Official Goblet of Fire movie thread ***SPOILERS***

[Talierin]

Well, what did everyone think?

I thought it was better than the last one, but it felt pretty rushed. I was a little disappointed they didn't have the Ireland/Bulgaria quidditch match, that would have been awesome. Oh well. I laughed my head off at the scene with Ron's dress robes, that was hilarious! Also, I thought Mad Eye Moody was well done.

[Arthur_Vandelay]

Well, what did everyone think?

I thought it was better than the last one, but it felt pretty rushed. I was a little disappointed they didn't have the Ireland/Bulgaria quidditch match, that would have been awesome. Oh well. I laughed my head off at the scene with Ron's dress robes, that was hilarious! Also, I thought Mad Eye Moody was well done.

This is actually a book-related observation (I've just finished reading Goblet of Fire, so I won't be back to check in on these threads until I've read the remaining two), but . . .

What's up with the hokey fashion in which Moody is revealed to be Death-Eater Crouch? I was half-expecting him to say something like: "And I would have gotten away with it, too--if it wasn't for you meddling kids!"

[Wolfshead]

Saw it this evening with a few friends and I enjoyed it. It was very rushed in the beginning, but improved as it went along. A very dark movie, though - actually quite scary at times. I'll probably not see it again at the cinema, but no doubt I'll borrow the DVD off friends when it comes out :)

[VioletFalcon129]

!!!!!!

That movie is BEAUTIFUL!!!!

I am pretty harsh when it comes to books vs movies. No one wanted to sit by me (I mean who came with me, the others didn't know their peril), because I criticized nonstop the entire 3rd movie. (And probably the 2nd too)
"What? That's not how it happend!" "Nooooo! That is NOT how that looks!" "THAT'S Remus?!?! He's UGLY!!!!" etc

But for number four, I hardly said anyhting of that sort the whole movie. Well sure, I booed the " Gryffindor-is-so-great-and-noble-and-wonderful-go-lions" ****, and made um.. comments (had to add the "amascing bouncing ferret" title! I mean come on, they should have put those few easy words in). I had hardly ANY compalints.

I felt myself forgiving the errors as the movie went on, because it was so good.

I was amased.

gotta go

more some other time

-Vi

[Lindir]

Saw it last week. It was OK, but felt very rushed at several points. The best part of the film was the graveyard scene at the end; they did spend adequate time on that. But on the whole, they tried to include too much, which made the storyline feel chopped. They should have concentrated on a few things and develop those more thoroughly. But this has been my complaint with all the movies, so this one is no exception. But it was a good effort and I basically enjoyed it.

[Corvis]

I just saw it and I enjoyed it a lot. At times it was scary, and funny, and the scene with the Hungarian Horntail chasing Harry on his broom was pretty exciting. I especially loved Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort, he's perfect at it and I don't think anyone could've played that role better. However, I didn't like the ending though, I felt it was a little to quick and hokey. However, all around it was a good movie, and I recommend other's to go and see it.

What was up with that line made by Barty Crouch Jr. in Mad Eye's office,"I'll show you mine if you show me yours." A little creepy, and I don't get why Harry had to show him his wound. That wasn't in the book was it? Does anybody know why he did that?

[Wolfshead]

What was up with that line made by Barty Crouch Jr. in Mad Eye's office,"I'll show you mine if you show me yours." A little creepy, and I don't get why Harry had to show him his wound. That wasn't in the book was it? Does anybody know why he did that?
By that line I think he was referring to how they both had marks on their forearms - Crouch had the dark mark, or whatever it was called, and Harry had the cut that showed his blood had been taken to ressurect Voldemort. Or was he talking to Dumbledore? I can't remember...

And as I said, Harry showed the wound to show Voldemort was back - he'd taken his blood, and no, I don't think it was in the book.

David Tenant was very good as Crouch Jnr - he's a good actor, infact he's the new Doctor Who, and played Casanova in a rather excellent BBC version of story a few months back.

