead. In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, we actually see the dark lord for the first time as his true self, a reptilian man with no nose and a fiery urge to exterminate the Potter name, but more on him later.
Like the previous Harry Potter films, Goblet is brimming with fascinating new beasts, magical spells, mythical curses, wizard trials and even some unexpected treats, like love — between which characters I will let you discover. The film picks up in the magic world with little-to-no introduction of the previous films or even who Potter is. The producers seem to snicker: “If you haven’t seen the other movies or read the books, then tough!”
Boy wonder Potter is beginning his fourth year at the Hogwart’s School, where young children learn wizard’s ways. This year, the school is hosting the Tri-Wizard’s Cup, which consists of three magical tasks. Harry, of course, joins three other students in the contest. Guessing who wins isn’t difficult, but the suspense comes in how this person wins. What ensues is a visual feast, one that surpasses all the other Potter films. Harry fights a fire-breathing dragon from the center of an arena to the tops of a castle, with lots of soaring in between. He descends into a lake, where trident-wielding sea crabs snap at his arms. He wanders through a hedge maze that attempts to swallow him whole.
The wizard trials all lead up to a rumble with Voldemort, who is still astonished at Potter’s strength — notice the way white-hot lava spews from their magic wands. There are still three movies to follow this one, so solid conclusions are going to be hard to find, but it plays wonderfully to its moments, one of them being Potter’s first magical confrontation with his archenemy.
Radcliffe is good, but others are great, including Emma Watson (as Hermione, who’s growing up to be a babe in the young wizards’ eyes) and Brendan Gleeson (as a googly-eyed professor). And, as wonderful Michael Gambon is as Albus Dumbledore, seeing his snapping portrayal of the school’s headmaster makes me long for the late Richard Harris even more.
It’s safe to say that Goblet of Fire is the best Harry Potter yet, and it excels at a lot: riveting action, its development of Harry, the budding romance between Harry and his friends, and the spirit of J.K. Rowling’s enchanting books. Each movie has been better than the one before it, which makes me wish more for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
