The 3rd Harry Potter film is a fine example of the art of film direction. For Harry Potter lovers, the 4th one should be even better. Simply because the 4th book is the best. I have to admit, the Goblet of Fire is a difficult book to adapt. There are several stories. All of them are exciting and rich in characters. Putting them
altogether in a two something hour movie will never be easy. But what I saw last weekend was not anything I was expecting. There is no excuse for make such a bad film out a wonderful book. With $10 wasted, I would sincerely suggest those who haven't seen the movie to read the book instead of going to the theaters. This, is a fine example of the films that you can not understand if you didn't read the book before watching.
Of the omissions and alternations made in the film, some are due to the sensitivity of the material. (Yeah, by stating sensitive, I mean politically.) Therefore, most of the "Pure-bloods" vs. "Muggle-bloods", humans vs. giants, wizards vs. house elves talk disappeared from the movie. The important plot driven house elves like Winky and Dobby even didn't present in the movie, let alone the "House-Elf Liberation Front" established by Hermoine. I know it is ironic, but those omissions are reasonable. Even though I think the book did a much better job. Basically, the Harry Potter is about class and discrimination. "Human" rights and privileges. To me, the old theme of the conflicts between the Dark and the Bright is secondary.
But what about other things that were in the book but not in the film? After all, Harry Potter books are about magic. It should be a kids movie anyhow. I think Hagrids' Blast-Ended Skrewts would make many children laugh. It wasn't there. What about the Quidditch World Cup? They generated a spectacular playing fields for the game, which reminded me of the Centre Pompidou of Paris, but no real scene of the game was played. I was still expecting the game to begin, in the next cut, the game was over. What was that about?
The Triwizard Tournament is equally ridiculous. Seems to me only the performance of our hero, Mr. Potter, was worth shotting. Did anyone else
actually competed in the tournament? I didn't know, because I didn't see it. Yes, yes, our hero is special. However, he still can not continue without the help of his friends and family. Then, why, why, the effort of Sirius Blake, Ron and
Hermoine etc. were completely removed from the picture? And just because of this, the fireplace scene, where Sirius, Harry's Godfather, talked to Potter, didn't make any sense. What are they going to do about the next film? Nevermind! I should stop right here now. If I continued, I could ruin your pleasure of reading the book yourself.
Oh, the ugly 3D mermaids;
and the evil death eater parades;
the movie's so dark,
that a child shouts,
Mom, so afraid I am, let's go home and play cards.