Oh, and Michael Gambon really needs to get his Dumbledore accent sorted! It changes so often :rolleyes:

[Barliman Butterbur]

...Michael Gambon really needs to get his Dumbledore accent sorted! It changes so often :rolleyes:

That's OK — if you're keeping up in the books, you know that Dumbledore won't be around for that long — if you're not — how's THAT for a spoiler???!! :eek:

Barley :p

[Wolfshead]

That's OK — if you're keeping up in the books, you know that Dumbledore won't be around for that long — if you're not — how's THAT for a spoiler???!! :eek:
Haha, luckily for you I've read all 6 books. But he's still got another two films to go, that's probably about 5 hours of viewing time to marvel at it :)

[Turin]

I saw it and enjoyed it rather well. Unfortunately I haven't read any of the books so I don't think I got the full effect that most of you had. The movie wasn't quite cool enough to spark an interest in Harry Potter for me so I don't think I will ever really get into it. I guess I have changed from the avid Harry Potter hater that I previously was.

[Barliman Butterbur]

The movie wasn't quite cool enough to spark an interest in Harry Potter for me so I don't think I will ever really get into it. I guess I have changed from the avid Harry Potter hater that I previously was.

Actually, from my experience with the books, I think you're OK just with the movies. JKR has an incredible imagination — so much so that sometimes her storyline goes all over the place and gets lost in a welter of interesting (but unnecessary and annoyingly distracting) detail — so much so that you wish she'd get on with the story already! The movies provide a necessary tightening up — IMO.

Barley

[Gabba]

I just came home from the theatre, and here is my point of view:

On people:

Where is Dumbleore's pointy hat? (This bothered me in the third movie to!)
And he is to personal attatched to Harry in the films. There is a reason he is not in the books, but maby that is one of the topics they will forget in the movies?

Barty was to short, had a fizzly voice. He should be taller, meaner and more booming.

Moody was also to short, not scarred enough and the eye was not scary at all.

Barty junior was very well done.

Voldemort was almost perfect, only he to was tho short to!

Snape's features is as always to broad, he should be more lean, but the actor does a great job, so there is no reason to change him.

--

I was also very conserned for the more embrassing scenes in the books, the juleball, Ron asking Fleur out, etc. but that was all hilarious.

The dragon was cool.

To bad we did get to see the Ireland-Bulgaria game.

To jumpy in the start, but became better into the movie!

Great scene at the graveyard.

[Barliman Butterbur]

Just saw it. Great adventure, great special effects, great fun! Sound turned up too loud in the theater, as usual.

Barley

[Gabba]

...........Sound turned up too loud in the theater, as usual.

Barley

Is that a problem? On most movies they dont have enough, in this it was fine. My worst memory was when I saw StarWars III in Oslo, Norway. Coloseum is reported to be the largest THX scene in the world. (I do not guarantee this statement.) And as usual the sound was to low. Even where they advertise with sutch a bold statement. Dissapointing!

[e.Blackstar]

Just saw it today, and this is the review that I wrote in my livejournal (http://www.livejournal.com/users/1_2_suckerpunch).

As movies go, it was mediocre at best. As far adaptations from books are concerned, it was…questionable. Dialogue: I’ll give it a 3 out of 10. Acting: 6 (though a select few get a 9 or so.) I loved Krum, but he was not developed at all; not near enough for us to care. Neither was Cedric; the emotion that I felt when he died was absolutely nonexistent. I, of course, grew eternally frustrated with Harry’s goodness and charm and beauty and altruism and general repulsive heroism, but what frustrated me more was the complete lack of evil. Lucius Malfoy, his darling son Draco, and Herr Snape are excellent examples of cold, arrogant, twisted, sadistic bad guys; Voldemort, the one who should be the ultimate, was on the other hand rather pathetic. His appearance was terrible…his voice was worse. Awful. Not at all intimidating. It takes a ‘good’ evil dominator to make me shudder, sit up, and pay attention, and while several of the Dark Lord’s underlings cause this very well, it by all rights should have been a tenfold experience. It wasn’t, which was completely disappointing

A few bits more:
+Mad-Eye Moody was relatively well done, but again with the lack of character. So boring!
+What was with the Death Eaters? Can anyone say “KKK in black drag”?
+The love scenes between Maxine and Hagrid were just plain disgusting.
+Am I the only one that thought that Barty Crouch Sr. looked suspiciously like Hitler?
+The Quidditch match was horribly done. Rather, it was not done at all.
+All the magic was fanciful and lovely, but tremendously hard to follow.

