Re: Goblet Movie Reviews, please...

ashy0802 wrote:

> I'm a Journalism major at ECU, and for my Comm. Editing class
> we were divided into groups and each group has to create a
> newspaper. Of course, I did an extra article on the Goblet movie
> and all of the other Harry Potter works. I'm going to interview
> a couple of people at the movie theater to get their review, but
> would anyone like to submit their own review?

I did a review for another ng, so I'll post it here.

> *P.S. If this was for a real publication and not a class, then I
> would be in trouble for providing false information. So, believe me
> when I say that it's just for a communication class. :~)

Meh, I'd post regardless, frankly.
Here it is:

Fory-san, The Former Mysterious Lurker wrote:

Ok, first, the plot. Feel fee to skip this if you're read the book or seen
enough ads, etc to know the plot. [note: remember this was for another
ng. I'm keeping this part in, anyway]
Hogwarts (the school Harry goes to) is hosting the Triwizard Tournament, in
which one student from three different magic schools compete in three
challenges, the winner of which gets the Triwizard Cup. Along with
Hogwarts, there's the French school Beauxbatons (in the book, all the
schools were co-ed, but in the movie, Beauxbatons is all girls), and the
Eastern European Durmstrang (all boys in the movie). Of course, Harry's
only 14 in GoF, so he can't compete, right? Wrong! Seems someone put his
name in the cup used to pick the contestants, and after picking the
students from the three schools, Harry's name also comes out. Oops. And
Harry can't get out of it, either--he's got to compete. So we have four
champions: Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons, Cedric Diggory of Hogwarts,
Viktor Krum of Durmstrang, and Harry Potter of Hogwarts.
Needless to say, Harry's a bit over his head (literally, in one case--the
Second Task takes place underwater); part of the reason for the age
restriction is due to the dangerous nature of the Tasks. But he gets help
from various people (and ghosts), especially Mad Eye, and makes it intact
to the last Task... but finishing the last Task isn't Harry's biggest
problem; in fact, it puts him in even more danger...
Ok, plot stuff is over, not onto the review!

I liked it!
The only big misstep, imo, was that they made a big deal about the
Quidditch World Cup (which happens near the beginning), then completely
skipped it! Seriously...
"And now... let the games begin!"
And then it's over! I was like, "WHA?!" Or, as a friend said, "Lame."
I also think the inclusion of Sirius, at least the way they did it in the
movie, was unnecessary; there's nothing we learn in that scene that we
can't find out in other ways. And I'm not a big fan of Rita Skeeter (a
gossip columnist who's... creative re-writing of the truth would make the
Enquirer blush), but I know a lot of fans like her, and she's not in it
much. There's another scene I have a feeling was included because it's a
fan favorite. I won't tell you what it is, but it involves a ferret.
Overall, though, it was great There was a lot of comedy (Fred and George
Weasley are in several scenes being their usual hysterical selves), but it
never is at an inappropriate time (I've seen stuff that does that and I
HATE it).
I was also glad for a bigger part for Neville Longbottom. He's a boy in
Harry's year who's a bit of a goof; clumsy and forgetful, mostly. But he
really starts to come into his own in the later books, and we start to
understand why he is the way he is. He also gets one of the funniest lines
in the movie. Trust me, you'll know it when you hear it.
The best addition is Brandon Gleeson as Alastor "Mad Eye" Moody, former
Auror (they're kinda the wizarding world's version of cops) who becomes the
new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Moody is... well, a bit
unstable (as his name would suggest) and paranoid. He's a really great
character, and Gleeson does a smashing job.
I'd like to mention the three actors who play our heroes (Potter fans call
them The Trio). Emma Watson, who plays Hermione was ok but she seemed... a
little melodramatic in places. I think this is more how she was directed,
though; she's usually not that bad. And there's a few scenes where she's
pretty dramatic, but it's appropriate (like yelling at Ron after the Yule
Ball).
Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley... after being little more than comic relief,
he FINALLY gets to do more. He and Harry have a major fight in this story,
and they both play it really well. And Ron's complete befuddlement around
the opposite sex is pretty funny.
Daniel Radcliffe is Harry Potter again, of course... Harry has always been
a physical role, but some of the stuff Dan does is this film is pretty
amazing. He really does fall several dozen feet in one scene, and all the
underwater shots where you see his face are really him. He also does
Harry's sarcasm really well (Harry can be quite the smart ass). And in a
scene near the end involving one of the more tragic events in the series,
he does a great job of being completely distraught. I've seen the film
three times and it makes me cry each time, and I've realized that Dan's
acting in that scene has a lot to do with it. Uh, I mean that as a good
thing, not a "his acting is so bad it'll make you cry" thing...
So, out of five wands, I give this three and a quarter (a quarter of that
is for the awkward way they handled the Quidditch World Cup).
The movie has some mild swearing (Ron's always had kind of a bad
mouth--even in the first movie he was muttering "bloody hell"), some
violence and action, and some... shall we say, mild sexual content (yes,
I'm serious). It's PG-13.
ANYway... I, of course, recommend this film to everyone. Go see it! NOW!
^_^

Catherine Johnson.
--
fenm at cox dot net
"No dragons were harmed in the making of this movie."
-End credits, _Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire_.




.

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