Harry Potter and the Goblet of FireReview by Peter T. Chattaway |
posted 11/18/2005
2 of 4
Newell is at his best with this sort of material, and he fills the character-driven scenes with many amusing asides, from the way Ron's older brothers Fred and George (James and Oliver Phelps) joke around to the way stern Professor Snape (Alan Rickman) whaps Ron and Harry on the head to get them to shush during an exam. Incidentally, as our characters have grown up, so has their sense of humor, which relies less on gross-out gags and more on gags that aim below the belt. At one point, the bully Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) is turned into a ferret and dropped down another bully's pants; at another, Harry keeps, uh, certain things hidden when the ghost Moaning Myrtle (Shirley Henderson) interrupts his bath.
But there are also moments of quiet, tender sorrow and joy, especially where the once-hapless Neville Longbottom (Matthew Lewis) is concerned. And, at times, director Newell strikes just the right note of absurdity in moments of utter, ominous seriousness, such as when Harry's name is produced by the Goblet and "Mad-Eye" Moody (Brendan Gleeson), the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, rolls his artificial eyeball over to look at the boy.
The goblet of fire specifically chose Harry for the Tri-Wizard Tournament
However—and those who have not read the book may want to skip this paragraph—the film completely fumbles the ball at the most crucial moment, when Harry is caught by servants of the Dark Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) and witnesses the macabre ritual that brings He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named back to full embodied life for the first time in over a dozen years. This is supposed to be the moment when Voldemort, who has snake-like nostril slits where his nose ought to be, steps out of the shadows and confronts us with his evil. But instead, he comes across as nothing but a whiner, a bald man in a cape with a bad nose job. When the Emperor made his first appearance in Return of the Jedi, I could believe that Darth Vader would voluntarily submit to him; but I find it difficult to imagine that someone as proud as, say, Malfoy's father (Jason Isaacs) would submit to this guy. Will children find this sequence scary? I'd like to think so, but I doubt anyone else will.
The film unfolds so quickly, you almost don't have time to notice how passive Harry is—he is constantly reacting to things or letting events drive him, rather than acting and driving them himself—or how his friends continue to break the rules whenever it suits their purpose. What you do notice are the fantastic visuals—note how the tents at the quidditch match are bigger on the inside than the outside, or the way the dragon pursues Harry by clambering over the roof of Hogwarts—and the amusing characters. Alas, in its climactic moments, Goblet of Fire fails to lay the groundwork that the next films so badly need.
Talk About It
Discussion starters
- What do you make of Harry's behavior in this story? Is he active, or passive? Is he driving the story, or is the story driving him? Note how he enters the tournament, how his friends react, how he learns what it takes to succeed in the tournament, how he handles the task of asking someone to the Yule Ball, and ultimately how he faces Voldemort.
- At one point, Harry is awarded for his "outstanding moral fiber." Do you agree with this prize? How much moral fiber does Harry show? How about his friends?
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