Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Director: Mike Newell
Release Date: November 18 2005

 

Cast:
Harry Potter: Daniel Radcliffe
Hermione Granger: Emma Watson
Ron Weasley: Rupert Grint
Draco Malfoy : Tom Felton
Albus Dumbledore: Michael Gambon
Minerva McGonagall: Maggie Smith
Severus Snape: Alan Rickman
Rubeus Hagrid: Robbie Coltrane
Sirius Black: Gary Oldman
Professor Alastor ‘Mad Eye’ Moody: Brendan Gleeson

 

This is the the fourth movie in the Harry Potter series, like the others it stars, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson. They are a great team that works very well together and, as they have grown, so have their characters. It is one of the advantages of following the Harry Potter series, seeing the actors grow both physically and as actors. If you haven’t seen the other films, don’t worry, you won’t be lost with this one. The story stands very well on its own.

Harry Potter is a young magician sent to the Hogwarts school to learn how to use his powers properly. We are in his fourth year at the school and there is a large competition for the young scholars: the Triwizard Tournament. As the name suggests the competition is supposed to be for three young wizards to compete in three individual competitions. But there is a surprise, a fourth wizard, Harry, is selected by the magical cup (the Goblet of Fire). Though unprecedented, both because of the number of competitors and because Harry is underage, the teachers still allow Harry to compete.

The mystery grows, a dead body is found, and the headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore (played superbly by Michael Gambon) has to search back into the past to see if the clue to murder may lie in the long-ago use of dark arts.

As the story progresses Harry and his friends have to confront many obstacles and find the correct way (morally as well as technically) to solve the mystery. It’s an excellently paced film that carries you along. The actors make these magical situations believable and the moral code of the wizards seems to be very familiar. The story is excellent for family viewing (perhaps a bit much for the under13s though) and the use of special effects is limited to those times when it helps move a plot point forward and not for its own sake.

 

 

If you like this Movie, you'll also like:

1. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
2. Where the Wild Things Are
3. A Christmas Story
4. Babes In Toyland – 1986
5. Christmas Is Here Again