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Goblet of Fire Media Reviews
What in the world is going on at Hogwarts? Harry's naked in the bath with Moaning Myrtle, a student is slain, Hagrid is trysting with a fellow giant ... And, oh my, is that cleavage on Hermione?
This can't be your older brother's Harry Potter. Can it?
Well, yes and no. No doubt the adventures of Harry, Ron and Hermione are still thrilling, but they're beginning to lose their innocence. Not always for the better.
As Harry's hormones stir (he just turned 14) and his pending showdown with evil Lord Voldemort grows more inevitable, the ‘‘Potter'' series is beginning to feel less epic and more like a derivative superhero pic: ‘‘Potter Begins'' or ‘‘Wizard-Man,'' if you will.
Still, ‘‘The Goblet of Fire,'' the fourth installment in the series, is pretty darn entertaining thanks largely to the wizardly special effects and a cast of classically trained British thespians who perfectly compliment an equal number of fine pimply faced youngsters learning the ropes.
With the exception of Ralph Fiennes's debut as the lizardly warlock Voldemort, all of their characters are in a witch's brew of trouble, be it from the opposite sex or the reemergence of the evil force that left Harry an orphan.
That would be Voldemort, who finally steps from the shadows and into the harsh graveyard moonlight courtesy of Fiennes' wickedly wicked portrayal of the dark prince.
Fiennes hasn't been this creepy since he scored an Oscar nomination for playing a sadistic Nazi in ‘‘Schindler's List.'' It suits him, too, in what proves to be yet another inspired casting choice by producer David Heyman.
Equally welcome additions are an irascible Brendan Gleeson as wonky-eyed Professor Moody and a unctuous Miranda Richardson as gossip-mongering journalist Rita Skeeter. Both are flat out hilarious, as are returning favorites Alan Rickman as Professor Snape, Maggie Smith as Professor McGonagall and Robbie Coltrane as the gentle giant Hagrid.
All make the most of their too-few scenes, as their characters shape budding prodigies Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson), as they enter puberty and discover something more powerful than magic: Sex.
I know, it's hard to think of Harry Potter as a sexual being, but it provides director Mike Newell (taking over for ‘‘Prisoner of Azkaban's'' Alfonso Cuarón) ample comedic opportunity to prove that even young wizards are powerless under the spell of amore.
The script by Steve Kloves, charged with the impossible task of boiling J.K. Rowling's 734-page novel down to a 157-minute movie, stops short of providing Harry with a female companion. It does, however, have him longing for the attention of Cho Chang (Katie Leung), an Asian beauty with a Scottish burr. She fills his mind. Well, at least she does whenever Harry isn't being consumed by nightmares and foreboding visions of the serpentine Voldemort.
Meanwhile, Ron and Hermione are having their own hormonal problems, as they try to mask their attraction for each other by trading putdowns and insults, like a junior Nick and Nora Charles. These two have chemistry, lots of it; due no doubt to the emerging acting talents of Grint and Watson, who get better with each picture
Ditto for Radcliffe, who has moments of such brilliance it's easy to think of him as the second coming of Elijah Wood, which is only fair because Harry is basically the second coming of Frodo Baggins. But ‘‘Goblet'' is hardly in the same league as ‘‘The Lord of the Rings.''
Nor is it on a par with ‘‘Azkaban,'' the best of the ‘‘Potter'' pics. It's just too episodic and unfocused for that. It's as if Kloves (who also authored ‘‘Goblet's'' three predecessors) went through Rowling's immense book (Warner Bros. unwisely nixed a plan to make the film longer and break it into two parts, a la ‘‘Kill Bill''), picked out all the high points and simply strung them together.
Don't get me wrong, some of those episodes are truly inspiring, like Harry's thrilling aerial fight to the death with a fire-breathing dragon, or his frantic rush to pull Ron and Hermione from the bottom of a murky loch, both tasks that test Harry's mettle in his quest to win the Triwizard Cup competition that highlights his fourth year at Hogwarts.
Then there's the Yule Ball, the film's pièce de résistance which acts as sort of unofficial rite of passage for both Harry and the film series. It is here where things begin to gravitate toward the dark side, as dining hall high jinks and lustful ogling of the visiting French girls from Beauxbatons Academy give way to blood, death and Voldemort.
Given the episodic structure, Newell (‘‘Donnie Brasco,'' ‘‘Four Weddings and a Funeral'') cobbles all the juicy parts into enough of a whole to leave you sufficiently entertained, yet you're completely unmoved by the experience. It's more awe than wow.
Still, compared to the other two big kid flicks out there - ‘‘Chicken Little'' and ‘‘Zathura'' - the latest ‘‘Potter'' is superior in every way. But given the franchise's track record, you can't help but feel this ‘‘Goblet'' is only three-quarters full.
 
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