All in all, it was simply too much packed into little mangy bits. The action sequences, which were supposed to be rip-roaring attention-grabbers, were nothing but gobs of pointless machismo with no story to tag them together. Were J.K. Rowling dead, I’d say that she was turning in her grave. As is, I’m sure she’s very happy with raking in wads of cash while relaxing on her private island.

NOTE: I didn’t want to see this in the IMAX, but I did. I regret that. I really really never needed to see Harry’s soulful face that close up.

Rating out of 10: 5
Maria Rating: 'Brace yourself, but see it anyway. Just make sure that someone else pays.'

:cool: :p :rolleyes:

[Corvis]

A few bits more:
+Mad-Eye Moody was relatively well done, but again with the lack of character. So boring!
+What was with the Death Eaters? Can anyone say “KKK in black drag”?
+The love scenes between Maxine and Hagrid were just plain disgusting.
+Am I the only one that thought that Barty Crouch Sr. looked suspiciously like Hitler?
+The Quidditch match was horribly done. Rather, it was not done at all.
+All the magic was fanciful and lovely, but tremendously hard to follow.

I agree with you completely on all those bits. Especially with the scenes with the Death Eaters and Barty Crouch Sr. I noticed those things right off the back but no one else I saw it with seemed to.

[Barliman Butterbur]

+The love scenes between Maxine and Hagrid were just plain disgusting.

Oh come come! You would deny poor Hagrid a romantic fling, a tryst beneath the moon? You mean you didn't just love his head cozily nestled in her bosom, while he looked up at her with lovesick puppy eyes...???!!

Barley :D

[e.Blackstar]

He can certainly have his love interest, but the scenes themselves were rather disturbing. :p

And the bit at the Yule Ball was simply revolting. :eek: It's HAGRID, for heaven's sake!

[Gabba]

He can certainly have his love interest, but the scenes themselves were rather disturbing. :p

And the bit at the Yule Ball was simply revolting. :eek: It's HAGRID, for heaven's sake!

As I wrote, rather hilarious, but we could have been spared them, yes :D

[Ingwë]

I haven't watched it yet and I don't think I'll watch it soon. However, I watched Stanislav Yanevski and the director of the movie in a bulgarian TV show. I was very funny - they told the viewers the story of finding Stanislav.
I have friends who have already watched the movie. They told me that it is very interesting, as well as the book. I suppose some parts of the book are cut but that doesn't make the movie less interesting :)

[Corvis]

As I wrote, rather hilarious, but we could have been spared them, yes :D

I have to agree with Gabba. As much as I thought it was disgusting I did laugh really hard to the scenes with Hagrid at the Yule Ball.

[VioletFalcon129]

Just saw it today, and this is the review that I wrote in my livejournal (http://www.livejournal.com/users/1_2_suckerpunch).

As movies go, it was mediocre at best. As far adaptations from books are concerned, it was…questionable. Dialogue: I’ll give it a 3 out of 10. Acting: 6 (though a select few get a 9 or so.) I loved Krum, but he was not developed at all; not near enough for us to care. Neither was Cedric; the emotion that I felt when he died was absolutely nonexistent. I, of course, grew eternally frustrated with Harry’s goodness and charm and beauty and altruism and general repulsive heroism, but what frustrated me more was the complete lack of evil. Lucius Malfoy, his darling son Draco, and Herr Snape are excellent examples of cold, arrogant, twisted, sadistic bad guys; Voldemort, the one who should be the ultimate, was on the other hand rather pathetic. His appearance was terrible…his voice was worse. Awful. Not at all intimidating. It takes a ‘good’ evil dominator to make me shudder, sit up, and pay attention, and while several of the Dark Lord’s underlings cause this very well, it by all rights should have been a tenfold experience. It wasn’t, which was completely disappointing

A few bits more:
+Mad-Eye Moody was relatively well done, but again with the lack of character. So boring!
+What was with the Death Eaters? Can anyone say “KKK in black drag”?
+The love scenes between Maxine and Hagrid were just plain disgusting.
+Am I the only one that thought that Barty Crouch Sr. looked suspiciously like Hitler?
+The Quidditch match was horribly done. Rather, it was not done at all.
+All the magic was fanciful and lovely, but tremendously hard to follow.

All in all, it was simply too much packed into little mangy bits. The action sequences, which were supposed to be rip-roaring attention-grabbers, were nothing but gobs of pointless machismo with no story to tag them together. Were J.K. Rowling dead, I’d say that she was turning in her grave. As is, I’m sure she’s very happy with raking in wads of cash while relaxing on her private island.

NOTE: I didn’t want to see this in the IMAX, but I did. I regret that. I really really never needed to see Harry’s soulful face that close up.

Rating out of 10: 5
Maria Rating: 'Brace yourself, but see it anyway. Just make sure that someone else pays.'

:cool: :p :rolleyes:

Ah yes, the hardcore cirticiser. Well done, well done. I love opinoins as long as they don't contradict mine. I would have agreed with e.Blackstar about 99% if i hadn't been too busy enjoying the movie!:D

I like Krum loads (and he was gorgoues... which, by the way, he wasn't supposed to be), but he was a totally different character than from the book. But since the character they replaced him with was so good, i didn't mind.

I felt really sad about Ced. But that's because of ol' St. Potter's tears and my four... um. five... er... 11 readings of book 4.

I love the evils, of course, for thier evilness, but I must say that I don't think Sev is a baddy. I hope he isn't, at any rate, but there was some definate foreshadowing to an evil Snape ( "He remains faithful to this day"-Karkaroff "Even the Dark Lord himslef would tell his secrets"-Snape). I think Voldy was annoying. He was not cruel enouhg, his voice was annoying, not enough venom, not enough eeeeevil charisma. What really irked me about the graveyard scene was how Lucius smarted off to The Dark Lord. I mean, come on, It's THE DARK LORD! And his Death Eaters even called him by name!!! Blasphemy! I did think the grim reaper statue was a nice touch though.

Moody was quite a disapointment. a. his voice sounded almost exactly like Hagrids b. he was BLONDE c. his eye was blah. d. his personality was deffinately lacking. alot.

The Death Eaters costumes were indeed wierd, though the masks were pretty good. I think the Death Eaters could be seen as inspired by the KKK though. You know, the whole muggles vs purebloods is acutally an anti racism statement. (let's not discuss it in the movie thread please!!!)

I didn't like how Maxime was done. Too dopey. I didn't find it gross. I found the love scenes funny. :D

Oh, i almost forgot, St. Potter the Golden Boy and his wonderful ,beautiful, Gryffinodry goodness. Yeuch. Thrice over. But most of it was true to character. Most. It wasn't as bad as in the third movie, by far. That one had WAY more disgusting sap. I did not approve of his "Do you wan't me to opne it?" loving of fame, though. He wasn't like that. Did anyone else detect a gung-ho GO LIONS streak in this movie? More on that later.

I was sad they didn't include the Quidditch match, but I just excepted it as a cut for time. Sad, but needed.

Barty did look a bit like Hitler. Oh well.

Didn't really understand the bit about the magic the whole way. (Feeling slow)

Okay, what I really missed in this movie were the lack of Sirius (Padfoot! We love you!!!) and the Slytherins. I am one, of course, and i was disappointed at thier lack of place in the moive when they had such a good one in Azkaban. Needed cuts, i know. *sulk* Wasn't Pansy gorgoues in that one, by the way? (too gorgoues to be canon... but I'm not complaining!)

Oh yeah: FRED AND GEORGE!!!!! They were PRETTY. A looooooot. I am very happy wuth the director for putting more of them in, the thing i missed the most in the past movies was thier humor. And thier lovely faces (especailly 3rd movie on) but that's another matter!!

-Vi

[Talierin]

Yeah, Fred and George... mmmm..... man, I seem to have this thing for redheads lately!

[VioletFalcon129]

*big snort of laughter*

Ha! The most intellegent thing said this whole thread.

(okay, I exaggerate. Please refrain from biting my head off, or any other form of unpleasantry)

That just strikes me as funny, because this freind of mine has a huge thing for redheads... Stoped dead walking when she spotted a college poster with a readhead on it. (No, not joking.)

