Some thoughts about ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’

Our liveblog party was, as expected, ridiculously fun and, once again, we’ve broken the record for the most comments on a single post on Buzznet. (We’re closing in on 5,100.) Just like last time, I’m going to post an entry about Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as a whole, because there’s no way to really tell how I felt about it from my knee-jerk, absurd comments.

And because I dearly love bulleted lists, let’s break this up into two parts:

THE GOOD

• I’m not necessarily a fan of of Newell removing Winky entirely from the movie, but I have to give props in replacing Winky’s plots by adding more Neville. We all need more Neville in our lives, yes?
• The cinematography, especially during the Second Task, was pretty spot-on throughout. (It wasn’t better than Cuaron’s movie, but a close second indeed. I liked how, once again, there was a lot of emphasis on the grandeur of Hogwarts.
• Rupert Grint played Ron’s whiny teen angst perfectly. Bravo.
• Victor Krum was basically how I thought of him in the book. Bravo.
• The Yule Ball scenes were just awkward enough that it hurt, as it should be.
• Maggie Smith. MAGGIE SMITH.
• Filch dancing with Mrs. Norris. awwwwwwwwwwww.
• Every moment Alan Rickman opened his mouth.
• The maze scene, while too different for my tastes, did capture the claustrophobia and terror of the situation quite well.
• The entire graveyard scene was utter perfection. Cedric’s death was even more painful to watch than to read because Newell made sure his death was instant as well.
• KILL THE SPARE!
• Ralph Fiennes as Voldmort = perfection.
• Amos Diggory seeing his son = 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 forever

THE BAD

• WHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY did they change the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang teams to be female and male, respectively? And each team stereotypically entered the room? OH GOD WE ARE LIKE FAIRIES TEE HEE but wait GRRRR ARRRR WE ARE MEN WITH MUSCLE AND WE EAT FAIRIES FOR BREAKFAST. come on. COME ON.
• Hermione’s major plotlines and characterization being almost entirely gutted. S.P.E.W was a large part of her growth in Goblet of Fire and the removal of it made her seem whiny, not determined to do right and be a good person.
• Harry Potter’s hair. Feathered and shoulder-length? Really?
• NO. ACTUAL. SIRIUS. booooooooooooooooooo.
• No Mrs. Weasley, so know soul-crushing hug scene. Booooooooooooooo.
• The First Task. I was totally into it until there was a chase scene that didn’t make a whole lot of sense. whhhhhhhyyyyy
• DUMBLEDORE. what the fuck, guys. When did he become SO GODDAMN MANGRY. It was unbelievably distracting and out of character. WHY WAS HE SO MAD EVERY WAKING MOMENT. Ugh. Just…no.
• NOT ENOUGH SNAPE.
• Why did they take out the entire “OH HEY, BARTY CROUCH SENT HIS SON TO AZKABAN ON THE WORD OF ONE PERSON, SO YOU SHOULD HATE HIM. JUST KIDDING!!!!” plotline? That made the endgame so terribly confusing.
• Actually, the entire end of the movie doesn’t make sense without the Winky plot line at all. How was anyone who had not read the books supposed to make sense of it?
• WHY DID THEY MAKE MOODY SO OBVIOUS? He’s supposed to be slightly crazy, yes, but made to appear to be Harry’s best friend, not some scheming villain. DUMB, GUYS, DUMB.

Overall, I liked it. Wasn’t amazing, but it was competent.

What do you guys think?

PS: Order of the Phoenix reviews start later today. Yay!

In order to celebrate this occasion, I’ve changed out my header. I can’t remember who made it, SO PLEASE CLAIM IT IN THE COMMENTS SO I CAN GIVE YOU CREDIT HERE. I’ll probably change out my Twitter background, too! Unless someone wants to make one of those for me too.

WINK WINK.