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I’ve honestly been waiting for “Goblet of Fire” the movie forever. Before “Half-Blood Prince” stole the position, it was my favorite book in the series. And now that’s true for the film series. Which is odd because I consider myself a purest and the film, honestly was the cliff-notes version of the book. It hit all the important points so fast it sort of startles you the first time round. There’s exactly one class (mostly to introduce the unforgivable curses). And The film is mostly the Tri-Wizard task and the Yule ball (with a few scenes here and there to tie it all together). But I still thought they did an impressive job condensing 700 plus pages into a 2 hour and a half movie. I’ve written movie scripts for my “writing for film and TV” class and I don’t know if I’d want the daunting task of condensing that MASSIVE book into a reasonably sized film.

The Movie in short:

We start with bad dream, wake up at the Burrow, time to go to the cup, we’re there, cool tent, cool quidditch teams, no game but Ron’s in love… with Krum. Uh oh, death eaters, we got to run. And abbreviated scene about the dark mark and we’re on the train back to school (lets take a few brief moments for Harry and me to sigh at the lovely Cho Chang). Now we’re at school and guess what, so are Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. No warning, there’s just a flying carriage and a ship emerging from the water. There’s an explanation of the tournament, students submitting names, Champs chosen (including young Harry *shock*), a bit of blah blah blah and some cool looking Potter stinks badges (plus a fight between a couple of best mates) and dear Harry then faces the best task of the film, the dragon. This is a really awesome sequence, honestly. The other task pale in comparison. But once it’s over, take a moment to blink and it’s dance lessons and yule ball time (And a couple more lovely moments for Harry and I to sigh at the lovely Cho Chang). Then the second task arrives and without much important in-between (except for an interesting pensieve scene) the third arrives. The third task is turned into “attack of the bushes”. Really, there’s nothing in the maze except for a bunch of crazy champions fighting insane magical bushes. And then Harry runs off to cloud city to duel with his dark father. Oops, wrong movie. You know what happens though, after “bewitched” Krum knocks out Fleur and Cedric knocks out “Bewitched” Krum, the good “fair play” lads that they are – Harry and Cedric decide to grab the cup together. The pair arrive in the graveyard where Cedric quickly dies and then after a dramatic return from his half life, Voldemort makes the classic villain mistake of talking too much about what’s gone on and what he wants to do and how he’s going to prove to his returned death eater lot that he’s far more powerful then some stupid 14 year old boy who nearly killed him as a baby. He really wants to make a good impression on his returned Death Eater lot, but it lands him in a bit of trouble as his showmanship gives Harry time to use the force… I mean magic to escape. And they did properly give the film enough time to show the key points of the graveyard scene. Dan proves how much he’s improving with each film. He TOTTALLY plays Cedric’s death better than he did the crying rock of shame in Azkaban. As we who read the book know, this isn’t the end of Harry’s trouble, he’s got another bit of trouble coming by way of Moody (the slightly off-kilter teacher, who had been a rather useful ally until then). Turns out Moody isn’t Moody, Moody has been in a box and this guy is Barty Jr. on Polyjuice potion. But don’t worry about our little hero, teachers quickly rescue him from the bad teacher and everything remaining to be tied up concerning Barty Jr’s plans are glossed over. Barty Jr. is said to be going back to Azkaban. No time for crazy ol’ Paranoid Ministers for Magic who will feed young Barty’s soul to dementors and then turn on Harry in the next film. Dumbledore gives Harry a little grandpa time in Gryffindor and then gives a sad farewell to the students (both his own and the visiting lot) in the great hall. Hermione bids good-bye to her foreign love interest and Ron gets a kiss on the cheek from his future sister-in-laws. But he seems more upset about what Hermione’s getting from Krum. Then the trio has a nice happy final scene together watching Durmstrang and Beauxbatons part. The End

The Weasley Report (Because, duh! They’re the most important thing)

The Burrow: I was so happy to see the Burrow in the film. And more importantly, a brief visit to Ron’s room. I can’t wait till I have the DVD and I can get a better look at it.