She was also obsessed with Ron's arm in the beging of the movie. Aparently it was muscualr and he is no longer a little boy... (right). Personally, I was too busy being amused by him pulling the covers up.:D

-Vi

[spirit]

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Very interesting and captivating. In my opinion, it was miles better than the first two, and much better graphically than the third one. What I did find was that it was rather rushed. Very annoying. Especially the Quiddich World Cup scene. Poorly done! I mean, where was all that hot men flying around on their broomstick! (For the record, I DID NOT find Krum attractive, but he was rather similar to what I pictured him to be.) Draco, my dear Draco was brilliant! I loved the ferret scene! Totally brilliant acting with Moody turning him onto a ferret!

And the Golden Trio’s (especially Harry’s) acting has greatly improved greatly while comparing it to other moives (though there’s still a lot of room for improvement.) Ron dancing with McGonagall was hilarious! And that expression, priceless!

Another setting, which I absolutely loved, was the graveyard! That grim reaper statue was gorgeous, no matter how evil... (Ashamed to say this, I have a certain attraction to dark mysterious looking objects, and I have a feeling that might just be my downfall! ;) ) Voldermort looked disgustingly amazing. I mean the guy had no nose, and still looked quite realistic! The movie overall was much darker, and well, based on one of my favourite books!!

I hated Dumbledore. He missed the warmth the book-Dumbledore had. I hoped they would have made dear Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellen) as Doubledore! :D
I also sis not like third task at all! The first two were well done, but the third one was scary, but missing the main elements! The moving hedges were good, but quite lame with out any other fears lurking about...

[VioletFalcon129]

DING DING DING!!! Thank you!!!

Best critique (besides my own) yet!

Okay... I'm sorry, not really. But spirit pretty much agrees with MY opinions, and it always makes me ahppy when people agree with me.

A Draco fan, eh, spirit? heh... I thought the movie seriously lacked Slytherins.
The statue- yes! gorgoues!

Third task: I know, man! Fight yourself?! What foolishness...
I REALLY wanted to see how they did the Sphinx, and the spiders, and the upside down ness, and the blast ended scroot! And none of it. Booooo!
Also, the thing with "I almost thoght you weren't going ot save me" from Diggory was boo as well. The point is to win, not to be a noble person. In the book, Harry's saving Cedric was noble, and unnecissary (sp). I mean, come on, we aren't all Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. We aren't all noble, brave, hard working, good friends. :D Some of us are lazy, sneaky, conniving cowards with agendas. :D :D :cool:

(one of those being me... I am a Slytherin, after all)

-Vi

[Barliman Butterbur]

My wife and I watched HP4 on our brand-new DVD which arrived yesterday.

I enjoy these things much more at home than in the theater, because I can control the sound, run it backwards and forwards, etc., and have the advantage of subtitles (with my hearing situation, that really increases my enjoyment).

Anyway — is this not the first movie totally without the Durseleys? They're not even mentioned this time, and the movie ends in Hogwarts.

The book is huge, and I can see that, IMO, the picture benefited from compression and pruning of non-essentials. (This is the only serious issue I have with Rowlings: sometimes she overloads with interesting nuggets and details at goes off the rails of a forward-moving plot line.) Even at that, the beginning of the picture seemed really rushed.

Wonderful special effects! I wonder how long will it be before audiences take these effects in stride no matter how over-the-top they become...

My God, but I miss Richard Harris as Dumbledore! Michael Gambon just doesn't cut it for me; it's a shame they couldn't have gotten Ian McKellen to do it — but Dumbledore will get knocked off in the next movie anyway, eh?

Otherwise, I thought it's a great ride! Today I'll look at the special feature DVD that came with it.

Barley

[Wolfshead]

My God, but I miss Richard Harris as Dumbledore! Michael Gambon just doesn't cut it for me; it's a shame they couldn't have gotten Ian McKellen to do it — but Dumbledore will get knocked off in the next movie anyway, eh?
I agree. Gambon just isn't Dumbledore. Harris was much better. And what's with his accent?

And there's 2 films with Dumbledore left, Barley :cool:

[Barliman Butterbur]

I agree. Gambon just isn't Dumbledore. Harris was much better. And what's with his accent?

And there's 2 films with Dumbledore left, Barley :cool:

I understand that the accent is supposed to be a mild Scottish brogue. If you're not sure what it is, it must be bad! So Gambon's good for two more movies, eh? Pity...

And I agree with some of the other posts above: Gambon seems like he isn't even really trying to act. "Mailing in the performance" as it were.:mad:

Barley

[Wolfshead]

I understand that the accent is supposed to be a mild Scottish brogue. If you're not sure what it is, it must be bad! So Gambon's good for two more movies, eh? Pity...
I can see that's what he's attempting, but it's really over the place. It doesn't stay consistent. Hopefully he sorts it by the next film.

[baragund]

Heyyy, dipping my toe into the Harry Potter stuff for, oh, maybe the 2nd time since I've been here.

I thought Michael Gambon did a better job in "The Prisoner of Azkaban". He was more controlled, came across as being in charge, more understated in that movie. In "Goblet of Fire", he was yelling too much and losing his composure too much.

Mr. Gambon could be a decent Dumbledore. He just needs to stick to how he played it in the time traveling scene from "Prisoner of Askaban".

[Ar-Feiniel]

Okay, this is from a person that hasn't read all the books yet. What about the end? I would be so disturbed if I knew that there was some no nosed devil that had been after me for years out there, even if he was in some other demension/realm. I liked it up to the part when Harry came back from wherever he was and V(can't remember his name) was still there. Like I said I'de qiute disturbed to know that that was after me, and that's all I'd be worried about. Did I miss a part of the movie?

[Wolfshead]

Harry already knew Voldemort wanted him dead. Obviously he would have been quite surprised to end up in the graveyard and facing Voldemort but given his past exploits he was able to deal with it.

[Celebthôl]

What's up with the hokey fashion in which Moody is revealed to be Death-Eater Crouch? I was half-expecting him to say something like: "And I would have gotten away with it, too--if it wasn't for you meddling kids!"

Hah! Brilliant! I was expecting something like that aswell! Lol!

In its own right its a good film, although from the book point of view it lacked sooooooo much, they could have gotten away with at LEAST another hours worth.

Cons:
There was too much missing to make it brilliant though:
- No Charley
- No Mrs Weasley
- No Bill, which means no more Fleur :(
- No Dursleys
- No actual Quidditch match, which was lame, there was SO much build up for it!
- No Winky
- No Ludo Bagman
- No House Elves kitchen stuff
- No mention of the room of requirement
- Almost no Sirius, which means one of my fav characters has like no more screen time as as we all knows its bye bye Sirius in the next film.
Dumbledore was naff, I dont like this Micheal Gambon as Dumbledore, he seems WAY to underconfident to be the greatest Wizard of all time. He ends almost every sentence as though its some big riddle; e.g.
"People change in the maze..."
"Remember you have friends here at Hogwarts..."
The way he says them is lacking, it makes it seem he has more dialog to say but just doesn't...(;))
The Maze sucked, where were all the booby-traps and stuff??? The moving walls was cool, but not enough for the final challenge of the Tri-Wizard tournament, which as we are constantly reminded in the film is meant to push every competitor brutally to the edge. A few moving plants is pretty ****. Whats that old saying "Nature can be cruel, I can be crueller"...
Cedrics death was underplayed and Harry's acting around that point was ****. His crying was SO fake, Dumbledore seemed speachless which he never is. I felt half embarrassed at the point. It was only saved by Cedrics father who even remotely made me feel sad about it.
Voldemort was good, although he looked like his face had lost a fight with a lawn-mower, I mean where was his nose? Plus he seemed a little overacted.
Barty Crouch was lame, when in the name of all that is holy did he go to that court room? Why would he even risk being pointed out? (I can't remember if he did it in the book, but in the film it came across as a silly idea).
Not enough Malfoy.
The stupid, lame, **** and pants dragon chase...

Pros (There are some! :p):
Ron was brilliant.
Fred and George were brilliant.
Rita Skeeter was brilliant, although not as I imagined her.
Beauxbatons were all hott and Durmstrangs were all good.
Karkafoff (think that how it's spelt) was good.
Snape was as always brilliant.
Moody was fantastic.
The humours getting more mature, making the films less childishy.
Barty Crouch Sr was brilliant, exactly how I imagined him.
Cho Chang was FINE!!! The scottish accent, perfection! :D
The jokes in the film were hilarious
"I did warn you about the dragons"
"How?!"
"I told Hermioney to tell you that Seamus told me that Pavarti told Dean that Hagrid was looking for you...so you see I did tell you"
"...How could anyone work that out?!...It's totally mental!"
Haha!
And
"Whats with the flower?!" (Just the way that lines delivered is brilliant)
The general feel of the film was good in itself aswell.

