Harry Potter rocks!
Saw the latest Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire yesterday. It was awesome! I was half expecting that we had already seen all the best clips in various trailers and teasers, but bollocks! The whole film was even more entertaining, funny and fastpaced than I had looked forward to. The plot hadn't been seriously mutilated and it had been cut and shortened in such places that didn't really matter on the whole. The total two and half hours went just flying by and I didn't even have to give a second's thought to bathroom. ;)
The film began right in the middle of action: the empty Riddle house and the old gardener scene where we see the first of Voldie's gang. And then, back to a dreaming Harry, who wakes up hurting and sweaty and the whole Weasley family going to the Quidditch World Cup. I'm actually glad the quidditch scene was so short. We have seen enough flying already. The sports event was enjoyable as it was and we saw the first glimpse of Draco and Lucius too. :) Some very nice and funny scenes of family and friends teasing each other after the match (Fred and George are adorable!). The death eaters attack, enter horrid skull and Barty Crouch. And then, off we go to Hogwarts.
The whole film was concentrated around the Triwizard Tournament, no ordinary school at all. Which was good for the film I suppose. We have enough time to sit at school in part 6 as it is. The entrance of the competing schools of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang was very impressive. Although I was sooo disappointed at Fleur. Since the veela thing is never brought up in the quidditch match, she obviously isn't one. Which sort of cuts one important fact off the film. So she's just an ordinary blond girl, how boring.
One of the funniest events is the Yule Ball and preparing for it. Ron is just hilarious with his inherited dress robes and teen angst. Getting a date for the ball is not so easy... The ball itself is just beautiful and it's nice to see all people dressed up. The "well-mannered frivolity" ends up a usual teen feast when the rock band starts to play and teen girls sit on the stairs crying for their lousy evening. :D We also see the first steps of budding teen love between Ron and Hermione, frosted with heaps of angst and jealousy.
The Triwizard competitions themselves are quite boring... The dragon part has some overly long flying scenes and is really not very interesting or exciting. The diving part also has lost some of its original chilly atmosphere. Because we haven't been introduced to grindylows and other little buggers at DADA classes, their last attack on Harry in the lake comes kind of from nowhere. The labyrinth scene is also a big disappointment. It could have been very scary and exciting, since the labyrinth is HUGE. But there are no monsters or different missions to do in the labyrinth, just aimless wondering. I would really have wanted to see some blast-ended skrewts! The cemetary scene is also a bit of a letdown. I had expected Lord Voldemort being a frightening figure emanating evil power but he was just Ralph Fiennes without a nose. Personally I found him more terrifying in Red Dragon... We see a bunch of death eaters, but only the face of Lucius Malfoy (which is always a plus). The death of Cedric is very touching but since it's very quick and meaningless, it leaves a sense of emptiness, just like in the book. It is very clear that there is no happy ending here, everything is about to change now. How - that we'll see in the next film.
Some miscellaneous notes:
- Draco the incredible bouncing ferret. OMG, poor Draco! But he's so cute with his messed up hair.
- Mad-Eye Moody. Ok, he's not what I expected, the eye thing is just kind of... cheap. It's nice they remind us of the three unforgiveable curses but the scene with the spider is really not that touching as in the book. The use of polyjuice potion and the real identity of Moody is done well.
- The love interest of Hagrid and Madame Maxime is left half unfinished.
- Rita Skeeter is a totally worthless addition. If they left out the whole animagus thing and endless bugging of Harry and Hermione, what's the value of the whole character? I would have rather seen Winky the house-elf...
- Did I already mention that the Weasley twins are just adorable?
- The wannabe teen love of Harry and Cho is just cute. :)
- Harry has been to gym! I really wanna see some these guys grown up and in films in the future!
- The Malfoy family is as luscious as ever. :)
The film began right in the middle of action: the empty Riddle house and the old gardener scene where we see the first of Voldie's gang. And then, back to a dreaming Harry, who wakes up hurting and sweaty and the whole Weasley family going to the Quidditch World Cup. I'm actually glad the quidditch scene was so short. We have seen enough flying already. The sports event was enjoyable as it was and we saw the first glimpse of Draco and Lucius too. :) Some very nice and funny scenes of family and friends teasing each other after the match (Fred and George are adorable!). The death eaters attack, enter horrid skull and Barty Crouch. And then, off we go to Hogwarts.
The whole film was concentrated around the Triwizard Tournament, no ordinary school at all. Which was good for the film I suppose. We have enough time to sit at school in part 6 as it is. The entrance of the competing schools of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang was very impressive. Although I was sooo disappointed at Fleur. Since the veela thing is never brought up in the quidditch match, she obviously isn't one. Which sort of cuts one important fact off the film. So she's just an ordinary blond girl, how boring.
One of the funniest events is the Yule Ball and preparing for it. Ron is just hilarious with his inherited dress robes and teen angst. Getting a date for the ball is not so easy... The ball itself is just beautiful and it's nice to see all people dressed up. The "well-mannered frivolity" ends up a usual teen feast when the rock band starts to play and teen girls sit on the stairs crying for their lousy evening. :D We also see the first steps of budding teen love between Ron and Hermione, frosted with heaps of angst and jealousy.
The Triwizard competitions themselves are quite boring... The dragon part has some overly long flying scenes and is really not very interesting or exciting. The diving part also has lost some of its original chilly atmosphere. Because we haven't been introduced to grindylows and other little buggers at DADA classes, their last attack on Harry in the lake comes kind of from nowhere. The labyrinth scene is also a big disappointment. It could have been very scary and exciting, since the labyrinth is HUGE. But there are no monsters or different missions to do in the labyrinth, just aimless wondering. I would really have wanted to see some blast-ended skrewts! The cemetary scene is also a bit of a letdown. I had expected Lord Voldemort being a frightening figure emanating evil power but he was just Ralph Fiennes without a nose. Personally I found him more terrifying in Red Dragon... We see a bunch of death eaters, but only the face of Lucius Malfoy (which is always a plus). The death of Cedric is very touching but since it's very quick and meaningless, it leaves a sense of emptiness, just like in the book. It is very clear that there is no happy ending here, everything is about to change now. How - that we'll see in the next film.
Some miscellaneous notes:
- Draco the incredible bouncing ferret. OMG, poor Draco! But he's so cute with his messed up hair.
- Mad-Eye Moody. Ok, he's not what I expected, the eye thing is just kind of... cheap. It's nice they remind us of the three unforgiveable curses but the scene with the spider is really not that touching as in the book. The use of polyjuice potion and the real identity of Moody is done well.
- The love interest of Hagrid and Madame Maxime is left half unfinished.
- Rita Skeeter is a totally worthless addition. If they left out the whole animagus thing and endless bugging of Harry and Hermione, what's the value of the whole character? I would have rather seen Winky the house-elf...
- Did I already mention that the Weasley twins are just adorable?
- The wannabe teen love of Harry and Cho is just cute. :)
- Harry has been to gym! I really wanna see some these guys grown up and in films in the future!
- The Malfoy family is as luscious as ever. :)