Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: The Most Human Harry Potter Film Yet

It can be difficult viewing a film version of a beloved book, especially a book you know well. And if it's a challenge to view such a film, I can only hazard a guess at the complexity of bringing such a film to the screen, especially when you know said book (and characters) are beloved by a multitude of fans.

So I went into Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire with some trepidation, the literary purist in me prepared to find fault with all the alterations and deletions that I knew would have to take place to transfigure a 700+ page book into a well-visualized and well-told two and a half hour movie. I'm not sure even Minerva McGonagall could pull that one off!

But somehow, for the most part, director Mike Newell did. I left the theater pleasantly surprised by how much I had enjoyed this fourth excursion into the film world of Harry Potter, and amazed to discover that I was more intrigued than perturbed by the creative choices made regarding how to tell the story. In part, this may be because Goblet of Fire, as a book, has one of the more convoluted and ambitious plots of all six of the books in J.K. Rowling's series thus far. The book advanced the series by great leaps, introduced a number of new characters, and led up to the most frightening Harry Potter finale yet. Because of all that, and because of the inherent structure that the Tri-Wizard tournament gave the story, I always thought this had the potential to be a very good film.

And I do think it lived up to that potential. More on "why" in a moment...

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For those of you who have not followed the Harry Potter stories closely (either in book or film) allow me to give a brief plot synopsis. Some spoilers ahead for those who have not read the book or seen the movie yet, but I'll stay relatively vague on important plot points.

Goblet of Fire begins with Harry Potter, boy wizard, returning for his fourth year at Hogwarts School. Harry and friends are now fourteen, and beginning to face many of the things that fourteen year olds typically face, including attractions to the opposite sex and feelings of inadequacy around their peers.

More important to our story, however, is the fact that Harry continues to be in danger from the self-styled Lord Voldemort, one of the most evil wizards of all time. In his continued attempt to return to a body and to the power he once held over the wizarding community, Voldemort has hatched his most sinister plot yet. With the help of his loyal Death Eater Wormtail (returned to his master's side in the previous installment) Voldemort plans to use someone on the "inside" at Hogwarts to get to Harry, and then use Harry's blood for his own ends before killing the young boy once and for all (the fact that the fourteen year old has now bested the dark wizard three times continues to rankle in Voldemort's twisted and demented soul).

We don't know all of this from the beginning of the film, but we do know that Voldemort is after Harry, and that he has the help not only of Wormtail, but of another wizard who shows up later casting the dark mark at the Quidditch World Cup.

And we guess, fairly soon, that Voldemort has inside help at Hogwarts, because Harry's name is mysteriously entered into the Goblet of Fire as a potential contestant in the magical Tri-Wizard tournament, a series of contests taking place over the course of the school year between Hogwarts and two other wizarding schools, the French school Beauxbatons, and the Bulgarian school Durmstrang. It's a prestigious and dangerous tournament, and no one under seventeen is supposed to be allowed to enter, but somehow Harry's name is put in and he's forced to compete (under magcial contract) with three students much older and more experienced than he is: the suave and confident Cedric Diggory (a seventh year Hogwarts student), the beautiful and bewitching Fleur Delacour, and the scowling, muscular Viktor Krum, international quidditch star for Bulgaria.

Harry is frankly terrified about having to compete, and can't understand why anyone would have entered him. Although we're pretty sure whoever did so does not have his best interests at heart, it's difficult to guess who the culprit might be. Because of the tournament, there's no end of new people hanging around Hogwarts, some of them potential suspects, some of them just making Harry's life more complicated. We meet Barty Crouch, the stodgy Ministry of Magic representative administering the tournament; Karkaroff, the somewhat maniacal looking headmaster of Durmstrang; Rita Skeeter, veteran tabloid reporter; and Mad-Eye Moody, the grizzled one-eyed ex-auror (dark wizard catcher) who is the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

We think that the story is about how Harry gets through the three exciting and dangerous events: a confrontation with a Hungarian Horntail dragon, an hour underwater to rescue a 'treasure,' and the navigation of a frightening magical maze. And it is, partly. But when those events are successfully managed, the story is really only beginning. Because then, and only then, does Harry discover that his entry into and ultimate success in the tournament assured him a one-way magical portkey to a graveyard confrontation with his mortal enemy, Voldemort. The three tasks of the tournament called on his fortitude, nerve, and generous spirit, but that's nothing compared to the grit he shows in the terrifying encounter with the darkest of dark wizards who does indeed make a horrifying comeback here...though once again, Harry (with the help and encouragement of others) is able to escape death at Voldemort's hand.

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So as a film adaptation of a complicated book (far more complicated than the bare bones sketched here) what did this movie do really well?

Plenty.

For starters, it really did streamline the plot. Harry's muggle relatives the Dursleys were nowhere to be found; the sub-plots involving the house-elves were dropped entirely, as was the character of Ludo Bagman, any involvement with Percy Weasley, and much of the journalistic persecution of Harry by Rita Skeeter. In addition, the whole tangled plot regarding Barty Crouch (Sr. and Jr.) and Mad-Eyed Moody (played wonderfully by Brendan Gleeson) was simplified, with more information given us "upfront" than in the book.

I actually missed the Dursleys -- I would have loved to have seen the Weasley men burst in through the Dursley's blocked up fireplace, as they do in the book. However, it made good sense to cut all the action at Privet Drive this time out, given time constraints and the enormity of the story. And I would have enjoyed seeing more of Rita Skeeter, played with silky audacity by the brilliant Miranda Richardson, but again, thought the decision to limit that plotline was smart.

