Review of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) by William F — 18 Nov 2016

After the massive critical success of "Prisoner of Azkaban" but its underwhelming box office numbers and Cuarón leaving the directing chair, the fourth book of the franchise was the perfect one for this time as its actiony story was what Warner needed to get more money.

Returning for his fourth year of learning magic, Harry finds himself in the middle of a magical tradition due to some mysterious circumstances, this tradition being the Triwizard Cup, a competition between magical institutions.

You know, reviewing 8 films from the same franchise is tiresome as each film goes by it is harder to mention something new, but still the fourth Potter adventure has some new elements that need to by mentioned, for better or worse. "Goblet of Fire" has some exciting action sequences that are among the best of the series, some set pieces are quite interesting visually, it finally introduces the main villain of the saga (which is quite crazy when you considered that the main threat arrives at part 4 of your 8 part saga, sure he is mentioned in all of them and has a cameo in "Philosopher's Stone" and a somewhat appearance in "Chamber of Secrets"), the special effects continue to impress, Newell proves to be a versatile director as combines genres in a variety scenes pretty seamlessly, and it is possibly the most fun film to watch out of the 8, due to its action oriented story. But this film has bigger problems than his three predecessors. The characters are quite forgettable (only Mad Eye Moddy stands out but only due to its costume), the pacing issue returns which is not surprising for a rushed film, it attempts to replicate Cuarón's balance of whimsical and dark but it just fails in the whimsical side, the plot holes are magnified, and the story is the most meaningless for the rest of the saga, I mean the whole story isn't necessary and will never be mentioned again as the point of this film is its ending, but the road to get there feels disconnected.

"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" is the most action oriented film of the saga and the turning point from whimsical to dark territory for the rest of the franchise. It may not be the most well written film of the saga nor the smartest or even the most memorable, but it is undeniably the most exciting of the bunch and arguably the most rewatchable. A highly entertaining blockbuster that solidly ends the first half of the saga.