Overall id give it probably a 8 out of 10, although the film was very good, there was a lot left out and a lot changed, I now end up dreding the Dumbledore speaches, which were one of my favourite parts from the first 2 films. At least its better than the 3rd film though, eh! ;)

[Barliman Butterbur]

Aha, so now we're critiquing HP, eh? Good enough!

As I said before, I think the Potter saga benefits from the necessary tightening-up it needs to go from book to film. The HP4 book displays one of Rowling's few faults, if one could even call them that: so many interesting details that they take away from the forward motion of the story.

Also, I get annoyed when Harry continually blows his top at his friends, and I get more intensely annoyed at Hermione's obsession with freeing the house elves from their horrible life. Don't get me wrong — my Dad, me and my son are all strong union men, but hey — this is a story for God's sake! It's supposed to entertain — do we really need metaphors for unionizing in the wizarding world? And sometimes I wonder at the extreme violence that goes on: Neville's parents being tortured into permanent insanity? Is that really necessary? Makes me wonder about Rowling's relationship with her ex-husband... And Dolores Umbridge — what a piece of work — (there really are those types in the world, and I suppose Rowling finds it part of her mission to warn kids about them ahead of time) making HP write lines that slice his hand open...???!! I really do wonder sometimes what's motivating her to write such stuff... :confused:

I too miss the Durseleys, but what can you do? Watching Goblet at home, I had the time to notice things I hadn't before: for instance the spectacular décolletage of some of the older girls at the Ball, woo hoo! — Snape prowling about in the parking lot looking for kids making out, and one of the stage coaches jouncing up and down — you know we're not in Disneyland anymore! And I thought the rock concert was brilliant! :D

Barley

[baragund]

Barley,
What you describe as "so many interesting details", one could also describe as a lot of superfluous asides that don't contribute much to the story, or to the character's development.

I'm reading Order of the Phoenix with my kids right now and I'm finding myself getting more and more impatient with all of the little digressions. It seems to me Ms. Rowling could have cut about a third out of Books 4 and 5 and not lost a bit of the story.

My two cents...

[VioletFalcon129]

Perhaps I am a poor judge, but I thought Dan's boo-hooing was preety good. If a bit... odd. (Okay, it probably sucked, but it made me sad, okay?)

I know what Celebthôl means aobut the maze- it was poo. I wanted to see the sphinx. And not enought Malfoy? not enought Slytherins period. And no "Amazing bouncing ferrit" line.

Also : can we move the discussion of Rowlings writing to the society thread? This one is for the moive. (just a suggestion. and my comment on child voldy bieng ignored in there as well.)

Okay, I think you guys can have your opinion, but i really like the details. It makes it seem more real to me. Admittedly some of the stuff (Umbirde's detentions, the Longbottoms) was dramatic and overblown, but i liked it. It makes you hate the bad guys the way she wants you to. ( I mean, there are plently of Slytherin and Draco lovers, but how many UMBRIDGE lovers do you come across?)

And the fact the the movies omitted Bill? Travesty. But better than ruining him, I say. Also, what happened to the Beaxbaton boys? They were all girls.
(And talking of hot, Viktory Krums personality was completely redone for the movie. I liked it, but it was way different.)

-Vi

[Wolfshead]

Also, what happened to the Beaxbaton boys? They were all girls.
There weren't any in the book either, were there?

[Barliman Butterbur]

Barley,
What you describe as "so many interesting details", one could also describe as a lot of superfluous asides that don't contribute much to the story, or to the character's development.

I was being "kind" — perhaps overly so... :eek: Rowling's saga has done so very much for children getting enthusiastic about reading again (an invaluable service, IMO), that I hate to be too harsh. But you're right — I understand what it is to come up with so many goodies — but too many spices spoil the stew. :p

Barley

[VioletFalcon129]

There were so boys in Beaxbatons. Padma and Parvati were asked to dance by them. (Not some stupid beardy dude from Durmstrang. Although admittedly, he wasn't bad)

-Vi