12/16/2005
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire analyzed
First things first… What, no quidditch? Oh yeah, before I smash this latest silver screen installment to pieces, first a disclaimer. I might slip and mention events in book five and six. At least you’re forewarned. Another thing, this is the only time I experienced when a movie version of a book you’ve most probably already read would still have spoilers in it. It’s not because they changed a lot of details, it’s more because they intentionally left out some things that should have stayed intact after leaving the editing room.
Probably it’s the Communications major in me talking but it doesn’t help that you have three other Comm major to massacre the movie with. And we are not one of the happiest bunch who left the cinema. Two and a half hours of brainless hell is more like it. We had more fun with the misadventure of where Marthy would spend the remnants of his 12th month pay. But I’m getting ahead.
To return to Harry… What, no quidditch! That was my first reaction when Eric the Pottermaniac told me there wouldn’t be much of the Quidditch World Cup shown on film. Still, I gave him the benefit of the doubt because a devout Harry Potter fan like him enjoyed the movie.
As July, Marthy, Yael, and I go through the ordeal, I remarked while watching the trailers, "Why don’t we just the trailers instead? They seem more fun." I didn’t know I just foreshadowed the next two hours we would be spending in the theater.
Let me see. July pointed out they cut the wand inspection prior to the start of the Triwizard tournament, Marthy mentioned that they underplayed the role of Rita Skeeter and The Daily Prophet, all of us were expecting that bumbling moment between Hermione and Viktor Krum at the Yule Ball, and I still missed my Quidditch World Cup. I’ll point out their significance in the story later.
I tell you, they could make a totally new version of Goblet of Fire with the cut out parts. I tried to defend Couron (or however that director’s surname is spelt) by saying that since the book is too lengthy to be squeezed in into two hours, I charged it to director’s prerogative which stays which gets cut. Then Marthy retorted that it would have been an interesting angle to emphasize Rita Skeeter. Now that I think about it, being student journalist ourselves, we could relate how sensationalized news work and it would be pleasant to watch something familiar to us. Like for me, quidditch.
Besides, this would have been a good prelude on how the Ministry and The Prophet would screw Harry in The Order of the Phoenix.
As for the wand inspection, it would have been better to show the wand inspection so that you would understand why Voldemort’s and Harry’s wands “connected” during their skirmish in the climax. And Dumbledore didn’t provide that much explanation after Harry returned from the graveyard.
I know every Harry Potter fan is expecting the “Her-my-oh-knee, Her-my-ninny” exchange between Krum and Granger. Don’t tell me you weren’t disappointed when you didn’t see that. As for my Quidditch World Cup, I rest my case.
Yes, director’s prerogative all of them. The problem is, he doesn’t know what should have been left out, what should remain. Removing the Hermoine and Krum soiree seemed to imply that he doesn’t share the same sense of humour JK Rowling has.
It appeared that the director already assumed that the audience has already read the book and there’s no point in going to the finer details. Wrong-o! What he cut out were exactly the parts the readers were expecting.
Just now, I know someone who would be watching the movie for the second time because she didn’t understand some parts. And she didn’t read the book. The point is avid readers missed the itsy-bitsy, what more the non-readers? Then again, the counterpoint here is that what they don’t know wouldn’t kill them. Ignorance is bliss in this case.
Unless if you’re trying to do an X-Men where the comics and the movie have their own storylines but eventually marrying them into one later in the series, that’s forgivable. But in this case, everybody’s following the same plot. Everybody knows this would end in the seventh part.
I believe that Rowling wouldn’t do a Book 8 to keep the sanctity of the story intact. Doing so would constitute of selling out.
If initially the criticism was that Daniel Radcliffe couldn’t act, he actually improved in some way. But it wouldn’t be until the Order where we would witness a more emotional Harry Potter.
The problem now is that the whole movie was flat and plain. I wasn’t moved except for the funny episodes of Fred and George. It’s as if they just wanted to get it done with so that they could move on to the fifth installment. One step forward, two steps backward.
And the most anticipated part, the final challenge in the Triwizard Cup and the meeting of Voldemort and Harry in the graveyard came out as if they were just going through the motions.
Wormtail slices hand, cuts Harry, drops Harry’s blood in the cauldron, puts in a fetus-like Voldemort in the mix. Then a mix of a partly-formed Imhotep in The Mummy Returns and the alien in Independence Day of a figure emerged. The Dark Lord and The Chosen One squares each other up, their wands connect, Harry’s parents appear, tells Harry what to do, then escapes with the body of Cedric Diggory in the portkey of a trophy. Voldemort now screams that classic Star Wars-inspired “NOOOOO!!!”
