Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home Culture

HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE – Fantasy leaps into fright

byStaff writers
11 December 2005
Reading Time: 3 mins read
AA
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint
Director: Mike Newell
Rated: M

I THINK J.K. Rowling deserves a Nobel Prize for literature.

Not that her prose would earn her the award, although her literary style has improved as her monumental series has progressed.

Her award would be granted for doing what few of us would have guessed could have happened in our lifetime – having children line up around the block to be the first to buy and read a book.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the fourth and latest film in the series is, as you have no doubt heard, the darkest of the tales filmed so far.

The Australian censors have given this film an M rating with good reason.

The Goblet of Fire is not for small or impressionable children. It has a few genuinely frightening scenes and a lot of implied physical and emotional violence.

Harry is now 14 (though Daniel Radcliffe looks considerably older), and is completing his fourth year at Hogwarts School.

Principal Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) announces that the college will be hosting three other wizardry schools for the Quidditch World Cup and the Triwizard Tournament.

Although entry is restricted to senior students, Harry Potter’s name is secretly entered and accepted by the Goblet of Fire.

Related Stories

Gwen has given 15,000 hours of cuddles to sick and premature babies

Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition

Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

Against the background of these magical Olympics, Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) rises from the dead and draws Harry into a confrontation wherein he intends to murder him. Voldemort killed Harry’s parents.

With Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and a new teacher at Hogwarts, Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody (Brendan Gleeson), Harry is helped to do his wizardry duty at the games and survive to play another film against his evil nemesis.

There is much to admire about The Goblet of Fire.

Director Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Traffic and Mona Lisa Smile) thankfully takes a scalpel to Rowling’s bloated prelude in the book and starts the action within 15 minutes of the film’s beginning.

He maintains a good momentum throughout, even though he drops many of the book’s subplots and some of the characters we have met in the other films.

Newell and screenwriter Steven Kloves cannot, however, save this film from being too long.

At 157 minutes I got bored, and so did many of the children with whom I saw it.

Furthermore, the acting is not universally good.

The old English stalwarts are outstanding: Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Gary Oldman, Miranda Richardson, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith and Timothy Spall among them.

Daniel Radcliffe has also listened and learnt as he has gone on and, even though he now looks physically wrong for the part, Daniel is convincing as Harry.

But Emma Watson’s Hermione and Rupert Grint’s Ron remain the weak links in the film. It is not all their fault.

Hermione is as painful on screen as she is in the book, and Ron is as big a dullard.

But good actors, even young ones, find ways of developing nuances in long-term characters that attract the viewer to want to watch them. That’s not true of Ron and Hermione.

The values of the Goblet of Fire are as solid as in its predecessors. Harry’s noble defence of his parent’s death, and his special gifts mean he alone has to lead the final showdown with the dark forces of evil and destruction. More than a little of a messianic mission here.

And unlike nearly every other superhero around, Harry can’t fulfil his mission on his own, so on the way he needs assistance, support, tutelage and friendship.

For fans of the books and the other films, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is necessary viewing, though the box office returns have been steadily declining with each film.

For the uninitiated it may be better to wait until the whole series comes out on DVD and you have a week to watch them all in one go. The fifth film is on the way.

ShareTweet
Previous Post

THUMBSUCKER

Next Post

A Franciscan Yuletide

Staff writers

Related Posts

Gwen has given 15,000 hours of cuddles to sick and premature babies
QLD

Gwen has given 15,000 hours of cuddles to sick and premature babies

20 May 2022
Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition
QLD

Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition

20 May 2022
Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning
QLD

Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

19 May 2022
Next Post

A Franciscan Yuletide

Brisbane to host Adore congress

Santa's Christmas wish

Popular News

  • Here are the stories of 10 new saints being canonised this Sunday

    Here are the stories of 10 new saints being canonised this Sunday

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Queensland election: The pro-life political parties committed to abortion law reforms

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Parishes unite for Logan deanery family festival this Sunday

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Government urged to help return Bali Nine prisoners from Indonesia

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

Gwen has given 15,000 hours of cuddles to sick and premature babies
QLD

Gwen has given 15,000 hours of cuddles to sick and premature babies

by Joe Higgins
20 May 2022
0

BRISBANE grandmother Gwendoline Grant has clocked up 15,000 hours cuddling and caring for sick and premature babies...

Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition

Helping stroke survivors earns Ozcare volunteer national recognition

20 May 2022
Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

19 May 2022
Catholic relationship advisers offer five tips to look after your mental health

Nationwide rosary event happening for Australia’s patroness this Saturday

19 May 2022
Francis offers advice on politics: Seek unity, don’t get lost in conflict

Francis offers advice on politics: Seek unity, don’t get lost in conflict

19 May 2022

Never miss a story. Sign up to the Weekly Round-Up
eNewsletter now to receive headlines directly in your email.

Sign up to eNews
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyChoose another Subscription
    Continue Shopping