Review: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
A new year, a new adventure. Question always remains, what kind of adventure ? Well, this year seems a little bit dull. While the story starts off with an avalanche of things happening, nothing _really_ happens. The chaotic pace keeps on going till the end, making you feel quite a bit empty when you walk out of the theatre.
So, how come ? Well, for one, while they’re trying a lot to cram of everything in the 157 minutes, every scene seems to cut off at the last moment, and it never gets picked up again. Very choppy storytelling to say the least. Then with a whole bunch of new characters showing up (nothing to write home about) the recurring characters only get non-meaningful appearances. This leaves the few key scenes worth naming clocking in at a mere 10 minutes. The chase scenes and empty dialogues don’t add to the story, nor is there time for real character development. Acting isn’t really memorable, save for Ralph Fiennes’ performance.
With humor on a low simmer, this doesn’t make it a kiddy movie anymore (the 12+ rating is probably to save the kids an expensive sleep at the theatre). Neither is it a high school ensemble, or an adult drama. With no real mystery going on (or just the very predictable kind), all you get is the standard adventure tale, making it less interesting than the other chapters.
It seems the only magic at work here is how it is possible that this chapter, regarded by many as the best book of the series, became the least meaty one of this movie series.7+.