I felt more drama reading it than watching it.
The ending. Remember how it ended in The Prisoner? Harry swishing his wand to roll the credits in. It sucked, right? At least, this one had a better closure. However, there shouldn’t be a closure! People should expect that there would have been a Part 5, with or without the book.
Finally, there’s Dumbledore. Albus in the book doesn’t act this way. He doesn’t stagger, he floats. He doesn’t shout, he merely puts up his hand to show authority. He is gentle, not fierce. Actor’s prerogative not anymore.
I think I have already buried the movie into the depths of Azkaban, might as well tell the good points as saving grace.
Since Emma Watson already bloomed in The Prisoner, her coming of age in the ball was expected but not stunning. But it would have cemented further if they showed that "Her-my-oh-knee" scene with Krum.
Speaking of Krum, Viktor looked like a goon, yes, but I guess they have to choose the most attractive goon-looking teenager in Bulgaria during casting.
The Fleur Delacour in the poster wasn’t as eye-dropping but she proved me wrong in the movie. I might now start having fantasies of her.
Fred and George were in their element, although their screen time didn’t equate the exposure they got in the book. And oh yeah, they didn’t show Harry giving his prize money to fund Fred and George’s joke shop! The role of that shop would be big in Book 6.
Thumbs up for Cho Chang. This is one time where they did the casting right. The last time they did well was with Sirius Black. Cho wasn’t supposed to look eye candy. And it’s a good thing they chose her over Heart *vomit* Evangelista.
Going back to love angles, they didn’t put much colour between Ron and Hermoine, which the tension they were feeling in The Half-Blood Prince was supposedly ignited in Book 4.
I liked what they did with Moody, or Barty Crouch Jr. The eye does move! But doing those zooming effects to emphasize focus bordered on the unnecessary. That was one thing they could have left out instead.
Overachievers were Myrtle and Neville Longbottom. It’s good they are starting to invest airtime for Neville because he has a big role in the next series. Oh yeah, they didn’t also mention why Longbottom was cringing while the Benitezed (aka faked) Moody was performing the Crustaceous curse at the insect. He watched his parents being tortured by Voldemort using that curse, just so you know.
The standards set by the book was this high, however, the movie was this low.
Final verdict: Goblet of Fire is good, but it could have been better. Grade: 2.0/4.0
Probably it’s the Communications major in me talking but it doesn’t help that you have three other Comm major to massacre the movie with. And we are not one of the happiest bunch who left the cinema. Two and a half hours of brainless hell is more like it. We had more fun with the misadventure of where Marthy would spend the remnants of his 12th month pay. But I’m getting ahead.
To return to Harry… What, no quidditch! That was my first reaction when Eric the Pottermaniac told me there wouldn’t be much of the Quidditch World Cup shown on film. Still, I gave him the benefit of the doubt because a devout Harry Potter fan like him enjoyed the movie.
As July, Marthy, Yael, and I go through the ordeal, I remarked while watching the trailers, "Why don’t we just the trailers instead? They seem more fun." I didn’t know I just foreshadowed the next two hours we would be spending in the theater.
Let me see. July pointed out they cut the wand inspection prior to the start of the Triwizard tournament, Marthy mentioned that they underplayed the role of Rita Skeeter and The Daily Prophet, all of us were expecting that bumbling moment between Hermione and Viktor Krum at the Yule Ball, and I still missed my Quidditch World Cup. I’ll point out their significance in the story later.
I tell you, they could make a totally new version of Goblet of Fire with the cut out parts. I tried to defend Couron (or however that director’s surname is spelt) by saying that since the book is too lengthy to be squeezed in into two hours, I charged it to director’s prerogative which stays which gets cut. Then Marthy retorted that it would have been an interesting angle to emphasize Rita Skeeter. Now that I think about it, being student journalist ourselves, we could relate how sensationalized news work and it would be pleasant to watch something familiar to us. Like for me, quidditch.
Besides, this would have been a good prelude on how the Ministry and The Prophet would screw Harry in The Order of the Phoenix.
As for the wand inspection, it would have been better to show the wand inspection so that you would understand why Voldemort’s and Harry’s wands “connected” during their skirmish in the climax. And Dumbledore didn’t provide that much explanation after Harry returned from the graveyard.