Mrs. Weasley and Charlie: I was pleased both characters had a role in the movie, even if the actors themselves didn’t. During their five seconds at the Burrow Hermione mentions Ron’s mother is waiting downstairs to make them breakfast. And of course she sends Ron his dress robes. Charlie, of course, DID help bring in the Dragons for the first task. And Ron was around to know about it, according to Hagrid. We don’t see it, but we hear about it. So in there own way, even if it didn’t mean jobs for the actors, the characters were there.

Sibling interaction: The Weasleys we DID get in the film interacted properly. The lot of teenage siblings and their friends, Harry and Hermione, did a lot of messing around in the tent after the cup. The scene after the cup is so like teens after an awesome event I can’t wait to watch it a few times more. The scene of them talking about what happened and teasing Ron is just so random and teenage. I love when the kids just act like kids, because you couldn’t be more in tuned with the spirit of the books then when you let them do that. We also have scenes in school where the twins mock Ron and tease him. And just general random interaction that truly reflects Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George being siblings.

Mr. Weasley: He’s alright. He has very few “fun” Mr. Weasley moments surrounding the World Cup. His tent is already up when he gets to the Cup and he never has to fool with Muggle money or play with Muggle matches. He does look a bit the stressed out parent when he’s in the tent with a group of rowdy post-cup excited teens. I also think I spotted him at the final task in the stands (obviously there for Harry). I’ll have to confirm this when I go to see it again, but if he was there it’s nice to know a Weasley Parent did show up for moral support.

Ginny: At first I thought it was sad Movie!Ginny’s crush was completely dropped as a plot point after Chamber. Now that I’ve had time to reflect on it, it’s not bad that the movie interpretation of Ginny seems pretty over her crush on Harry. Ginny is far from invisible in this film (as she was in Azkaban). She has a few lines here and there and she’s in almost every “group scene” in the movie. She’s obviously at every one of the task, at dance lessons, at the ball, etc. Almost all her lines seem in tune with the “natural Ginny” (as opposed to shy Crush Ginny). She teases Ron about his interest in Krum, tells the twins not to be so rude (or something like that). And she has this really saucy tone in her voice when she said she’d never wear something as “ghastly” as Ron’s dress robes. Basically, she gives Ginny personality in a few lines the way Chris Rankin always did with Percy. She even seen consoling her dear brother on his disasterous attempt to ask out Fleur. He tries to explain how he just burst out and ask her and Ginny adds to the group “he actually sort of yelled at her”(the audience of the film has to laugh here). I have Zero doubt she can pull off book 5 and 6 Ginny effortlessly.

For those who say she hasn’t grown up, watch Chamber of Secrets again before going to see Goblet. The girl has grown A LOT physically and performance wise. She knows how to do a lot with only a little bit of material. It’s clear even in those brief moments she’s wearing pigtails that this thirteen year old is older and more confident than the little girl hoodwinked by Riddle’s diary. And her line delivery is spot on Ginny, even if it is only a few lines. The fact that she’s apparently over running from a room in Harry’s presence (ah la Chamber) and that she can mess about with him and her siblings at and after the Cup only opens the door for the Ginny we meet in Phoenix much easier.

And it’s funny, I recently saw an old clip of an Emma Watson interview from the first film where she’s semi-begging for female company on set. And she gets that here in the form of an expanded young female cast. But even more than that, they have set up the fact Hermione and Ginny are best girlfriends quite subtly. There’s few cute Hermione/Ginny moments. Once when Cedric jumps out the tree (on their way to the cup), Hermione and Ginny give each other this look like “Yeah, he’s fine”. It’s a very cute “girl” moment. Then when the uber girly Beauxbatons show up and the guys are watching them with rapt attention, you can just see Hermione and Ginny sitting there like “what’s with them?”. Of course, during the “I’m not an Owl scene” Ginny gets to stand there (a bit boring but it brings her in as a friend of the trio). And when Hermione finally gets pissed off about the message passing between the boys she makes her exit with Ginny. It was almost like “I’m sick of these boys, come save me please”. It made me look forward to the next few films even more as Ginny’s role is stepped up so it should make the Ginny-Hermione bond more apparent.

Ginny looked wonderful in her Yule Ball dress (briefly as it was seen). And what the bloody hell was she doing with Neville all night? *grin* Well I guess it’s fodder for the whore-Ginny lot and fun for the Neville/Ginny lot.

Fred & George: We know the biggest thing to come out of the Goblet novel concerning the twins is financing for their shop. They pretty much dropped the prize money portion of the plot. The only reward for winning the tournament was a shiny cup (Yeah, a cup that can just sit on a shelf and look pretty is soooo much better than prize money *smirk*). The money was half of Ron, Fred, and George’s motivation to want to find a way to enter. I mean fame and glory is cool and all that, but fact is the Weasleys are poor and the kids like the idea of fattening their pocketbooks a bit. And for Fred and George it was an important investment in their future. Silly as they are, they had plans, they’re keen business men. The prize money provided loads of temptation. But to make up for it (and fill the absence of that bet with Ludo Bagman) the twins start a Triwizard Tournament hustle. They take bets on each task, so basically they earn the money they need for the shop on their own I suppose. And while Harry’s act in the book (giving up his winnings) was generous, it isn’t too big plot point to write around. Otherwise, the twins are amusing as ever. I honestly love it when they do that thing where they say the same thing at the same time. The scene with Hermione before they deposited their names in the cup was also amusing as it’s a great set up for their conflict with Prefect Hermione. And the whole thing with their failed age potion attempt is really one of the most hilarious scenes in the entire film. As is their comments (most likely ad-libbed) during the Gryffindor dancing lessons scene. Really they are just so amazingly Fred & George here. Even when they’re background, they’re not just background, they’re Fred and George on a normal school day.

Ron: Ron was so very RON in this that even the stuff that was made up was so perfectly suited to Ron and could have happened in canon. They really got to the heart of Ron here. Letting the audience know he hides his insecurities in this thinly veiled confidence and of course that sarcastic wit of his. Ron only really pulls a face once in this, when he’s attacked by his worse fear (a spider) in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Instead of consistently playing scared, he plays concerned and moody and even a bit of the hero when he delivers Fleur her mini-Fleur (Gabriella). He also goes through a hormonal change as he doesn’t hide his attraction to the French girls. If there was shrieking/scared Ron to be found in the film, I’ve forgotten him. There is a really cute “horrified” scene where Ron covers up because Hermione is over his bed in his room. And if I remember correctly, there was a Christmas scene not too much unlike this in one of the books (I just can’t remember which book it was). Rupert has more emotionally driven scenes too. Far from the giddy boy just happy to meet Harry Potter, he approaches the sweets trolley on the train ride to school and prepares to buy a few sweets with his pocket money only to realize he doesn’t have enough for the selection of sweets he wanted. Harry offers to pay for it, but Ron refuses it as politely as possible as he sadly takes what treats he can afford back to his seat. The movies have never gotten to the heart of Ron’s occasional embarrassment at not having much money and this trolley scene so subtly touches on these emotions, it’s brilliant. It really is a sweet moment where you feel for Ron. He’s also mildly sympathetic during his fight with Harry. My heart sort of broke when he was like “That’s me, Ron Weasley, Harry Potter’s stupid friend”. And considering past films where Ron was considered (and I actually read this in an article) a “dim-blub” it was a moment where the Ron character really grew a bit. You really get it’s his own insecurities getting to him more than anything else. Ron finally has layers and Rupert gets a range of emotions to play in this film and it’s a pure delight.

Playing Dress Up: Okay, how come Ron got robes out of a hundred year old garbage bin, but Ginny managed to wear a pretty dress and the twins (well at least the one I saw) looked like he was dressed pretty decently. Does Molly hate poor Ron? (No, I don’t think she does, but it was kind of sad he was the only Weasley sibling who looked like rubbish. Could you blame him for being a horrid date?)

Harry and Hermione

Dirty Blond hair be damned, Hermione was actually Hermione this time. I sort of worried about scenes of Harry and Hermione struggling over candlelight to sort out the first task, but the Ron/Harry fight stayed focus on Ron/Harry so Hermione never got these scenes. And she certainly didn’t pick sides as she continued to hang out with Ron during the fight (hence the “I’m not an Owl scene”). I don’t think the book ever implied she stopped speaking to Ron anyway, it’s just that we were with Harry so we mostly got clued in when she was with him too. And Harry’s need was greater as the whole school was against him. She did get a cute “helping Harry” scene while they were trying to solve the egg, during which time Ron falls asleep and Harry’s half asleep with his head in a book. Hermione jars him out of the sleeping and nags him about the importance of solving the riddle. Harry gets visibly annoyed with her at one point. At that moment I was like “this is the trio”. There’s another really amusing trio moment. After her Yule brawl with Ron, Hermione snaps at Harry and actually orders him to bed like she’s his mum. Harry has a “what did I do?” look on his face and her tyraid sends both Harry and Ron running off to bed. Ron has some amusing line about “when girls grow up they get crazy”. And, oh my god, in a film with very few classes (actually, only one) Newell found time to have Hermione sitting about with a book in her hand! That was total Hermione. She sits studying while Harry, Ron, and the rest of the school wait with rapt attention to find out who’s going to submit their names for the tournament.

Hermione’s relationship with Krum seemed far more mutual on screen then it did in the book. But I always thought she liked the guy, so maybe not. It’s hard for her not to be a little giddy over the attention of such a hot and manly older guy (that Ron worships up until the moment he sees him with his woman). It’s really funny that Ron blames her for not being his date. He has some line where he says “I would have took her if…” blah blah blah.

Daniel has only improved as Harry and this is his best Harry performance yet. I really got a lot of amusement out of Harry’s interactions with the opposite sex (excluding Hermione). His crush on Cho is only subtly presented, but he does it so well. He has this dreamy look in his eyes after spotting her on the train, a goofy grin as he stares at her in the great hall, and a wonderful moment where he sees her dressed in her Yule Ball robes. Even though Cho’s intro is brief and kind of unexplained, Dan (along with Katie) do a brilliant job of making it very real for Harry with very little material. He also (unlike the other champions and their pretty/handsome dates) looks more than a little horrified as he walks into the Yule Ball for his dance with his date. Not as horrified as Padma looked when she saw her date (Ron) dressed in the worse dress robes ever, but you could tell he’d rather not be there on display with the other champions. He’d rather face a dragon again.

The movie definitly hit all the important points concerning Ron’s crush on Hermione, but are there things for the Harry/Hermione shippers? Yeah, I guess so, Harry has a “wow” moment when he sees Hermione dressed up. Hermione kisses Harry on the top of the head after the second task and tells him how proud she is of him (I suppose this replaces kiss on the cheek). And in the last scene of the film, she grabs Harry’s arm a bit and ask him if he’s going to write (for what, you’ll all be seeing each other soon enough). There might be some other arguably H/Hr moments, but I say most of the ones seen in Promo Pictures/Trailers were red herring scenes. Hermione is sick to death with worry when she spontaneously hugs Harry. She practically falls through the tent when she does so. Harry looks a bit shocked and off put at the way she falls through the opening of the tent and lands in his arms. In fact he was doing more catching her than hugging her. The moment is only made worse by Rita’s photographic timing. At the cup there’s a bit of extra grabby Hermione, but that’s mostly because that fool Harry is running the wrong way for some insane and unexplained reason. And as for that ducking “arm around the shoulder” scene, turns out that’s about two seconds in the film where Harry pulls his friends down so they don’t get blasted by a spell. And the bridge scene was completely unromantic. Harry looks a bit “leave me alone” when they turn from discussing her boyfriend (the amusing bit that it was) to her nagging him about the task again. I mean if someone wants to take that romantically, go ahead. But in the context of the film it was about as unromantic as “Wonky Faints” were in the book (even if they are funny). Harry and Hermione seem to be exactly what JK Rowling said the are, very platonic friends.

