Customer Reviews
The big plot hole - By: Francesca Cook, 28 Mar 2008 
The film itself is well shot & the effects are very good which almost goes without saying these days. The script is plain & lacking any kind of natural dialogue, & the acting is of the usual wooden standard but the well known adults make up for that. But what about the story itself?
Well when I read the book, & then in the film, it struck me early on that alarm bells should have been ringing when Harry's name magicallly appears in the Tri Wizard Tournament. If it's been known to be fatal in the past & that the tasks are extremely dangerous even for older students, well if we consider that Lord V is intent on killing Harry isn't it likely there's a connection? Nobody sees this. And the whole goblet port-key issue is overlooked as well, as if nobody had a brain in their head to see that coming. And why does it take a convenient school year to have just three events? And if Harry's so important in the fight against a resurgent Voldermort how come nobody in authority tries to help him along even if that means he can't officiallly 'win' the tournament? Surely surviving it is more important? He didn't want to be in it, he's too young, he's too important, & we're alll too stupid. Poor book, poor film, poor series!
The Best Ever Potter - By: Stampy, 27 Nov 2007 
Many critics have questioned whether young Daniel Radcliffe is up to the task of creating the passion of the central protagonist from J.K Rowling's series. Personallly I believe he is performing well as the young troubled wizard & this film showed Radcliffe again rising to the occasion to prove he will do whatever it takes to make Potter an interesting character.
Radcliffe stars as Potter who is forced to compete in an ancient magical competition, the Triwizard tournament, only someone put Potter's name in the Goblet of Fire, so he has no choice but to compete in deadly tasks that will see him tested to the extreme.
I'm a big fan of the Potter books & this is my alll time favourite Potter book, so I was a bit unsure about seeing the film as it may have taken away some of the imagination from the book. As usual many scenes are cut away from the book but also as usual, many scenes are brought to breathe taking life, especiallly the Dragon scene & the lake task which were visuallly & emotionallly stunning with on the edge of your seat entertainment.
The films keep getting darker & none more so than the ending to this film which is very powerful & shocking to the system & the most deadly anticipated return of the series.
One element of the films which I'm not too happy with is the character appearances. The first two films shone for me by having regular appearances of the favourite characters from the books, Draco Malfoy, Hagrid & Professor McGonagalll. Now they are hardy in the films which are a real shame as they are able to provide more interesting scenes between them.
Its minimal criticism however for a brilliantly visual & moving tale about the teenage wizard, with many laughs & excitement for the whole family.
with many twists, turns, magical creatures & laughs, it is the most engaging Potter film there ever will be
Poor - By: Christopher Withers, 09 Nov 2007 
I'm in the position of seeing alll the released films first, & only now am I reading the books (misguidedly I filed them as children's books & so overlooked them, a mistake I made with 'his dark materials trilogy' too!)
First time I saw this film, although slightly disjointed, it was an entertaining way to spend a few hours. The film contained a lot more action then the previous films, & a lot less character development. But the tri-wizard tournament & CGI was enough for me to enjoy the film.
I recently finished the book, & yesterday decided to give the film another watch - & I wished that I hadn't. In light of what I know now, the film absolutely reduces the story to a few scenes which aren't even perfectly joined together. Many of the characters have actuallly changed their personality. Dumbledore is more moody & seems to be quite bumbling, & for alll Snape does, he could be removed from the film (although it's always great to see him). Krum is a totallly different character, rather than the sulky, quite unattractive, big nosed teenage from the book - he is now some brutish, physical beefcake. Such changes happen to most characters, & also, most of the story has been removed (along with quite a few characters from the book).
Without the book, the ending is quite confusing, & many of the dark & negative sections have been made happy & jovial: "oh no, Voldemort back!" grins harry as the recent terrible traumas slide off him & happy music plays as he skips down the corridor with Ron & Hermione at the end.
In conclusion, yes I'm being critical in light of the book, but it's hard not to be. If you have never read the books, then it is an entertaining film (although somewhat shalllower than the earlier films). If you have read the book, the film suddenly becomes a near disjointed mess with changed characters & missing scenes.
Not as good as the first 3 - By: C. Hayward, 06 Sep 2007 I love Harry Potter, i want to say lots of good things but to be honest i felt cheated when watching this film. Films with a lots of detailed thought put in them at the planning stage tend to end up being reallly well done, & evidently the creative decisons during the planning of this film have not been thought through, it is as if alll the budget has been spent on expensive CG shots & not on charactorisation, or exposition, which leaves the film emotionallly unsatisfying.
