Who would've thought Mike Newell (director of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Mona Lisa Smile) could produce an effects-fantasy movie that is so far the best among the Harry Potter franchise (at least for me). I know people tend to compare novels and movies as if they should be faithful to the other. Fortunately, I've learned that they shouldn't be put side to side. There have been a lot of movie adaptations that have been better than their written counterparts and there have been otherwise.

On Newell's press-releases regarding Goblet of Fire, he disclosed the fact that there could have been more scenes and sub-stories from the novel that they wished they could put into the movie but J.K. Rowling's creations were expensive to translate into reality and would require longer playtime. Goblet of Fire was originally planned to be split into two movies. While Newell decided there was not much story to be told for two separate movies, the producers had to do away with a lot of the sub-stories like that of Rita Skeeter and her being an animagus. Other no-shows include Hermione's S.P.E.W. campaign and Ludo Bagman. I'm just worried if they decided to take out something that would figure on the sequels, it would place loopholes all over the place. Like Cho Chang for one, she should have appeared in Prizoner of Azkaban so that the viewers can see how Harry got a crush on her. Now that she's on Goblet, nobody knows where she came from. The viewers were just forced to accept that she is Harry's crush.

Let me just say that while the Quidditch World Cup could've lasted a bit longer, the scenes were breath taking. Cedric Diggory was dashing - I thought I almost went lesbian. It's such a terrible waste knowing he was going to be killed (again, that wasn't a spoiler, half the world knows about it already). And Cho Chang, that really cute girl Harry has his eye upon, could've played more part. Reading the novel, it was like reading a Sweet Valley High book when it came to the Yule Ball events. Fortunately, the movie's Yule Ball was eye-candy. Everyone was stunningly beautiful - Hermione, Cho and Fleur. There were not much classroom scenes. At least Snape (kill him! kill him!) was less annoying because he just had a few lines.

The effects side is more than what I would normally expect for a fantasy movie. Mostly because I was seeing in the movie what exactly I was imagining while I was reading the book. The dragons, the merfolk and the labyrinth were - solid!

The movie's pacing is great compared to Alfonso Cuaron's breakneck treatment on Prizoner of Azkaban. It allowed more time for the viewer to catch up with what's happening. There were at least more effort to develop Neville's character and background (although if you're not keen to listening you'll probably miss them) and the movie showed more of the political side of the magical world - something that will have more bearing on the succeeding books and / or movies. Harry is yet to fall victim to the unreliability and the impotence of the magical government. Well, at least it's not only our world that's corrupted.

The fourth book marks the mid-point on Harry's coming of age and should signify the changes that are to come not only to him and his faithful friends but also to the magical community they all live in. The movie's end was successful in giving the viewers a feel of that impending danger. More people are going to end up dead - start the body count.

It's nice that the movie has matured as the characters and the story has. Although it's going to be hard telling a children's story when characters are dying left and right. It has come very far from the Sorcerer's Stone definitely and we're to expect Harry's world will be much more disturbing, darker and more wicked in the sequels to come.


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