Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire The Fourth Installment of the Potter Franchise

Director Mike Newell got screwed! He was paid only 1 million dollars to direct Goblet’s of Fire, where Chris Columbus got ten times that, plus a percentage of the gross for directing Sorcerer’s Stone back in 2001, and Newell did a better job. 

The fourth installment of the Potter Franchise can almost stand alone as a movie, almost. You get a lot more out of it if you’ve been following along, and if you’ve read the books you see what is sorely missing, but if you’ve just woken from a five-year coma and walked into the theatre, you’d understand HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE just fine.

None of the actors, teen or otherwise, are going to have to practice their Oscar speeches, but who cares. It’s not that kind of movie. It’s escapism, plain and simple. Of course, I’m a curmudgeon so there was one part of the movie that I didn’t like. The Ball.

I can see what Newell was going for, but I have a feeling he gutted a major scene at the dance in the interest of keeping the running time under three hours, because there is a first and third act to The Ball, but no second act. At least we didn’t get to see one. Maybe they’re saving it for the DVD. I think the movie would have been better served if they had removed The Ball all together or saved it for the Double Extra Special Edition of the DVD.

Actually, there are two parts of the movie I didn’t like. Someone has got to get Emma Watson to acting school if they are going to bother making the next three chapters of this film. I don’t think they’re going to let her go topless any time soon, so she better start bringing some acting to the table. Other than that, Goblet of Fire is a darker, funnier Harry Potter, and that (as a doughy prison bitch once said) is a good thing.