In the book Ron does at least rip the lace off.
The whole escape is changed in the movie. Now, instead of escaping from Crouch Sr.'s house, it seems that Barty Jr. never “died” at all, but just sat in Azkaban for 13 years (somehow not aging at all along the way) and then escaped undetected. Ethilrist is right: the fact that they DON’T make a huge deal about his escape after PoA is a pretty major plot discrepancy.
I thought the Crouches were pathetically executed, overall. Barty Senior is supposed to be a big, cold lawyer sort, who projects business over a core of bitterness, but instead comes off as a creepy buffoon. Barty Junior, on the other hand, is supposed to be “Voldemort’s closest servant.” In the book, it’s believable that he could subdue Mad-Eye Moody and learn his characteristics well enough to fool his closest friends, because he’s portrayed as a brilliant, tortured individual. In the movie, he’s just a lunatic with an annoying facial tic.
I liked it alot, and I agree that the twins were very pretty (my best friend is still lusting after Fleur and the other Beaxbeatons, though).
I have one complaint and one question:
First, the question: When Moody stops showing them the Curse because it’s upsetting Neville and later takes Neville back up to his room, was he just “acting” nice, or was there an alterior motive? I kept thinking he did something to Neville in revenge, there.
The part that annoyed me: Everyone assuming Harry fixed the Goblet to get into the Tournament. If I’d been Harry, my response would have been: “Look, I’m a student. I don’t have the mojo to mess with this thing, especially with all of these master wizards here. If I did it, I managed to do what no one has ever done, in front of Dumbledore and the whole faculty, in order to enter a contest that could kill me. Yeah, I did it. Morons.” That whole response by everyone, and their teasing of Harry, just pissed me off.
His irrational dislike of Snape in HBP also pissed me off, but that’s another story.
Regarding Dumbledore…
I thought Gambon was excellent as Dumbledore in PoA. Any problems I had with him in this movie would be more director/script related than actor related. I do agree that he was probably too out of sorts in this movie, but that doesn’t seem like Gambon’s fault. Yes, Richard Harris played a delightful, caring old man. He also looked like a good stiff breeze would blow him away. That portrayal would not have worked for screen versions of books 5 and 6. Gambon captures some of Dumbledore’s quirks that were missing in the nurturing Harris version.
I thought the dragon scene was probably the best dragon I’ve ever seen put to film. It had mass, it acted like an animal. When it was scrabbling across the roof to get at Harry I totally bought it. It was executed considerably better than my hazy impression of the scene from the book.
I had issues with Barty Crouch Jr. being revealed so early, and all that, but I did like the fact that they made him a former Auror, rather than just some kid who was running with the wrong crowd. It made it much more believable that he would be able to futz with the goblet and subdue Moody.
After all, the idea that Crouch Sr. would let his Azkaban escapee Death Eater psychopath son go to the World Cup event that HE was supposed to be at least partially supervising had always struck me as utterly ludicrous.
I’d have to agree with the folks who found the Maze event very underwhelming. It was creepy, to be sure, but it was a huge anticlimax after the spectacular dragon and lake sequences.
I’m not a fan of the actress playing Hermione. She adds a layer of annoying to a character I’m already kind of annoyed by, and acting with her eyebrows is not winning me over.
Judging from their entrance, the screenwriter seems to believe that, not only are all Beauxbatons students female, they are all half-Veela or something. I was a bit put off by the Broadway entrances made by Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.
I’m not sure if it happens in the book, but it seems very odd to me that Dumbledore would greet a scumbag like the Durmstrang headmaster like he was a good friend, whether he wanted to show unity or not. (Speaking of which, how did that guy even get the job? He seems even less likely than Snape to be put in charge of children without serious parental objections.)
He did this because he knew from conversation with other teachers that Neville was interested in herbology - he lent Neville a book which, it just so happened, had information about Gillyweed in. In the movie, as you saw, Neville tells Harry about Gillyweed and Harry uses it in the second task. In the books it happens a little differently, but that’s still the reason why Moody did that.
Well, Harry also survived the killing curse, which no one else has ever done. He’s thwarted Voldemort’s plans many times already. He killed a basilisk. He’s already done a lot of stuff that shows he’s at least a bit better than your average student; enough to make the teachers think he might have put his name in (although Dumbledore does, in the books, believe him immediatly)
As for motivation? Well, duh, eternal glory! Why else did Cedric, or Fleur, or Krum enter if it could kill them?
I’d like to add that I love how the movie played up that Neville was incredibly bright at Herbology. From the first 3 movies, you get the picture that he’s not really that good at anything, but he tries to do what is right and isn’t that great. GoF-Movie actually shows that Neville is brilliant at his favorite subject.
Sometimes that also gets lost in the books because there is so much information, Neville’s skill at herbology is something mentioned in passing. I think that it may be important for Year 7, FWIW.
To go along with Scupper’s comment, whomever put the protections around the GoF (apparently Dumbledore) also needs some lessons in QA, I always thought. These protections shouldn’t give a fig for who’s carrying the name; instead, they should check out the actual name being put in and determine whether the person holding that name is actually old enough to play. If not, who cares - just discard it. That name’ll never be spat out later. If it is, then it goes into consideration. This part bothers me.
Admittedly, I guess I’m supposed to believe that Crouch Jr. was just powerful enough to manage both with his spells, but it’s still a shortcoming that any skilled QA person would’ve overcome.
I think they did it honestly. They knew that Ireland was a superior team overall, but Bulgaria had a brilliant Seeker whose personality and style of play dictated that he’d want to win things on his own terms, rather than drag them out while Ireland racked up the points. Anybody in possession of these two pieces of information could work out that Ireland winning but Bulgaria getting the Snitch was a reasonably probable outcome of this game, however unlikely it might be in Quidditch matches generally.
Yeah, but Dumbledore cheats and uses Legilimency.
:smack: You’re absolutely right. I totally missed that. Hopefully they mention poor Neville’s background in the next one. That reminds me, however, of something else that was a bit hazy for me, though: how were Neville’s parents tortured? and why was the Curse used on the spider Unforgivable? It just made it dance in the air.
I’d suggest that Fleur and definitally Krum more or less KNEW they were going to be in the Tournament; they’d be fools to not put in their most famous person for added glory. The Durmstrang headmaster didn’t strike me as the type to break up too much if Krum died, either. That being said, does the majority of the school know about Harry’s adventures? Also, isn’t Harry too young to enter, and so wouldn’t the Goblet reject him?
Yes, just imagine the fun antics (“Hee hee… we just entered the guy we hate into a competition where he’ll have to fight a dragon! This is even better than Quiddich!”). :dubious:
Given how serious they all took it when Harry’s name came out of the goblet, they need to take it at least as seriously when names go into it, too…
There are three Unforgivable Curses: The Cruciatus Curse, the Imperius Curse and the Killing Curse, Avada Kedavra. The Killing Curse is unforgivable for obvious reasons. The Cruciatus Curse is what was used to torture Neville’s parents.
I presume that the curse used on the Spider was the Imperius Curse. It allows total control over its victim. I imagine that you can imagine all kinds of sick and twisted things a Death Eater could do with that.
In the books the point is made quite clear that the Goblet will select the student it feels is most suitable. The age limit was an extra restriction placed by the organizers of the tournament, but the Goblet will perform it’s original function, ignorant of the age limit.
Of course, a Confundus Charm was used to enter Harry under the name of a fourth school, so he was the only choice, so who knows whether the Goblet would have chosen him if he had been entered as a possible Hogwarts champion.
I don’t think that Dumbledore really expected anybody to go to such lengths to ensure that an ineligible student would be entered in the tournament. Like I said above, the Goblet chooses the best available participant. So even if someone had entered, say, Neville’s name, the Goblet probably wouldn’t choose him. Dumbledore couldn’t have anticipated a particularily strong of-age wizard deliberately messing with the tournament – he was just trying to reign in the “fun antics” you refer to.
Back from my second viewing (sort of). We were running late and got there about 15 minutes after showtime. Cannot figure it out, but somehow, the 20+ minutes of forced ads and previews must have been missing–we missed the first 10 minutes or so of the film. (grr. We were told when we bought the tix that it might have already started, but dang! We walked into to the burned out Quidditch camp!). We decided to stay.
I like it better now. Maybe I am just resigned to fate here and know that it ain’t gonna change now (duh!)–but I am not as critical as I was. It is still uneven and disjointed and Emma Watson overacts terribly, but there it is.
I also (surprise!) like Gambon better this time around. He is still not a great Dumbledore (where is Ian McKlelland?), but he doesn’t suck as much as I thought. I think he has been told by either the director or Rowling that he must hint to Harry things that will be most important in the next films. Just a guess to explain his obscure and obtuse dialogue.
And love those twins!
Oh-and to those upthread who are lusting after Diggory–me, too. When I first glimpsed him on screen, I said audibly, “ding dong”–and my 16 year old daughter said just as audibly, “ew, mom”. :eek:
at least they can’t call Child Protective Services on me for Cedric. (I thought Oliver Woods was hot in the other movies).
Can’t wait for DVD!
Yes! I loved that, too! Good character-building even for the next movie, when he’ll feature in the DA.
Lord, I’m glad that didn’t happen to me! My wife and I timed it perfectly. Showed up about fifteen minutes after the scheduled start, got to watch one preview & then the films started up. (And we went during school hours on Friday afternoon. Heh.)
IIRC, there were several curses placed on the spider in the class. I believe the Imperius was after the Cruciatus. I know Cruciatus was used bacause I remember the spider screaming in agony (ew). Imperius was used to makes the spider hover over the water bowl (I think it was a water bowl) and finally Avada Kedavra was used to kill the poor thing
I have to disagree. Perhaps it’s because I’m not as invested in the books as others are (I finish reading them a day or two before I see the movie. Finished GOF on friday, saw the movie earlier this evening.
I also saw the second one (Chamber of Secrets?) again on Saturday - on TV. Dumbledore there was “Do gasp you have gasp anything gasp you gasp gasp wish to gasp tell me gasp?” He didn’t come off as happy or optimistic as much as in desperate need of a respirator. I don’t worry that this Dumbledore might not live to the end of the sentence.
I liked the way they cut the story to make it fit into a reasonably-sized movie. Decisions had to be made, and the cuts made sense, even if it did bounce around a bit in the beginning. Also, they did a rather good job of filling in the holes that were made with those cuts. My only complaints were with costumer and hairdresser. What was with the 1978 look? Not just with one or two characters - but the entire way through the movie, it was like a bad flashback to years of unfortunate fashion.
No, not really. Neville could’ve been chosen in exactly the same way Harry was - just put in his name under a separate school, so he’s the only entry for that school. It’ll choose him regardless, in that case.
It’s still poor QA. