Harry Potter fans are a unique breed. We don’t just appreciate books; we live and breathe them. We’re not just familiar with stories, we’re obsessed with them, spinning theories and examining every word, every detail, with manic intensity. Therefore, the brave soul who takes the helm of a Harry Potter movie should resign himself to the fact that his artistic endeavor will be thwarted to death. No matter what the film’s strengths are on its own merits, fans will regret the exclusion of their favorite scene, plot, or character. Screenwriter Steve Kloves has been working under this kind of pressure since the beginning of the series, and fans often only allow their freedoms because he assures us that he has consulted with author JK Rowling every step of the way.

Now that that is out of the way, I want to reiterate that I am not one of those people who thinks it is necessary to have all the details of the book in the movies. It cannot be done, on the one hand, and it is not necessary, on the other. The Goblet of Fire story is very well written, clean and clear from start to finish. Kloves and director Mike Newell keep the focus where it belongs, on Harry and Voldemort, with the story hanging from the fabric of the dangerous tasks of the Triwizard Tournament.

Harry Potter movies have always benefited from excellent acting. The strong cast of veteran actors supporting the young newcomers has been a formula that started the movies on a strong note. If the Trio (Dan Radcliffe as Harry, Emma Watson as Hermione, and Rupert Grint as Ron) were clearly new to their craft in the first two films, they were growing just as clearly in the third film, Prisoner of Azkaban. We started to get an idea of ​​how well these young actors could act.

In Goblet of Fire, they finally become full-fledged lead actors, drawing out the potential we always suspected was there. Watson and Grint are excellent and deliver deeper, more nuanced performances than we’ve seen so far. We are fortunate that the Goblet of Fire material is more emotionally intense and sophisticated, and it’s a pleasure to see Watson, Grint, and supporting players Matthew Lewis, Bonnie Wright, Robert Pattinson, and James and Oliver Phelps rise to the occasion. challenges. their roles now provide.

But this movie belongs to Dan Radcliffe. For the first time, Radcliffe becomes the protagonist, the main character. Radcliffe carries this movie, and the excellent supporting cast is just that support. Harry is a teenager through and through, not a fifteen-year-old actor trying to act like an adult, which makes his emotional ups and downs even more poignant. We can see that Harry is deeply affected by, but has very little idea of ​​how to deal with, his best friend’s apparent desertion, the unavailability of his crush, and the deadly danger of the Triwizard Tournament’s three tasks. The film’s dramatic climax, after the third assignment, marks the pinnacle of Radcliffe’s performance in a scene that is compelling, intense, and heartbreaking.

It is worth mentioning the delicious evil characters in this movie. Jason Isaacs is back as the mocking Lucius Malfoy, and Tom Felton returns as his son, the always hateful Draco. David Tennant plays the fugitive Death Eater, Barty Crouch, Junior, who, along with Timothy Spall’s traitor, Peter Pettigrew, is responsible for the rise of the most evil enemy of all, Lord Voldemort. Voldemort, played by Ralph Fiennes, is creepy and powerful, not just magically, but physically, which was a whole new dimension of that character for me. He has the serpentine nose and charisma, and when the buttons are pushed, he has the rage and megalomania needed in an evil overlord. The malevolent arrogance displayed by Fiennes’ Voldemort makes him a real threat, and for a moment, we’re not sure that Harry should stand up to this creature.

Newell’s directing keeps the film moving at a rapid pace; never crawls, not even in expository or emotional scenes. It is very well structured, with the focus squarely on the development of the story. The only problem is that sometimes the clip is too fast. There are moments that we want to savor and we cannot. It would be lovely to spend more time exploring Ron and Harry’s reactions when Hermione showed up at the Yule Ball with an unexpected date, or to be given a moment to hold our breath while waiting in terror in the graveyard.

As an obsessive Potter fan, I’d like to take a moment to offer my own complaints. These are not necessarily reviews of this excellent movie, which will come in a moment, but simply the things that I loved about the book that didn’t make it into the movie. I acknowledge that only readers of the books will understand much of the next two paragraphs; in Hagrid’s words, “I’m sorry about that.”

I did not miss the whole story of SPEW, but I am concerned that without it we will lose the testimony of Hermione’s compassionate heart and social conscience. We also miss the relationship between Harry and Dobby, which becomes important in later books. He missed meeting the older Weasley brothers and seeing the beginning of Bill and Fleur’s relationship. I can live with all those cuts quite easily, but the ones that hurt me, in terms of character and plot development, were the following three:

-The almost total lack of Sirius. The only CGI appearance is not enough. One of the main themes of Goblet of Fire is Harry’s slow process of opening up and depending on an adult, after a series of adults whose life cannot be trusted. Sirius is the only adult who loves Harry selflessly, risks his own life and freedom to be there for Harry when he needs it, and who cares for Harry after the traumatic events of the third task. I think history does itself a disservice by removing this plot.

-The second scene that I missed was the short scene, also after the third test, with Mrs. Weasley attending to Harry in the infirmary. Harry, to his shame, begins to cry and Mrs. Weasley wraps her arms around him and hugs him. The moment is deeply moving and further strengthens the bond between Harry and his surrogate family, the Weasleys.

-Finally, I’m sorry to have overlooked the very important story involving Neville’s past. Goblet of Fire is the book in which we learn what happened to Neville’s parents and who did it. Neville reacts badly to a lesson on the Cruciatus curse, used to magically torture people, but we never find out why. Frank Longbottom was mentioned in the Penseive scene, but there was no follow-up between Dumbledore and Harry, so the detail was too easily missed.

Each of these significant omissions is a symptom of a disease that I have only recently been able to identify. In this franchise, each movie has been treated as its own independent unit, rather than one-seventh of a larger story. There is very little care in a given movie to build on the plot and character development of the previous movie. I don’t usually compare books to movies, but this is, after all, the same story, told in two different media. Consider the beautiful continuous flow from one book to the next; Harry does not make sudden jumps of maturity or intellect, but he does take continuous gradual jumps. The details of book one are remembered and covered in books three, four, and six. The questions posed in book two remain pending until your answers become matters of life and death in book six. People mention offhand in books one and three they die terrible deaths and that define the plot in books four and five. The examples of the exquisite connection from each of Rowling’s books go on and on.

Have any of the three directors, not to mention screenwriter Steve Kloves, have read all the books, or do they only read the one they are working on? Do any of them see their effort as part of a much bigger story, rather than just their shot at “a Potter movie”? I really feel like Newell did as well as anyone could have done with Goblet, and I also think he produced a very strong, well-done movie. I love this movie. I was only a little disappointed in this movie; for the most part I was impressed and pleased. But as long as every director cares only about telling this story, rather than this part of a much bigger story, the Potter movies will never be all they could be.