(Untitled)

[moonspinner]

I finally watched Goblet of Fire. *ducks tomatoes* Yes, I know. It’s only been over a year. :P But I didn’t get the chance to see it in theatre, I didn’t feel like renting it on DVD and it’s only just yesterday that it finally aired on Cable.

So what did I think?

I’m too lazy to write a properly coherent review so I’ll just list points at random.

Comments

[queenmidalah]

Durmstrang was an all-boys school and Beauxbatoms was an all-veela school. Apparently, they’re no witches in Russia and no wizards in France.

I'm guessing they have other schools too? Cause it was like that in the book too. It appears that Hogwarts is the only co-ed school.

I thought Parvati and Patil were identical? Yes they are, but what bugged ME more about that is the fact that they put the Patil twins BOTH in Gryffindor! Parvati was the Gryffindor and Padma was in Ravenclaw and they changed that. Grr

[moonspinner]

Oh good, someone wasn't totally 'so last year!' at my review. :P *waves*

I'm guessing they have other schools too? Cause it was like that in the book too. It appears that Hogwarts is the only co-ed school.

No, it was not. In the book, all three schools were co-ed and Fleur Delacour was the only quarter-veela in either of them. (Come to think of it, did the movie even mention that she was quarter-Veela?)

Yes they are, but what bugged ME more about that is the fact that they put the Patil twins BOTH in Gryffindor! Parvati was the Gryffindor and Padma was in Ravenclaw and they changed that. Grr.

I thought so! But I wasn't sure. I knew they were twins... The Ravenclaw thing didn't bug me too much though.

The color of Hermione's dress only because Emma's favorite color is pink. The dress was supposed to be blue.
I had completely forgotten that! Ah well, the point was that she looked exceptionally pretty and I think Emma pulled that off. The problem is that Emma!Hermione has been looking consistently gorgeous, if in an

[queenmidalah]

No, it was not. In the book, all three schools were co-ed and Fleur Delacour was the only quarter-veela in either of them. (Come to think of it, did the movie even mention that she was quarter-Veela?)

I'm going to have to go back and re-read the book then, cause I don't remember their being any females from Durmstrang mentioned. Or any guys from Beauxbaton. And you're right, they didn't bring up that Fleur was a quarter-veela. They didn't even do anything with veelas to explain them at the World Cup to explain what the heck they were.

Yeah that's the thing about what they did with Emma is that she IS a beautiful young woman and they didn't "ugly" her up at all and didn't have her have buck teeth. Which leads to draco:

Well apart from inventing 'Potter Stinks' badges, he doesn't so that much in GoF does he? I think the ferret scene and the occasional jeering shots at the Tasks managed to establish that he was still a git, with a Death Eater father to boot?In the movie the ferret scene was caused by Draco just being a jerk to Harry

[moonspinner]

You have every reason to be worried about Draco. After all they have Hermione some of Ron's lines while he was Right There! Still it night be hard for them to find another Eevel Student to almost kill D in 6.

I'd even forgotten about Hermione's teeth! LOL! The funny thing is that I remember watching Emma W in Movie 1 and Knowing they'll have a problem with her Duckling to Swan subplot in Book 3.

[charmisjess]

I think I saw it originally once in theaters ages ago, but I only watched it again within the year. I think you're spot-on with your comments, I would only add

[moonspinner]

Did you notice Sirius was downplayed too, as well as Draco?

Yeah, I noticed how Sirius was downplayed. And the fireplace scene was weird and wrong. The head is supposed to be in a fire-place not a fire-grate! I’m not sure I can hold that against the movie people since Rowling essentially did the same thing in Books 4 & 5 and abruptly killed him off at the end of it all. :P She also downplayed Lupin who went from being Harry’s first grown-up friend (not counting Hagrid who arguably has a lot of growing up to do) to Tonks’ love interest.

And you said you liked how Dumbledore was portrayed? *headtilt* I dunno--I *really* liked what they did with Snape--but I thought Dumbledore was too hasty, almost violent in some scenes. (Particularly when he's shaking Harry around after the Goblet spits out his name) I always picture Dumbledore very serene and in control. But I may be looking at only one angle of the character.Yes, Dumbledore was rather a Dark! Dumbledore, wasn’t he? The only time I remember us ever really seeing the red

[knight_ander]

You can find my opinion of the movie here. I almost sound like I know what I'm talking about. :p

[moonspinner]

I just read it, very good synopsis. :)

[foodsthatcan]

Michael Gambon has really grown on me as Dumbledore. It's a different character from the book, and from Richard Harris's portrayal, but Gambon brings an element of authority to the character that Harris never did. I like this fiercer Dumbledore; he's more believable as "the only wizard You-Know-Who feared." Harris always seemed too feeble

[moonspinner]

Exactly. He's not the Dumbledore of the books, yes, but in the movies, he works. I don't really ascribe to faithful copy-pasting of book to film. For one, it's not possible. For another, they are two different mediums and the result of a too faithful transference is not appealing at all. (re: Movies 1 & 2).

I haven't read the book in ages, so I didn't feel that the movie left out anything crucial.

The parts about Azkaban missing a prisoner was actually crucial. This was even more important as the movie set up Crouch Juniour as in league with Voldemort from the beginning. (In the book there's some doubt as to whether he was ever guilty, as well as the fact that he was supposed to have died in prison).

it would be better for the movie to concentrate on the major plot than the Hogwarts, 90210 stuff.

LOL! I agree entirely. As for the insistence of H/Hr (even the OotP trailer seems to point in this direction for the 5th movie), perhaps the movie producers are Delusional? *g*

[bobill]

Hmm, it's been a while since I watched the movie/read the book but maybe I can give a decent reply...

Nice follow up from PoA in capturing the ‘feel’ of boarding school/teen spirit - the cheering when people put their names in the Cup, the Dancing classes, Hermione and Ginny perking up when Cedric turned up in the beginning…

Hehe, I may disagree there. I think they're getting a bit beyond the swooning age to still be making a big fuss over cute guys randomly walking by. But then again that's a pet peeve I have about most movies... Going through middle and high school, I never really found the kind of kids that swooned as much as the characters on TV.

Neville shone in his scenes, and almost stole the show in a lot of them.

Yeah, that pwned. :)

The screenplay was like a series of disconnected snapshots. One moment the Irish and Bulgarian teams are doing their opening parades. Wham! The next moment, they’re celebrating Ireland’s win. Wham! The next moment, they’re running away from Death Eaters. Wham! The next moment, they’re in

[moonspinner]

Actually what I liked about the girls/Cedric scene was that there was no swooning. They just sort of raised their eyebrows at each other and smiled. Sort of like each female making sure the other was aware of the new arrival of male perfection. :)

What I meant about the schools comment was that they were Not singlesex schools in the book: hence my grievance. And Fleur was the only veela in the story. (Apart from her sister, too.) I don't know why the filmmakers made the change but it was stupid, imo!

I don't think character/plot diminished in *this* book - which I considered the last of the Golden HP age, before the dark times, before JKR discovered the Internet. Most of the plot goofs were things the filmmakers changed. Barty Jnr was not in the 1st scene and was supposed to be both dead and innocent.