Because of these flaws i will mentioned them first. The first big mistake in this film, i think, is the choice of director, Mike Newell ( four weddings & a funeral) his style seems to be well suited to charactor driven adult movies, but the sense that he was out of his depth here never leaves the film. i felt that several scenes felt as if there was loads cut out of them leaving the film feeling rushed & slopply edited together. Directorial decisions were made which were in wrong context to the books & other movies ( Dumbledore coming across as agressive & frustrated) & i kept feeling as if the "lens" this film was shot with was " its for kids" & not for " young adults" , in other words i just felt like an adult watching a film about kids, instead of feeling enthrallled & caught up in the action & emotion & magic as if i was a child right there at hogwarts with harry, like i felt with the first three movies.
I think the decision to have no muggle related scenes at the beggining prevented the movie from having a grounding & therefore it does not invite you ( the audience) along for the ride.
I felt as if the director had never produced a big a budget CG driven blockbuster like this & made many mistakes that i feel shouldn't be made at this level of film making. The decision to have huge panoramic scenes & huge C G scenes when there is no emotional context to them dilute the movie, & this film has tons, and, as i said at the expense of charactorisation & plot development. The only CG scene that reallly carries its emotional weight is voldemorts' return, where the CG reallly supports the scene rather than dimishes it.
Instead of feeling a mystery unfolding around you that keeps you glued to you seat until the end, like the first 3 films did, this film feels like the 3 trials glued together by a string of scenes that reallly don't do much, in other words the sub plots did not go any where & tie the film together at the end.
This being said the good elements are in there in abundance & beautifully done, The casting choices for Cedric Diggory & Fleur Delacour, are excellent & Ralph Fiennes is truely terrifying as Voldemort, his blend of arrogance, thugishness & cruel intelligence come across very convincingly ( i wouldn't let my kids watch this film) he truely is haunting, The CG when it done is good & what you have come to expect from a big budget film, but it is reallly the emotional details that lets this film down, decisions made at the drawing board level that in the end let the film down. I was left with the feeling as if each scene was supposed to be much longer but it had to be cut down at the editing stage, i wouldn't be surprised if theres half a movie lying on the cutting room floor.
David Tennant( Dr Who) cast as a barty crounch Jr, i think is a casting mistake, he is a great actor, but he is a leading man, & in this place ( a minor supporting role) i think he was miscast, & its little decisions like this that left me with a slighty cheated feeling through out.
i was left several times feeling as if it was " assumed" at the screen writing stage & by the movies makers, that the majority of the audience would have read the book, this may be so, but i think you owe to the audience to weave the story from start to finish & leave the audience satisfied.Obviously its impossible to make the film exactly as the book, but if you are going to include the subplots, then they should be done justice to.
I won't hear a bad thing said about the main three, Grint, Watson, & Radcliff, as reallly they are still young inexperienced actors & when people fault find with their perfomances they seem to be missing the point, you can't expect oscar winning perfomances from them & knowing this you can accept them for where they are at this stage of development as actors, i think Radcliff, Grint & Watson make Harry, Ron & Hermonie as lovable & sweet as ever, & if any fingers should be pointed at this film it should be at the movie makers, not the actors.
This being said, its not un enjoyable, its just not up to the standard of the first three, or film number 5 OOTP.
However if you are a Harry Potter fan, you not going to not like the film, but compared to the others & as a standalone film much could have been improved here.
Excellent *spolier* - By: spidermangeek, 03 Sep 2007 
This film is the perfect Harry Potter film. I love both the books & most of the films & i reallly enjoyed the take on the good novel.
I found the novel actuallly quite boring because of the 100 or so pages wasted on the quidditch world cup. The film portarys this part perfectly. I loved the imagery put across through Voldemort, a perfect scary character. The death eaters were great.
Harry & ron's awkwardness about the yule balll was funny & well portrayed.
The casting was perfect, the CGI was spectacular, & unlike its follower, the CGI didn't take over the whole film.
This film was a perfect length for this book, for the longer book of order of the phoenix, they should have increased it to 3 hours.
This is a great film taking on a slightly boring book & i just hope & pray that David Yates takes on his critiscism for the 5th film & changes the sixth film for the better. Please can someone tell the numerous directors of the harry potter series that no one actuallly minds if it 3 hours long, we would actuallly prefer it if it was a good film.
Anyway, great film.