I know every Harry Potter fan is expecting the “Her-my-oh-knee, Her-my-ninny” exchange between Krum and Granger. Don’t tell me you weren’t disappointed when you didn’t see that. As for my Quidditch World Cup, I rest my case.
Yes, director’s prerogative all of them. The problem is, he doesn’t know what should have been left out, what should remain. Removing the Hermoine and Krum soiree seemed to imply that he doesn’t share the same sense of humour JK Rowling has.
It appeared that the director already assumed that the audience has already read the book and there’s no point in going to the finer details. Wrong-o! What he cut out were exactly the parts the readers were expecting.
Just now, I know someone who would be watching the movie for the second time because she didn’t understand some parts. And she didn’t read the book. The point is avid readers missed the itsy-bitsy, what more the non-readers? Then again, the counterpoint here is that what they don’t know wouldn’t kill them. Ignorance is bliss in this case.
Unless if you’re trying to do an X-Men where the comics and the movie have their own storylines but eventually marrying them into one later in the series, that’s forgivable. But in this case, everybody’s following the same plot. Everybody knows this would end in the seventh part.
I believe that Rowling wouldn’t do a Book 8 to keep the sanctity of the story intact. Doing so would constitute of selling out.
If initially the criticism was that Daniel Radcliffe couldn’t act, he actually improved in some way. But it wouldn’t be until the Order where we would witness a more emotional Harry Potter.
The problem now is that the whole movie was flat and plain. I wasn’t moved except for the funny episodes of Fred and George. It’s as if they just wanted to get it done with so that they could move on to the fifth installment. One step forward, two steps backward.
And the most anticipated part, the final challenge in the Triwizard Cup and the meeting of Voldemort and Harry in the graveyard came out as if they were just going through the motions.
Wormtail slices hand, cuts Harry, drops Harry’s blood in the cauldron, puts in a fetus-like Voldemort in the mix. Then a mix of a partly-formed Imhotep in The Mummy Returns and the alien in Independence Day of a figure emerged. The Dark Lord and The Chosen One squares each other up, their wands connect, Harry’s parents appear, tells Harry what to do, then escapes with the body of Cedric Diggory in the portkey of a trophy. Voldemort now screams that classic Star Wars-inspired “NOOOOO!!!”
I felt more drama reading it than watching it.
The ending. Remember how it ended in The Prisoner? Harry swishing his wand to roll the credits in. It sucked, right? At least, this one had a better closure. However, there shouldn’t be a closure! People should expect that there would have been a Part 5, with or without the book.
Finally, there’s Dumbledore. Albus in the book doesn’t act this way. He doesn’t stagger, he floats. He doesn’t shout, he merely puts up his hand to show authority. He is gentle, not fierce. Actor’s prerogative not anymore.
I think I have already buried the movie into the depths of Azkaban, might as well tell the good points as saving grace.
Since Emma Watson already bloomed in The Prisoner, her coming of age in the ball was expected but not stunning. But it would have cemented further if they showed that "Her-my-oh-knee" scene with Krum.
Speaking of Krum, Viktor looked like a goon, yes, but I guess they have to choose the most attractive goon-looking teenager in Bulgaria during casting.
The Fleur Delacour in the poster wasn’t as eye-dropping but she proved me wrong in the movie. I might now start having fantasies of her.
Fred and George were in their element, although their screen time didn’t equate the exposure they got in the book. And oh yeah, they didn’t show Harry giving his prize money to fund Fred and George’s joke shop! The role of that shop would be big in Book 6.
Thumbs up for Cho Chang. This is one time where they did the casting right. The last time they did well was with Sirius Black. Cho wasn’t supposed to look eye candy. And it’s a good thing they chose her over Heart *vomit* Evangelista.
Going back to love angles, they didn’t put much colour between Ron and Hermoine, which the tension they were feeling in The Half-Blood Prince was supposedly ignited in Book 4.
I liked what they did with Moody, or Barty Crouch Jr. The eye does move! But doing those zooming effects to emphasize focus bordered on the unnecessary. That was one thing they could have left out instead.
Overachievers were Myrtle and Neville Longbottom. It’s good they are starting to invest airtime for Neville because he has a big role in the next series. Oh yeah, they didn’t also mention why Longbottom was cringing while the Benitezed (aka faked) Moody was performing the Crustaceous curse at the insect. He watched his parents being tortured by Voldemort using that curse, just so you know.
The standards set by the book was this high, however, the movie was this low.
Final verdict: Goblet of Fire is good, but it could have been better. Grade: 2.0/4.0
// posted by Unknown @ 17:18 
