Goblet of Fire, movie in review

[mijan]

Hello loves!  Yes, I went to the movie last night, and generally, we had a pretty spiffy time.  Oh, except for the fact that the video and sound screwed up right at the scene when the names come out of the Goblet, and it was fucked up for several agonizing minutes and they wouldn't/couldn't rewind.  The line party itself was awesome.  I have a new broom and wand (and an awesome new scarf... YAY!), and I'll take pictures of all that stuff soon and post it.  We had a fun time hanging out.  As usual, I was with my Boston area line party group.  Met some new fandom people, and got to hang out with gatewaygirl again and a bunch of people whose LJ names I can't remember right now, and had an awesome time.  At 4:00, we started gathering at a nearby restaurant.  At 5:30 or so, we all lined up in the theatre.  We acted silly.  T'was good.  At 8:30, we all watched a showing of Prizoner of Azkaban.  At midnight, Goblet of Fire started.  We laughed, we cried, we acted like crazy fandom people, and it was great.

Anyhow, the movie itself... some of it was awesome, but some of it pissed me off.  I knew it was gonna happen.  If you haven't seen it, you might want to avoid the LJ cut.

There were some things that were awesome about the movie.  A few of those things:
~ Barty Crouch, Barty Jr., Rita Skeeter, Karakoff, and  LOOKED like the characters I imagined, and most of the acting was dead-on.
~ Snape, although not always strictly canonical (the batting of Harry's and Ron's heads in the Great Hall during "study time"), was awesome.  And I liked the part where he whapped them on the heads anyway, so it's all good anyway!
~ Moaning Myrtle in the bathroom.  That was brilliant.  'Nuff said.
~ Cedric... "The Prefect's Bathroom is a GREAT place to take a bath..."  Oh so suggestive!  I loved it!  *bounces*
~ THE FERRET SCENE!  BOUNCE BOUNCE BOUNCE!!!
~ Fred and George.  They were awesome.
~ Neville.  I loff Neville.  Muchly.
~ The scene IN the pensieve itself was well-done, but we never saw *why* Harry was going to Dumbledore's office, and why would it have been so hard for him to have discovered the pensieve the way he did in the book (by just seeing a glow through the slightly-open cabinet door?
~ The graveyard scene.  Yes, some things were off, but overall, I think it was a damned good job.  I'll give my little critiques later.
~ Harry's Dan's acting after the Portkey returned him from the graveyard.  I BELIEVED it.  I cried.  I really did.  I'm getting teary-eyed and tight-chested thinking about the scene... Harry clinging to Cedric's body.  Damn, they actually followed canon for that.  And Harry Dan LOOKED like he was distraught and in a state of emotional and physical shock.  That saved the movie.

Little critiques, but not things that were so bad:
~ I thought Dan looked a little stiff while his wand was locked with "Voldemort's".  He was standing upright, as if he wasn't struggling to hold steady.  He might have had the facial expressions pretty well, but he needed to struggle with the wand a bit, bend his knees, almost like he's playing a warped game of tug-of-war, only not quite pushing OR pulling.  Does that make sense?  That's something the director should have caught, especially for such a vital scene.
~ The Yule Ball:  Having *everyone* dancing except Ron, Harry, and the Patil twins looked wrong somehow.  There should have been other people walking to and from the dance floor.  The balance was wrong somehow.  Again, a director's decision.
~ The dragon scene was exciting, but it went a bit beyond.
~ Where was Dobby with the Gillyweed?  Sure Dobby can be annoying, but I wanted to see him.
~ The bit with the Polyjuice being repeatedly mentioned, and seeing Mad-Eye Moody repeatedly drinking from his flask... it made it TOO obvious.  Hideously obvious.  But we knew already, so it didn't bother me *too* much.
~ The dance lesson scene.  Was that *really* necessary?
~ I thought Voldemort's face should be a little more white. It looked too much like a normal fleshtone. The shape was awesome, but it needed to be whiter. And RED EYES! COME ON! What was up with the baby blues?!?