The promotional folks might be H/Hr shippers, but it doesn’t seem like Mike Newell is. Newell seems far more into Ron/Harry. His invention of Ron knowing about the dragons and Ron’s failed (complicated) plan to tell Harry about them despite being mad works out into a pretty sweet make up scene where Hermione smiles at the pair and says “boys” (to which my heart sails and says “that’s the trio”). It also works out well as a sign about how much the boys care about each other deep down (even though they’re manly blokes and can’t do sappy stuff like hug and grab each other’s arms and all that). Another wonderful Ron/Harry moment is during the second task. Harry has no idea his friend is underwater when he starts out (unlike in the book), but upon arriving under the water he does go to Ron first and touch him. He looks at the others, but he his first instincts took him to Ron. Afterward they don’t bother to have the boys argue over Harry’s “saving people thing” in the second task, which was fine as they do leave in the group being pleased about Harry earning points for “moral fiber”.

And other Ron/Harry moments are just hilarious. For example when they get dressed for the ball Ron is horrified when he sees Harry in his nice looking dress robes (which I suppose he managed to get on his own) and Harry tries his best to console him, saying he supposes Ron’s are bit more “traditional” or something of the sort. This consoling doesn’t work of course. And who’s dressed well and who’s not doesn’t matter much when they finally arrive at the dance. After his forced dance with his very pretty date, Harry’s done and Ron’s not getting started. It is utterly hilarious when you seen everyone dancing and enjoying the “Weird Sisters” at the Yule Ball only to have the camera pan back to Harry and Ron sitting at a nearly abandoned table with their pissed off dates. It’s truly one of those Harry/Ron moments that came to be as hilarious on-screen as it is in the books. Since there are no Beauxbatons boys in the movie, Tolga Safer’s character (who we know is from Durmstrang) rescues Paravati and poor Padma just storms off after Ron has his jealous confrontation with Hermione.

Other People and Events

Neville is a lovely scene stealer in this one. Matt Lewis truly proves he has range in this one. He looks utterly horrified at Moody doing the Cruciatus Curse on a spider. If there was any doubt about Matt’s ability to truly act, he proves his talent in this scene. However, the bit about Neville’s parents in the pensieve scene is glazed over so quickly, I wonder if the just-movie audience actually made the connection. Well, at least it’s there for those who are just into the films to make the connection later when they can view the film in detail in their homes months from now (on DVD). As we all know, Neville takes over Dobby’s role somewhat and actually does give Harry the gillyweed. I was cracking up when he thought the gillyweed had failed Harry and he said “I’ve killed Harry Potter”. Then everyone cheers and Neville has no idea Harry has just completed his transformation. Unfortunately, they dropped any clue that Hermione was Neville’s first choice for the ball. After how panicked Hermione got over him being upset in DADA, I think it would have been cute to have him ask. I liked the idea Neville had a sort of brief mini-crush on Hermione.

Cho’s appearance may have been brief, but I was affected by it. Of course I’m in love with her (Katie, not Cho), so that may have been 75% of the reason. First of all, I could hear Katie Leung talk forever talk FOREVER. When I get the DVD I think I’ll watch Harry ask her out about 20 times just so I can hear her talk. I’m so in love with that accent of hers. That being said, I think the character of Cho was done a disservice by being introduced so late in the game. Don’t get me wrong, she’s very much the decent human being she is in the books. She was really sweet to Harry on the whole issue of already having a date to the ball and she implies that if he ever ask again and she’s a “free agent” then she’d likely say yes. However, the movie going audience not only doesn’t get that she’s a rather bright Ravenclaw witch, they don’t know what a superb athlete she is. Unfortunately, I think Cedric’s death really did her in when it came to being emotionally stable (in Phoenix). So I don’t see how the next film can do anything but leave the audience feeling the way most of the book audience did (hating Cho). Also unfortunate, there’s not one scene in the film that lets you know Cho and Cedric were more than a one date thing. The were actually together as a couple after the ball happened. But all in all I guess for a movie series Katie is all that she needs to be as Cho Chang (and that’s flirty, sweet, and prettier than all the Veela in Bulgaria and France). I just hope they get her in a quidditch uniform ONCE for OotP. Come on, let me see my Cho fly once. All in all though, I have to say she did brilliantly with the little bit of material she was given. And I was glad they put in that shot of her crying when Harry makes his portkey return with Cedric’s dead body. At least the audience knows she was attached to Cedric, so maybe they’ll have some sympathy for her in the next film.

