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HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE
Potter casts magical spell
Louis B Hobson
Calgary Sun

November 18, 2005

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is crammed full of magic and mischief.


DANIEL RADCLIFFE in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

This fourth cinema instalment in the J.K. Rowling series has a daunting task which director Mike Newell meets head on with confidence and no little flair.

Hogwarts is hosting the Triwizard Tournament, a Quidditch World Cup and a Yule Ball which means it’s a very exciting year for Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione (Emma Watson), Ron (Rupert Grint) and the visiting students from two other academies of magic.

Newell dispenses with the Quidditch match much faster than Rowling did in the book, but there’s only so much a filmmaker can do with flying brooms.

What’s far more important and exciting is the Triwizard Tournament which Professor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) keeps re-inforcing can result in death.

Harry isn’t supposed to be able to compete because he is too young, but the Goblet of Fire spits out his name.

It also chooses the handsome and popular Cedric Diggory (Robert Pattinson) to represent Hogwarts, the haughty Fleur Delacour (Clemence Poesy) for Beauxbatons Academy and the rugged Quidditch superstar Viktor Krum (Stanislav Ianevski) from the Durmstrang Institute.

Poor Harry must steal a dragon’s egg from a fire-breathing monster, rescue Ron from underwater demons and battle a living maze.

It feels suspiciously like those trials Sinbad had to accomplish in his heyday except the special effects are infinitely superior.

There are some genuinely scary moments, but that is part of the fun of the Potter movies which are getting increasingly darker.

It’s during the Triwizard Tournament Harry meets his arch nemesis, the evil Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes).

The Goblet of Fire clocks in at just under 160 minutes, but it has such a brisk, intense pace it seems much shorter.

The spotlight is on the young actors with Newell hard pressed to find something for Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall and Jason Isaacs to do.

As the one-eyed, battle-scarred Defense Against the Dark Arts professor Alastor Moody, Brendan Gleeson gleefully channels John Wayne from the Duke’s True Grit movies.

Like the Lord of the Rings movies, these Potter flicks are made for the die-hard fans.

They don’t seem to mind that it really is mostly a case of repetition and recycling.

It’s more of the same except the writing, special effects, music, sets and especially the acting keep getting better.

SUN RATING: 3 1/2 out of 5.