Wow. For the first time, a director has actually made a film out of a Harry Potter book, rather than just translating a book directly onto the screen. The others felt like pro forma movie-by-numbers. Goblet of Fire is outstanding. Not only does Mike Newell respect his own medium, but he tightens up some of Rowling's slacker portions, adding plenty of needed plot (and visual) tension. He was necessarily brutal in chopping out the uneeded portions of the story, rather than shoehorning it all in à la Chris Columbus.
The film is gorgeous. Rather than the happy shiny castle of the first movie, this one actually feels old and manky. Newell consistently picks the right pallete of colors to set the feel for each scene. The special effects don't overpower the actors, but really do add to the experience. Shoot me for the cliché, but they bring Rowling's world to life.
Not only are the actors not overpowered, they've actually learned to. . . act. And it only took four movies! Hermione, while weepy, has really improved. Ron does an amazing job playing the sulky teenager. The adults are all excellent. Professor Flitwick stage-dives (what else can you ask for in a movie?)
Newell did a good job of capturing the angst and energy of a school dance, without letting the snogging overshadow things as Rowling does sometimes. The melodramatic aspects are applied with a light brush, enhanving the story rather than distracting from it. The mermen, grindylows, and Voldemort are all well done. And, as my son Tennyson said, 'That dragon was so awesome.'
I didn't have any Christ-figure sightings while watching the movie. There will undoubtedly be a spate of 'spiritual lessons with Harry' posts up in the next few days. If any of them have merit, I'll do a round-up.
Posted by Discoshaman at novembre 20, 2005 12:41 AM | TrackBack
I agree--it was a great movie.
But can I confess, the first is still my favorite? I just love the way the book is translated in such an enchanting way.
Posted by: TulipGirl at novembre 21, 2005 12:22 AMI don't really agree. I saw it with two HP-philes and my Husband, and he sat next to me the whole movie saying "What? Who? What just happened?" All the other moviegoers were HP-philes also, and laughed at the right moments, but Husband didn't get it. He and I discussed it afterwards, too, and he summed his issues up by saying that the movie was made for HP-philes who would just know who the Death Eaters are, or why the Dark Mark is so scary for Wizards, or what Quidditch is, or what a Portkey is, or any number of other tidbits.
I loved it, though, and did enjoy it as a film and an adaptation of a book...but I think there are so many details and subplots in the books that simply don't translate to a visual medium. For one, giving Rita Skeeter a really green Kwik-Kwotes Kwill in the movie is not the same as reading "she took out an acid-green quill," reading the negative description of her quill's color. And another example: the Priori Incatatem scene in the book takes longer to read than it takes to act out, so if you don't know what's happening it's too fast to figure out; the explanation in the book is in a chapter titled "Priori Incatatem" which is enough Latin to help us at least get that there's some special type of magical reaction going on--which is not something that you get AT ALL in the movie.
Still--I liked it. The dragon did rock. The merpeople were cool, and so was the effect of the Gillyweed. Madame Maxime was really ugly, in just the right way. I liked it.
Posted by: Krista at novembre 21, 2005 03:46 PMThis was indeed a brilliant movie. Tulipgirl, you're not alone in thinking the first movie was great; I think the magical feel caught the feel of the book very well.
Nonetheless, Goblet of Fire is my favorite of the four so far. But I wanted to comment on the "Christ symbol" and the Priori Incatatem, because they are connected. The most disappointing part of the movie (Besides the fact the Gambon is a lousy Dumbledore) was that the Priori Incatatem scene, as well as its explanation by Dumbledore, were rushed. That's where the Christ symbol was missed. The Phoenix was the intended Christ symbol, and the Phoenix song was entirely missing from the scene.
This was such a powerful image in the book that I chose an artistic depiction of it for my "About" page at my HP website. Too bad it was missed in the movie. Overall, the pacing was great, but they really needed to slow down the graveyard scene and the final discussion with Dumbledore and explain more.
Posted by: Travis Prinzi at novembre 24, 2005 09:40 AM