Goblet of Fire Review
I've seen Goblet of Fire twice now.
Overall impressions
I was good about avoiding spoilers, so the adaptation was a surprise to me. I was pretty wary, considering how disappointed I was by the previous three movies and how long and complex the GOF plot is... So I was heartened to see that they were able to streamline it into a coherent story and retain the most important elements.
I really struggle with which perspective to take while watching the HP movies: "Rabid Book Fan" or "Casual Observer"... Meaning, as I follow the movie's progression I'm constantly pausing to ask myself, "would a non-obsessive fan understand that line or this particular subplot without additional explanation?" Why do I do this? There's obviously no avoiding the fact that I *am* a rabid fan, so who cares about the rest of the world? (To put it harshly.)
After the first viewing: LOVED the movie. After watching the previous three movies I'd leave the theatre thinking, "Well, that was OK but the books are SO MUCH better." After this one I thought, "That was actually a GOOD movie!" Plus, I think part of my enjoyment was coming from the fact that it WAS slightly different than the book. It was kind of exciting to see new interpretations of scenes that were very much consistent with the spirit of the book. For example, when Ron and Harry fight and communicate via "I'm not an owl"!Hermione. It was kind of like getting to see a missing moment that JKR just hadn't included in the book. And the Yule Brawl was as it should be, but different enough to keep it interesting.
Second viewing: Less enthusiastic, but still happy about the movie in general. Little things started to annoy me a bit -- I hadn't noticed them much in the first viewing because I was using my brain power to follow the adaptation of the plot.
Random favorite moments:
1. The Weasley twins! I love them.
2. Hello, Canon!Ron, nice to see you in the movies! (Now please go get a hair cut.)
3. Neville! I'm so glad we got so much quality time with him, AND that we didn't have to see Dobby. That was an excellent decision to give Dobby's role as gillyweed supplier to Neville. (Although, were the filmmakers implying that Neville and Ginny have something going on? Maybe just that they're dance-a-holics.)
4. I cried when Lily and James come out of Voldemort's wand and help Harry understand how to evade Voldemort. And then I kept crying when Harry takes Cedric's body back to school. The enormity of a 14-year old kid having to deal with something like that just got to me.
5. The scene in "study hall" where they're all talking about dates and Snape keeps cuffing Ron and Harry. I liked getting to see them be normal teenagers, and Alan Rickman is hilarious.
6. Draco the Bouncing Ferret. Laughed my ass off.
7. Quidditch World Cup - I could just feel the excitement. I'm glad they didn't cut it. Everything associated with the World Cup was much grander in the book than it was in my imagination, and I liked that.
The biggest problems:
1. Michael Gambon's Dumbledore is... wrong. Dumbledore shouldn't be getting so excited (shaking Harry?! STOP!) and losing his cool. I'm really pissed off that Michael Gambon isn't reading the books -- he obviously needs to.
2. All of a sudden the Beauxbatons carriage and Durmstrang ship are arriving at Hogwarts. Even conceding that the plot needs to get trot along quickly, this seemed kind of abrupt.
Nastiest thing ever:
Madame Maxime EATING SOME NASTY PIECE OF FOOD from Hagrid's beard. WTF?
Omissions I'm sad about, but completely understand:
1. Charlie and Bill.
2. Mrs. Weasley. I needed to see her giving Harry a huge in the hospital wing. That's always where I lose in in the book and start crying.
2. Sirius eating rats.
Based on the fact that several of the publicity pictures were not actually in the movie, I think we have a lot of quality deleted scenes to look forward to on the DVD. Yay!
Overall impressions
I was good about avoiding spoilers, so the adaptation was a surprise to me. I was pretty wary, considering how disappointed I was by the previous three movies and how long and complex the GOF plot is... So I was heartened to see that they were able to streamline it into a coherent story and retain the most important elements.
I really struggle with which perspective to take while watching the HP movies: "Rabid Book Fan" or "Casual Observer"... Meaning, as I follow the movie's progression I'm constantly pausing to ask myself, "would a non-obsessive fan understand that line or this particular subplot without additional explanation?" Why do I do this? There's obviously no avoiding the fact that I *am* a rabid fan, so who cares about the rest of the world? (To put it harshly.)
After the first viewing: LOVED the movie. After watching the previous three movies I'd leave the theatre thinking, "Well, that was OK but the books are SO MUCH better." After this one I thought, "That was actually a GOOD movie!" Plus, I think part of my enjoyment was coming from the fact that it WAS slightly different than the book. It was kind of exciting to see new interpretations of scenes that were very much consistent with the spirit of the book. For example, when Ron and Harry fight and communicate via "I'm not an owl"!Hermione. It was kind of like getting to see a missing moment that JKR just hadn't included in the book. And the Yule Brawl was as it should be, but different enough to keep it interesting.
Second viewing: Less enthusiastic, but still happy about the movie in general. Little things started to annoy me a bit -- I hadn't noticed them much in the first viewing because I was using my brain power to follow the adaptation of the plot.
Random favorite moments:
1. The Weasley twins! I love them.
2. Hello, Canon!Ron, nice to see you in the movies! (Now please go get a hair cut.)
3. Neville! I'm so glad we got so much quality time with him, AND that we didn't have to see Dobby. That was an excellent decision to give Dobby's role as gillyweed supplier to Neville. (Although, were the filmmakers implying that Neville and Ginny have something going on? Maybe just that they're dance-a-holics.)
4. I cried when Lily and James come out of Voldemort's wand and help Harry understand how to evade Voldemort. And then I kept crying when Harry takes Cedric's body back to school. The enormity of a 14-year old kid having to deal with something like that just got to me.
5. The scene in "study hall" where they're all talking about dates and Snape keeps cuffing Ron and Harry. I liked getting to see them be normal teenagers, and Alan Rickman is hilarious.
6. Draco the Bouncing Ferret. Laughed my ass off.
7. Quidditch World Cup - I could just feel the excitement. I'm glad they didn't cut it. Everything associated with the World Cup was much grander in the book than it was in my imagination, and I liked that.
The biggest problems:
1. Michael Gambon's Dumbledore is... wrong. Dumbledore shouldn't be getting so excited (shaking Harry?! STOP!) and losing his cool. I'm really pissed off that Michael Gambon isn't reading the books -- he obviously needs to.
2. All of a sudden the Beauxbatons carriage and Durmstrang ship are arriving at Hogwarts. Even conceding that the plot needs to get trot along quickly, this seemed kind of abrupt.
Nastiest thing ever:
Madame Maxime EATING SOME NASTY PIECE OF FOOD from Hagrid's beard. WTF?
Omissions I'm sad about, but completely understand:
1. Charlie and Bill.
2. Mrs. Weasley. I needed to see her giving Harry a huge in the hospital wing. That's always where I lose in in the book and start crying.
2. Sirius eating rats.
Based on the fact that several of the publicity pictures were not actually in the movie, I think we have a lot of quality deleted scenes to look forward to on the DVD. Yay!