Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
Article 5855 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 10-3-2020
Directed by Mike Newell
Featuring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint
Country: UK / USA
What it is: Harry Potter movie

Harry Potter is unexpectedly chosen to take part in The Triwizard Tournament. Who placed his name into the tournament…and why?

I have largely avoided the Harry Potter movies up to this point, not because I suspect that I wouldn’t like them, but rather because the Harry Potter phenomenon began with the J.K. Rowling books, and I decided that if I ever wanted to get into this universe, I would start there. However, since I’ve got a whole backlog of other books to read first, I’ve only read the first novel of the series, which I liked well enough. However, I had a copy of this movie hidden in the nooks and crannies of my movie collection, and it’s number came up, so here I am reviewing it.

I’m glad I at least had the first book under my belt before watching this, which is based on the fourth novel of the series. The movie is a little unforgiving to newbies; it assumes you know the basic premise, most of the characters, and the universe it takes place in. If you’re not up on all that, the movie can be bewildering, and even with what I did know, I found myself lost for parts of the movie. Still, I found it enjoyable enough, and I do really like the portrayals of some of the characters, particularly Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid and Alan Rickman as Severus Snape. There are a quite a few other familiar faces, including Robert Pattinson and David Tennant. Still, though I do find the movie entertaining enough, I suspect that ultimately I would prefer the original novels to the movie series.