Harry Potter e il calice di fuoco

Goblet of Fire is of course, well done and beautifully shot. Not having read any of the Potter series, I wasn't disappointed in the movie at all. From what I have heard, many underlying plots and characters may have been skipped to streamline the movie and keep its focus, so the readers might be disappointed, I don't know. "Fire" is darker than the rest of the movies. Seemed to lack some of the humor that gave the previous films some levity. Great storyline, fabulous effects. LONG though. It's about 2.5 hours long, so make time for it. It's worth it to watch and goes quickly. Throughly enjoyed it, but not my favorite of the bunch so far.

It's unfortunate that so much of the book needed to be cut for time and the movie is still nearly 2 1/2 hours long. The rule of movie editing is when you must trim for time you remove the sub-plots. A lot of story and character development isn't there.

But what is there is a great visual treat. If the movie leaves you with questions just read the book or get the audio version on CD. It would have taken a minimum of another half hour to flesh the movie out and that simply wasn't going to be done by a studio whose primary target is a younger audience. (Note how no studio wants to release an animated film longer than 90 minutes for this reason.) Perhaps Alphonso Curon would have done a better job of cohesion but there really isn't much more that could have been done in the time and the script would have been essentially the same. This movie begs for an extended Lord of the Rings type DVD, another 30 to 60 minutes to give you what was left out for theatrical release.

See it and spend the bucks to see it on the big screen.

This fourth installment of J.K. Rowling saga , once again our friends Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) , Ron (Rupert Grint) , Hermione (Emma Watson) are at Hogwar school and their enemies Braco Malfoy (Tom Felton) , his father (Jason Isaacs) along the dark forces , the Death Eaters and Lord Voldemor . Besides , appearing the ordinary teachers , such as : Minerva (Maggie Smith) , Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) , Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) , along with a meddler journalist (Miranda Richardson) , Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) , a new rare professor (Bernard Gleeson) , and , of course , Rubeus (Robbie Coltrane) . Here a legendary event takes place and Harry Potter competes in the Triwizard tournament , in which young people champions are selected , they are representatives from three wizarding colleges confronting in a series of dangerous tests : challenging dragons , horrible sea creatures and a spooky maze .

This episode contains loads of adventures and action and it is such deeply riveting and emotional as its predecessors ; besides , getting lots of bombastic special effects and several images have you on the edge of your seat , including an amazing array of technical bizarre creatures , a breathtaking combat between Harry and a dragon , a rescue from sea deep of his friends fighting creepy , scary monsters and an exciting battle between Harry and the Dark Lord and his henchmen , the Death Eaters. The picture displays stimulating action set pieces illuminating the full-blown adventures , blending wizardry , witchcraft , horror , humor and being extremely amusing and enjoyable . Darkest even than previous chapters ; it is more thrilling ,more dramatic , more touching and more exciting . The motion picture was splendidly filmed with sensational production design by Stuart Craig and a colorful cinematography by Roger Pratt . Phenomenal and spectacular musical score by Patrick Doyle , substituting to the great master John Williams.The movie was magnificently directed by Mike Newell .The film is recommended to Harry Potter saga lovers as well as neophyte who didn't have seen prior episodes.

Mike Newell is forgiven for cutting out so much detail from the book, and JK Rowling is forgiven for writing wonderfully rich books. However, fans of the book cannot help but feel like riding a roller coaster that is so fast there is no time to enjoy the ride. I predict the huge void between book and movie will spur remakes in about 10 to 20 years. Even if the movies must be 5 hours long, Harry Potter fans are willing to sit through them. This movie doesn't get a 10 because it leaves me feeling like something is missing, but it does deserve a 9 for being the best possible portrayal of the book given a 2.5 hour limitation. All said and done, this is the shortest 2.5 hour movie I have ever watched.

I did enjoy this movie, but being a huge fan of the books, I was frustrated with a lot of the things that were touched upon, but not really followed though with.

First things first, I give Mike Newell and Steve Kloves credit for finally giving Fred and George the screen time they deserve. I'm glad the movie audience finally got to see what truly great characters those two are.

Daniel Radcliff and Rupert Grint (Ron saying "Bloody Hell" when Hermione woke him up at the beginning was hysterical) play the perfect awkward teenage boys as well. They had great comedic timing in delivering lines and tripping over themselves around girls.

Cedric, Cho, Fleur, and Viktor were all perfectly cast, but had too few lines.

Alan Rickman, as always was Brilliant as Snape. It was also great to see Professor McGonagall as a more fully developed character. Neville getting more screen time was good as well.

Cedric's death and Voldemort's return was very powerful.

As far as things that were in and things that were cut, I think that the things that made the film should have been finished on. Like the Quidditch cup, the Stadium and campground were really cool, but why show all that then skip the match. I felt like the filmmakers were shaking a pop can and when they opened it, there was a mere hissing noise.

Why put Rita Skeeter in at all if they aren't even going to reveal that she is an animagus? That's important in book five. That would have been a much better way to end the movie than Hermione saying things are going to be different now aren't they? Gee Voldy's back, Captain obvious to the rescue! Oh and Ron's reaction to Fleur kissing him was great, but where was Hermione's jealousy. They put in the post Yule Ball argument, so why not enhance it? It would have taken two seconds to show Hermione's jealousy, and it would have been funny.

The wands connecting was important, but the Phoenix song was never explained, and are people who have only seen the movies going to remember the wand core thing from the first movie? And Hermione is a character I feel the filmmakers have not properly interpreted. I mean the Yule ball scene bugged the crap out of me the way she came down with that smug look on her face! Ugh! I liked Hermione better in the book when she was smiling sheepishly, she was just more endearing that way. And her dress and hair made her look more like a five year old playing dress up, as opposed to a blossoming teenager. They should have followed JKR's description when designing the costume. Periwinkle would have been more flattering than pink, IMO.

I'm glad Ginny got a wee bit of face time here, but she'd better not get the shaft in the OotP movie, if they give Hermione her lines there, I will be POed.

Anyway I did enjoy this movie overall, but being a huge fan of the book, I couldn't help but nitpick, LOL