GoF - Spoilers under the cut!
I went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire with missiedith and Squirrel last night. My impressions and opinions under the cut:
So, Goblet of Fire. As a movie, without considering the book, I quite liked it. The pacing was generally good, the ending maybe a bit disappointing but the effects were quite nicely done. I wasn't very happy about the music: I know I've complained in the past that the HP soundtrack sounds a bit like Star Wars at times. This time it didn't. In fact, it didn't even sound like Harry Potter very much. Most of the time, that didn't bother me too much, but I would have welcomed John William's actual "Harry Potter theme" at the beginning or during the credits rather than the re-written variation that sounded like the theme yet didn't.
Character-wise, I loved what they did with "Mad-Eye" Moody. I was very sceptical when I saw the first pictures of the film-Moody because he looked very different from what I imagined him but Brendon Gleeson did an amazing job. The only thing I missed was "Constant Vigilance!"; they didn't put that line in.
Professor MacGonagall and Neville Longbottom got a lot more screen time than in previous films which I really enjoyed. Snape didn't get nearly enough screen time for my taste (but then again, that would probably go for anything short of a completely Snape-centered film) but we got a few kind of unexpected scenes with him.
Sirius Black's one single scene was most disappointing. First of all, I would have wished for more Sirius-time in general and secondly, I imagined floo-calling very *very* differently. The way Rowling describes it in the books, I always imagined a disembodied head floating over the fire, not the shape of a face forming in the embers.
Who are you and what did you do to
Expendable assets
Story lines that got a bit lost
Finally, the dragon:
I truly loved the way the dragon looked. I was a bit surprised when the dragon tore its chain and started chasing Harry but hey, who am I to complain (well, except that they could have used that screen time somewhere else). But why oh why did the dragon have to be so bloody stupid? I mean, it flew into a bridge for crying out loud! Also, the whole point of the task was for the champions to steal the golden egg out of a whole clutch of eggs in the dragon's nest. Why would the dragon randomly protect a single egg. One single line of script could have explained that situation...
All in all, I think it was a good film but not nearly as good as the book. People who are just going to see the film without reading the book will get the major plot points but loose many of the little details that make Harry Potter so appealing to me. The film is however nowhere near the standard of the book. Which won't keep me from seeing it again and again though.
So, Goblet of Fire. As a movie, without considering the book, I quite liked it. The pacing was generally good, the ending maybe a bit disappointing but the effects were quite nicely done. I wasn't very happy about the music: I know I've complained in the past that the HP soundtrack sounds a bit like Star Wars at times. This time it didn't. In fact, it didn't even sound like Harry Potter very much. Most of the time, that didn't bother me too much, but I would have welcomed John William's actual "Harry Potter theme" at the beginning or during the credits rather than the re-written variation that sounded like the theme yet didn't.
Character-wise, I loved what they did with "Mad-Eye" Moody. I was very sceptical when I saw the first pictures of the film-Moody because he looked very different from what I imagined him but Brendon Gleeson did an amazing job. The only thing I missed was "Constant Vigilance!"; they didn't put that line in.
Professor MacGonagall and Neville Longbottom got a lot more screen time than in previous films which I really enjoyed. Snape didn't get nearly enough screen time for my taste (but then again, that would probably go for anything short of a completely Snape-centered film) but we got a few kind of unexpected scenes with him.
Sirius Black's one single scene was most disappointing. First of all, I would have wished for more Sirius-time in general and secondly, I imagined floo-calling very *very* differently. The way Rowling describes it in the books, I always imagined a disembodied head floating over the fire, not the shape of a face forming in the embers.
Who are you and what did you do to
- Fleur Delacour
To quote Mad-Eye Moody "She's as little as fairy as I am!". The book-Fleur always struck me as an extraordinarily talented young witch with a bit of a diva attitude but also a lot of courage. The film-Fleur is mostly looking pretty but not much else. During the Third Task, she just runs around looking very scared and more or less crying. - Lord Voldemort
Ok, I know Ralph Fiennes had a very hard job with Lord Voldemort and I mostly think he did very well but his Voldemort was too sane for my taste. I mean, Voldemort is clinically insane. Completely mad. Utterly unhinged. I would qualify the film-Voldemort as a bit unbalanced but not the maniacal evil dark wizard from the books.
Expendable assets
- Bill and Charlie Weasley
I guess introducing two new characters with pretty little to do would have just been a waste of time. - Percy Weasley
I can see why they left him out even though I'm not very happy about it. It might make the whole "Percy falling out with the rest of his family" story line less convincing in the next films. - Ludo Bagman
Yeah, well... - Dobby
I'm not too sad about him because his absence gave Neville more to do. - The Dursleys
True, we've seen more than enough of them but admit it, Dudley's giant tongue would have been amusing!
Story lines that got a bit lost
- Rita Skeeter
Her horrible articles were at best hinted at and the fact that she is an animagus got completely left out. - The twin's joke shop
...wasn't even mentioned. Harry didn't give them his price money either. Possible contradictions in later films? - Barty Crouch jr. and the Dementor's Kiss
Apparently Barty got simply sent back to Azkaban. Incidentally - what on earth was Barty doing at Voldemort's in the beginning... - The Third Task
...appeared to consist only of a giant maze with attacking hedges. I know they had to save time but they could at least have put in a giant spider or some other obstacle that Harry (or another champion) had to get past.
Finally, the dragon:
I truly loved the way the dragon looked. I was a bit surprised when the dragon tore its chain and started chasing Harry but hey, who am I to complain (well, except that they could have used that screen time somewhere else). But why oh why did the dragon have to be so bloody stupid? I mean, it flew into a bridge for crying out loud! Also, the whole point of the task was for the champions to steal the golden egg out of a whole clutch of eggs in the dragon's nest. Why would the dragon randomly protect a single egg. One single line of script could have explained that situation...
All in all, I think it was a good film but not nearly as good as the book. People who are just going to see the film without reading the book will get the major plot points but loose many of the little details that make Harry Potter so appealing to me. The film is however nowhere near the standard of the book. Which won't keep me from seeing it again and again though.