Because of necessary plot edits, Harry's good friend Hermione, played by the lovely and talented Emma Watson, had less "centrality" to the story. I especially missed her determined tutoring of Harry for the first Tri-Wizard task. But I rejoiced in the fact that she felt much more like the bookish and slightly anxious Hermione we've grown to know and love in Rowling's stories than did the Hermione of the third film, Prisoner of Azkaban, directed by Alfonso Cuaron. In that film, Rupert Grint, who plays Harry's other best friend, Ron Weasley, seemed limited to comic relief, and Hermione came off like "Kim Possible." I was happy to see both Ron and Hermione much more in character here.

That may have something to do with the fact that this movie once again felt like a "school story." Whereas the third film tried to distance itself from more of the formulaic markers of the school year, including uniforms, Goblet of Fire feels like school is back in session. Mike Newell is the first British director for these films, so maybe he just "gets" the British school sensibility.

He also gets human relationships. What floored me about this film were the delightful human touches added to the story -- I was surprised the filmmakers had time to add anything at all, and I was pleased that what was added greatly enhanced the depth of the characters, often giving us humorous or sentimental moments that helped build the overall emotional impact of the story. Neville Longbottom in tears before the rainy stained glass window as he relived the nightmare of the unforgiveable curses demonstrated in the classroom comes to mind. And then there was Neville practicing his dance moves in front of the dormitory mirror before the Yule Ball, and Professor McGonagall commandeering the students (especially a squirming Ron) into dance lessons. I was also moved by the joy on Harry's face when he first walked into the magically expanded tent at the Quidditch World Cup, and said "I love magic!" -- Daniel Radcliffe played the scene with such a genuine wonder that he almost looked like the loveable eleven year old of Sorcerer's Stone again.

Radcliffe is turning into a very fine actor, and it's a good thing because much was demanded of him in this film --he had to be an action hero, a bumbling (and not very successful) young Romeo, a comedian (especially in the bathtub), and in the end, a frightened victim who needs to muster the courage to fight back against horrendous evil.

It was the climactic graveyard scene that probably disappointed me the most, but even so, I realized that's because I find the entire scene in the book so appallingly frightening that any other visual than the one I've been running in my own head since I first read the novel is bound to come up short. Ralph Fiennes did an excellent job bringing Voldemort to life (quite literally) and I can imagine younger children being truly frightened of his character and the whole somewhat Frankensteinish quality of the rebirthng scene. I was pretty mesmerized myself. The scene, however, felt rushed. We needed more dialogue between Voldemort and Harry, and between Voldemort and his Death Eaters, and I'm not sure why we didn't get it.

I was especially frustrated with the truncated version of the "priori incantatem" scene (when Voldemort and Harry's wands connect and the shades of Voldemort's former victims, including Harry's parents, come out of Voldemort's wand). This is one of my favorite scenes in Goblet of Fire and I have a hard time forgiving screenwriter Steve Kloves for cutting the one line in the book that has always unashamedly made me cry: "Hold on...your father's coming..." said by Harry's mum to the struggling Harry, who is indeed holding on for dear life at that point. Not only did that line go missing, but the whole scene felt rushed, and in the end, Dumbledore didn't explain what had actually happened when their wands made that fateful connection, which I think must have led to some major plot confusion for anyone who had never read the books.

Ah, Dumbledore. This leads me to my last and most major criticism of the film as a whole, and that's Michael Gambon's performance as Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. I don't want to whine about how much better the late Richard Harris was in the role (though he was) but I do have to admit that I found myself practically flinching at Gambon's interpretation of this important character. I'm sure he's a fine actor, but he clearly doesn't understand Dumbledore's personality. The headmaster is firm, yes, and authoritative, but also lighthearted, a bit eccentric, and ultimately loving. Gambon plays Dumbledore almost constantly stressed or angry. He's got the gravity part, but not the levity. (As my sister says, "Dumbledore should have a "twinkle!") This isn't just the pet peeve of someone who loves Dumbledore's character, but a real frustration over the fact that the character lacks such depth at such a crucial time in the story. Darkness is descending on Harry, chasing him down, trying to destroy him. Harry (and we) need to know that those on the side of light are stronger than evil, and that what makes them stronger is love, joy, peaceful contentment, qualities of mercy -- all qualities Dumbledore has in abundance in the books, but not in the films.

The end of the film fizzled a bit -- I'm not sure they knew how to end it. Again, it was bound to be hard. The emotional high point comes in the graveyard scene, and the film did a fine job of capturing Harry's despair and shock, and then the whole school's shock, when he slammed down on the ground outside the maze, clutching Cedric. They made quick work of wrapping up the Crouch/Moody plot, but chose not to attempt a full scale confrontation between Dumbledore and the Minister of Magic. This confrontation, in the novel, sets up a whole chain of events that leaves the reader hanging with the wizarding world on the brink of war. The movie gave us some touching moments with Harry, Ron and Hermione and some pretty visuals instead, ending on a bittersweet but still lighter tone.

All in all, despite the somewhat weak ending and Gambon's performance, I still give this film five stars. Thanks, I think, to Mike Newell's direction, it's dark and real and funny and emotional. He managed an almost impossible task in transforming a huge, complex book into a very watchable film, and he gave us our most loveable and human Harry Potter film yet.

~© 2005, befus~