However, here are the little things about the movie that made me angry. Stupid oversights, or things they changed but didn't need to:
~ Why did they have to knock Harry out in the burning-down-the-camp scene? He didn't get knocked out in the book! Not even close!  Ron tripped, but that was it.  And they all stayed together!  Why did they need it to be "just Harry"?  Come on!  Just have the kids run into the woods, they see Draco being smug and telling them to "watch out" or something to that effect, Harry sees a house elf and Barty Crouch Jr., and then the Ministry people arrive. End of story. There was no need to change it!
~ Madam Pomfrey can "heal bones in heartbeat", but Harry had cuts on his face for the entire movie, and his arm in a sling, and that funny tentacle bruise for days? The only time an "injury" in the books was supposed to take more than a day to heal was when Draco was exagerating the Hippogriff injury.
~ Death Eaters = Ku Klux Klan?  What's with the dunce caps?
~ Mad-Eye Moody neither looked nor behaved the way I pictured him.
~ What happened to the Veela storyline?  WAH!
~ Why were the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students doing gymnastics and acrobatics in the Great Hall? They attend schools of magic, not gymnastics academies, right?
~ Barty Crouch at Tom Riddle's mansion?
~ Harry was supposed to be TIED to the gravestone, not put into a choke-hold by a scythe. How hard would it be to conjure some ropes?
~ The maze... where were the obstacles? The sphinx? The "upside down" spot? Oh, and Harry DID say that Krum was "bewitched" when he attacked, but how hard would it have been to have Harry say "He's under the Imperius Curse!" instead? GRRRR!!! It almost totally negates the point of showing the Unforgivable Curses earlier in the movie.
~ No mention of the 1000 Galleon prize, or the joke shop, or any of those things.
~ Rita Skeeter almost disappeared off the map after those two scenes.
~ The dragon was supposed to be bent on protecting its nest, so why did it chase Harry around? He was supposed to be flying to lure it away.
~Flitwick body-surfing at the Yule Ball.
~ Harry's little back-flip out of the water when he discovered the Gillyweed gave him fins. That's just not Harry. And what was that charm that was he used to propel himself from the water at the end? GAH! NO!
~ Harry with the egg in the common room... It's not in Harry's personality to say "Who wants me to open it? Who wants me to open it?" *shakes head*  They totally messed up that boy's characterization in some scenes.
~ Finally, while Dan's performance immediately after the Portkey returned him from the graveyard was his best acting yet (I really *believed* him as Harry), what about the Hospital wing scene? The boy was bleeding and in shock, for Merlin's sake!  They were supposed to bring him to the hospital wing, Mrs. Weasley was supposed to hug him... WTF? And Dumbledore... this was by far the worst Dumbledore performance yet.  Why?  When they finally got something so right, why did they get it wrong?
~ And finally, why did people look HAPPY at the end?!? Cedric had just died, and Dumbledore just told them all that Voldemort was back! And Hermione is smiling and talking like change is a good thing! GRRRRR!!!

So, overall, thumbs up.  Good movie, but I get the feeling that if you hadn't read the book, it would be pretty difficult to follow.  But then, if you *have* read the book, like most of us, you're going to notice all those niggling little things that make you want to strangle someone.

~P

Comments

[kriken.livejournal.com]

Must squee and critique with you! Call me tonight, if you've the time? ::bats eyelashes::

[yaycoffee.livejournal.com]

Word!

My biggest complaint was Dumbledore. He was SO wrong. SO WRONG. He TWITTERED! NO! Albus Dumbledore does NOT twitter! He was just so hyper and out of control. Newll should have made Gamban at least sort of act like the Dumbledore Rowling created... if not making him actually READ the book. Jeez! It's his JOB people! Why can't the boss make the employee do much needed research, I ask you. Gah!

