Harry Potter and Goblet of fire….
I remember last year I gave a stupendous review on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I remember being truly entertained by the cleverly directed and produced movie where Harry and friends manipulated time traveling in their adventures and magical quests to save everyone from evil. This time, however, I must say I wasn’t too impressed. Yes the graphics were great. Of course, getting to watch it in THX is even more breathtaking as the experience is truly different. I am not telling a lie when I say I can FEEL the movie. The THX effects were even greater during the King Kong trailer where I could feel the whole cinema shake when King Kong roared, thumped his chest and boy did the cinema rock when T-rex came charging. No kidding, King Kong rocks man…. I can particularly feel the difference as I have watched the trailer like more than 10 times through my 17 inch monitor (thanks to little Bryan who threatens to starve himself if I don’t give in to his request - “I want to watch King Kong again!”). So believe me when I say that it’s a totally different experience watching it in a THX theater.
Ok back to Harry Potter. I am impressed, but 2.5 hours later (yes this movie is longggg), somehow I have forgotten its greatness. I can hardly remember what amazed me in the first place. When I think back, I remember being awed in the beginning. The stadium scenes where the Quidditch World Cup was held, was amazing. And the dragon. That was spectacular too. Don’t worry, I am not giving anything away as all these are already depicted in the trailer. And then the arrival of special guests from other parts of the world. Now all these are already in the trailer but still it was magical. What was not in the trailer is the fact that I somehow associate the Burly Bulgarians (representatives from other parts of the world in the TriWizard Tournament) with Russians coming in a “submarine”. And of course the French Girls (ala Madeline, the little girl in the French convent school) came from the skies in their “planes”. Of course, their transports are not just plane submarines or planes. They are magical. You have to watch the movie to know where the magic is.
Alright, notice that I deliberated on the special effects and diverted entirely from the real movie plot. In fact, I can’t really remember what the movie is really about after 2.5 hours. There are a lot of elements about growing up like friendship, love, helping others, and other morally right stuffs to do. This is a good movie for the youth. Parents should bring their children but note that the movie is rated PG13 in the United States.
Maybe because there are deaths and ghosts involved in this movie but it’s not morbid or bloody or gory. I just found out that Mike Newell is the first English director employed in this Harry Potter series, but that’s not the entire reason why this movie is so long winded. The actual book is long winded with 734 pages so the director actually did a good job in squeezing it into one movie instead of breaking into 2 parts.
Note that there are some parts which may have been censored in the Malaysian theaters. I can’t understand why Hermione cried and scolded Ron during the ball. It seems (I use the word seems as I am not sure) she was upset with Ron for not dating her but there was no love tension between them all along and if it was mentioned in the book, the director certainly did not dwell on that point.
Alright, enough of cheap wizardry talk about the movie. It’s time for you to go and feel the magical THX experience for yourself. It’s the experience that counts…
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