Speaking of that scene, the return from the graveyard is truly a brilliant scene. Harry comes back and everyone’s still cheering, not realizing what’s gone on. And then there’s just this moment where it all sets in for everyone. Did I mention Dan totally makes up for PoA’s crying rock of shame in this film? He was brilliant. I didn’t really cry, but I felt the scene.

Unfortunately, the future Ms. Bill Weasley, the Flower of the Court, was a display piece. Both foreign champions do a good job of standing around a lot, but Fleur has no personality she just looks sophisticated and pretty for most of the film. Clémence Poésy still isn’t Fleur to me. She’s cute and (as far I can tell from interviews) as sweet as you can get. I can tell by a run down of her past work, bloody talented. But there’s a certain ethereal beauty to Fleur in my head (think the child-like Empress in the Neverending story, something slightly more than average human beauty) and Clemence doesn’t have it, so I was looking for a reason for the acting to make up for it. Because she speaks English so well in real life, I was actually looking forward to a good laugh at a horribly amusing and exaggerated French accent along with her haughty “I’m beautiful and I know it attitude”. Didn’t get it. Nowhere do they mention Veela or the fact so Ron’s insane attempt at asking her out was motivated by those powers. This is where the film is losing something in translation from the book. In fact, the film implied Ron was more into the French girls because they were hot and French. Nothing implied he was actually into Fleur herself.

Now on to Ms. Skeeter. Despite it being a very brief thing, Rita does her job. Rita’s articles are amusing, especially since her Hermione/Harry picture re-runs her mis-interpretation of the hug the same way the trailers did. But there’s no mention of her being an animagus with the ability to transform into a beetle, so Hermione doesn’t capture her as revenge for Harry (and herself) or anything. Rita’s quick quotes quill is as funny as she is. There’s just something about the way it moves.

Krum is a silent and imposing character in the books. He hardly ever speaks in the books anyway, so it isn’t surprising he has about two lines in the entire film. His presence is certainly better put to use then Fleur’s. And he pulls off really well his line in the champions tent when he confronts Rita about her misinterpretation of the Harry/Hermione hug. And movie Krum is far too confident in his manliness to be worried about Hermione’s little friend. So he never has to confront Harry about his relationship with Herm-own-ninny (I’m so upset we never got to hear him say her name like that though). We do see fan girls chasing him across school grounds once though. Harry never has any doubts about Krum’s character in the maze as his white eyes make the fact that he’s “Bewitched” (Harry’s words) very clear, but they could have spent a bit more time making it clear how that played into little Barty’s plans. As is, it just seems like he went mad. And next we see him he’s inviting a very giddy Hermione to write to him over the summer.

Moody was brilliant. He looks nothing like my Moody, but I’m completely over it. I have no doubt Bredan Gleeson can play real Moody as successfully as he did fake Moody, but will the movie going audience get the whole “this guy was in the box the whole time” thing.

Hagrid and Mdm. Maxime are a hilarious pair. It’s particularly amusing when new Flitwick gets stabbed in the hand by Hagrid while he’s looking at her. They decided to omit the giant couples falling out as well as any reference to Wizarding issues with Giants.

They also leave out Dumbledore’s call to action for the “old crowd”. How they’re going to introduce the fact Sirius is now understood to be on the right side by the “old crowd” I don’t know, but as they all become rebels on Dumbledore’s word I guess it makes a bit of sense.

Most of the supporting cast, Angelina Johnson, Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan, the Patil twins, etc. are mostly just there for show. The Gryffindor boys do get a lot of hanging about that bring the whole school atmosphere to life. And because all the named background actors have a relationship not too much unlike school boys at school and have REALLY known each other four years plus, they pull off acting like schoolboys who have known each other for years quite effortlessly.