[destinyfroste.livejournal.com]

I forgot about the joke shop plot, another thing they could have easily put in what with all of the screen time Fred and George got anyhow.

The maze itself pissed me off, they messed so much up in there.

[illuminations.livejournal.com]

I agree in some points, but at the same time, when I take into account how much time constraint they had to work with, I think that everything was awesome.

And yeah, I was kind of peeved about the whole Rita/Beetle thing, but I got over it. And the Sphinx. And..stuff. But I imagine that there are other things that they'll insert into the 5th movie, like Fred and George's joke shop.

There's always the DVD with deleted scenes. ;)

[aerynalexander.livejournal.com]

I never thought Moody would ever be more Scottish than the way I pictured him in my head, but there you go. I can't say he was very much like I imagined him either; however, I gave on characters ever being like that when Viggo Mortensen was cast as Aragorn David Thewlis was cast as Remus. Brendan Gleeson surprised me with his general acting competence, since he was really off-putting in Troy. Role vs actor, I guess. I just wonder if there will be more or less Moody pr0n now. *g*

Michael Gambon annoys the living shit out of me too. Can someone please find us a real Dumbledore? Arrrrgh!

[mijan.livejournal.com]

There's Moody porn? I know it exists... and I may have even read one... but I think I blocked out the experience.

And yeah. Dumbledore. *growls*

[aerynalexander.livejournal.com]

There's some Moody porn. Mostly Moody/Dumbledore (my fave), Moody/Tonks, and Moody/Remus. But I do remember a pretty wild Moody/Shacklebolt.

[notasecretagent.livejournal.com]

(Before I forget, I've definitely read some Moody porn. I don't seem to feel ill thinking about it, so while I can't exactly remember it, it couldn't have been that bad. I think the most notable might've been Moody/Filch. Hmm.)

I felt very similar about the movie. Overall, I give it a hesitant 'good,' but there were a lot of things that I was really confused about. I keep coming back to Harry's character in the common room with the egg... made me so angry. Harry is not Mr. Popular, nor does he want to be. Grrr.

Dumbledore was just a spaz. We're not supposed to know Dumbledore is human and makes mistakes and feels bad about things until the end of book 5. I don't understand why they did that, either.

That said, the highlights for me were definitely Dan's acting after the graveyard scene (*hurts*) and Ralph Fiennes' performance. Oh my. I think that's what redeemed an otherwise pretty mediocre attempt, as far as I was concerned.

Gah, sorry. Now you've got a novel!comment.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

Scary.

[etoile-du-tir.livejournal.com]

the one thing that REALLY bothered me with the cemetary scene was there were only 6 deatheaters. SIX. That is not right at all.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

My god, yes. I really noticed that. There was supposed to be a huge circle! Come on, how scary can a group of SIX people be, against the whole wizarding world? I know there were supposed to be quite a few. *growls* We had a better crew of Death Eaters at the Witching Hour!

[aerynalexander.livejournal.com]

*nods*

Hey!

[omg-ijustheard7.livejournal.com]

Hey! It's Selina and Heather. This is Selina's LJ name, but I haven't updated in awhile, so there really isn't anything worth reading. Just wanted to say thanks again and that your critique is spot on! This movie is definitely the best yet. We need to def. hang out soon and don't forget to embrace your inner Harry! I hope your 'scar' doesn't hurt anymore!

Re: Hey!

[mijan.livejournal.com]

Hey guys! *hugs*

LOL... the "scar" stopped hurting about halfway back to Rochester. That was pretty odd. It started with itching, and I tried not to scratch it because I didn't want to smear the makeup everywhere, but it started itching deeper... damn thing. Channeling Harry, methinks. :p

I'm glad you liked my little write-up! I had to get it out in words because it was starting to hurt my brain not to type it up.

[canellaphile.livejournal.com]

I forgot to mention in my review (http://www.livejournal.com/users/redpiratemel/88814.html) how much I thought Dumbledore was on crack! Why was he so uppity and angry?! He is not the mentor to Harry in this film that Dumbledore will have to be in future films... it sucked. :( Though I loved the DE looking like the KKK, I agree with you about the element of the galleons and joke shop. In the book Ron's issue with poverty and the twins needing money was kinda important. *shrugs* What are ya gonna do?

And oh yeah...the scene where Harry returns with Cedric's body: amazing. I teared up.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, anyone who didn't get a bit choked up and teary when Harry came back with Cedric's body is just inhuman. Or at least, not a true Potter fan... and that's fairly subhuman in my estimation.

But Dumbledore... WTF?!?

[alexia75.livejournal.com]

My biggest problems with it were with the Harry characterisation. Harry NEVER wants to be the center of attention - isn't that one of the points of the whole damn book? That he would never choose to be a Triwizard Champion.

That and the fact that DD made *no* sense for most of that film. I mean, I know he's supposed to be getting on a bit, but senile?

More in my own review on my lj. Generally though, much better than the first three.

[aerynalexander.livejournal.com]

Correction: the actor is Irish. He just seemed Scottish to me. *headdesk*

[degrees.livejournal.com]

Oh em gee, you got almost all of my irritated points!! I was horribly disappointed because of those things!!

And the Ku Klux Deatheaters? My brother and I were struggling not to just laugh at the scenes with them. God, it was funny but SO not what I imagined. The deatheaters are supposed to invoke fear, not hilarity!!

**lurk**

[akana.livejournal.com]

and what about the parting of ways, Fudge and Dumbledore's conversation in the hospital wing? and somehow I feel all the movies should have some Dursleys in them, because Dumbledore later explains the magic behind Harry going back every year. If I didn't read, I wouldn't think Harry had been to Little Whinging all summer. And what about classes? we never even HEARD about classes, we only went to the one class with Moody.

Granted, there is a LOT of stuff going on in those seven hundred pages. Hard to fit it all in to two hours and forty minutes.

By the by: I read Eclipse a little while back. You fucking rock.

sorry, i've been lurking...:-\

[elizapants.livejournal.com]

I didn't cry! I wanted to so badly! people I know who hate harry potter cried or at least teared up during that scene and I am so emotionally invested in these characters and nothing came! I think I am the 16 year old girlwho cries only 3 times a year.
and ohhhh did I want to.
maybe I jinx it by wanting to :(
I agree with all Dumbledore emotions. wrong. wrong wrong WRONG. and when harry said the "who wants me to open it?!" in the common room, wtf? that's a bit more in character for the dan radcliffe-harry, but SO far from being in character to the real-harry. although in this movie, the two are becoming so close it's hard to tell.
fabulous critique, mind if I link to it?
thanks,
-z

additionally,

[elizapants.livejournal.com]

we need the set-up of the weasley's idea for a joke shop for later...and the 1000 galleons...we only needed a sentence or two, and now what- in the 5th movie they're just going to say "oh yeah harry about those 1000 galleons!..."

[imperial-dragon.livejournal.com]

Argh!! it doesnt come out in australia until december the 4th!!! *wails* it sounds great!! dam sounds great!! dan's in oz *pokes out tongue in glee*. and there ae rumours that next year he will go to the school across the road from me (rumours mind you). well he's got a house in my city :P

GoF sounds wicked!! can't wait to see it!!!!!

Re: sorry, i've been lurking...:-\

[mijan.livejournal.com]

You're more than welcomed to link to it! :)

And I don't cry much myself, but it was really late at night, I was completely fried at that point, so I just went with it.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

Regarding Harry's characterization... I think there's only one way to save it. Kidnap Dan Radcliffe, force him to read the books again (twice), and then sit him down for a characterization tutorial. And THEN, tell him to grow a backbone so that he *sticks* to that characterization, even when the director tells him otherwise. Good plan?