Review: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Growing up can be such a pain in the ass but your problems and troubles growing up most likely are nothing compared to what awaits Harry Potter (played by Daniel Radcliffe). In the fourth film on the series of cinematic adaptations of author J.K. Rowling's immensely popular series of fantastic books, Harry faces off with the Dark Lord Voldemort himself. That is in addition to a scary dragon, malevolent underwater goblins, a maze and the most scariest prospect of all - - girls.

Daniel Radcliffe returns as Harry Potter as well as his best friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson). They are reunited with their teachers Dumbledore (Michael Gambon), McGonagall (Maggie Smith), Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) and Snape (Alan Rickman). New to the faculty is the fourth in a rather long line of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Mad-Eye Moody (played by Brendan Gleeson).

Ralph Fiennes and Miranda Richardson add scares and laughs as Lord Voldemort and Rita Skeeter respectively. Both make the most out of their limited screen time. Newcomers are not only in front of the camera but behind the camera as well. Mike Newell, most famous for the romantic comedy "Four Weddings and a Funeral" is the first British director to helm the films.

This time around Harry and his Hogwarts schoolmates are joined by their fellow wizarding students from the other wizarding schools in Europe namely Beauxbatons from France and Durmstrang from Bulgaria. They are there to compete in the exciting, prestigous, but extremely dangerous Tri-Wizard Tournament. In an exciting turn of events, Harry Potter is inexplicably selected to be a fourth champion despite age restrictions and the one champion per school rule. He has no choice but to compete in three dangerous tasks and survive until the end credits.

The question still remains: How does this stack up against the previous three films? Newell, thankfully, builds on the darkness and edginess brought to the table by "The Prisoner of Azkaban" director Alfonso Cuaron and does not revert to the bland Disneyfied take on Hogwarts by the first helmer of the series, Chris Columbus.

He also surprisingly stages and films action sequences quite well. The three leads (Radcliffe, Grint and Watson) all give their very best performances in this one. Naysayers who say those kids can't act will be silenced here. The special effects are jacked up a couple of notches from the previous films with superb sequences including an underwater world with merpeople and water goblins called grindylows.

Unfortunately, Newell falls short of Cuaron's achievement in "Azkaban" by lacking the subtext he added in the third film that gives it more emotional resonance. The film is kept at a fast pace. This would be good but at times it feels it is fast paced to a fault since parts of the film feels a bit rushed especially the beginning.

Despite these flaws, however, The Goblet of Fire still remains a solid entry to the Harry Potter franchise. It's a wonderfully entertaining, non-intelligence insulting

Hollywood
film. A word to parents: Unlike its PG-rated predecessors, this "Harry Potter" movie is a darker, more violent PG-13 version. Be sure to be familiar with your kids before taking them to see this.