The book Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is a turning point in the series. Things are no longer bright and cheery. They're mysterious. They're dark. They're deadly.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is much the same. Philosopher's Stone treated us to an introduction of magic. Chamber of Secrets provided a mystery. Prisoner of Azkaban revealed the past. Goblet of Fire shows us a glimpse of the future, and the future is dark indeed.
Goblet of Fire is probably the first movie that requires a viewer to have read the books in order to keep pace. The first ten minutes encompass the first hundred and fifty pages or so of the book, and they are presented in lightning succession. Anyone who doesn't know about the Quidditch World cup and what happened there would most likely be deeply confused.
From there, the movie glosses over many of the deep and evocative scenes that Rowling includes in the book, choosing to focus on the three tasks of the Triwizard tournament. This is somewhat understandable, given that these scenes make for good action shots.
The dragon scene is wonderfully animated; the Horntail looks quite viscous. It may be that director Mike Newell felt the need to justify the undoubtedly expensive CGI, but the scene lasted far too long. The underwater scene was the weakest of the challenges and foreshadowed Newell’s enjoyment of using the camera to blind the audience into confusion about what’s actually happening. That predilection comes full force in the final task, strong enough that you might wonder if Newell was working from the same books that we all love and know.
Newell took a number of liberties with the novel (such as the aforementioned dragon scene); such is to be expected in trying to adapt a weighty tome for the silver screen. No one expects that he be able to fit in every detail, although most will have a favorite peeve of what was left out, due to the sheer amount of material cut. Pun intended.
No, what the true tragedy is this: Newell changes a number of elements and twists them into almost unrecognizable parodies of Rowling’s portrayal. Barty Crouch Junior could have been trying to mate with lizards for most of the movie, for all of his reptilian attributes. And he’s not even a Parseltongue. Dumbledore is not the gentle but firm wizard of the books; he comes within a hair of actually attacking Harry. And let’s not forget about Emperor Voldemort or the heavy rock Wyrd Sisters.
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