The trio of magical pets are also almost all but left out. Pig isn’t seen at all (apparently he was just for promo picture purposes), Hedwig gets sent off to send a letter to Sirius and is never seen again. Crookshanks’ only duty in the film is sitting beside Hermione on the train. Unfortunately (unless it’s animated in the future) I don’t really see how the films could really capture pig (the hyper owl on crack), Hedwig (the sophisticate mail owl), and Crookshanks (the smarter than average cat) properly.

Lucius Malfoy and his son make an impressive pair at the cup. And they carry a proper air of arrogance around them. Unfortunately, Lucius’ dear wife and Draco’s mother is absent from the piece. Shame really as I wanted to see what her movie version would look like. Draco’s involvement is once again played for comedy. Does anyone really see this kid as a threat after his whinning in Azkaban and his antics in this film?

The big bad, the dark lord, Voldemort is brilliantly designed. I loved that reptilian look they gave him. But this should not be anyone’s FIRST Harry Potter anything though. The staging of this scene with Voldemort almost requires that you’ve at least been to see the past films if you’ve not the books.

complaints

The pacing was a bit rushed. Some scenes transitioned fine, but most transitioned so fast you’re like “what happened.” For example, I was looking forward to what would happen when Neville voluntarily got up for dance lesson and as soon as he made a move to get up, they cut to the next scene.

It bothered me that both Patil girls were in Gryffindor. Every time I saw Padma at the Gryffindor table, in the Gryffindor house, blah blah blah I was like WRONG TIE, WRONG HOUSE. I know they probably wanted the fake twins together for the “twin” effect and unless you know the books, you probably won’t care but it was a bit disturbing for me. Instead of Padma, Afshan seemed to be a merger of Padma and Lavender.

I found Dumbledore to be bit disturbing this time around. In the one scene focused on the teachers seems Dumbledore (who’s usually so protective of Harry) actually decides “Yeah, I’ll use him to see what’s going on here.” In the book, they did say that they were sort of stuck because of the whole “Binding Magical Contract” situation, but in the movie they imply Dumbledore could have got the kid out of it and decided not to.

I must say, “mind slime” for the pensieve looks gross on screen. It’s like using your want to pull snot from your head. I don’t really know if they got to the point of what a pensieve is. The Pensieve scene seemed a little TOOO sudden and I wish they had made the memory a bit of a duller color (like they did in Chamber). When Harry falls into a memory is Chamber it’s clear by the dullness of the color that Harry’s in a memory. They do let you know Harry isn’t really where he is when a hand goes through him, but the bit about the pensive just seems like a really confusing scene for an outsider.

I also didn’t get Harry finding Barty dead and then no follow-up scene. It was like hmm, here’s Mr. Crouch on the ground – next scene, no mention of a dead guy.

I have to say the Floo-call (telephone call equivalent use of Floo powder) looked better in my head too. They didn’t really explain this alternate use of Floo powder in the film. All of a sudden you just have Sirius’ head talking in the fire.

Dear little Neil (the cute little Gryffindor first year), why didn’t they just script him as Dennis Creevey. He serves the same bloody purpose. At least, unlike Alfonso Cuarón, Newell didn’t waste screen time on nameless Gryffindors and Slytherins of his own invention. Not-Dennis Creevey only had two noticeable scenes. And except for me wanting to make him Creevey in my head, he didn’t interfere with my enjoyment the way the line stealer did in PoA (you know, the black kid that kept having lines). And the fact that it was a young nameless Gryffindor was a nice highlight of the fact the school is not full of teenagers exclusively. PoA shoved to many background Gryffindors into the exact same year as Harry, Hermione, and Ron.

Surprisingly (after all the uproar over clothes in PoA) the clothes of the kids didn’t bother me. At most of the task the kids are out of uniform and it seems perfectly natural. I also didn’t miss S.P.E.W. or the Dursleys. Not in any significant way. Now I do wish we had actually gotten a Quidditch Cup scene. The cut from welcome to the cup to it being over was a bit too quick.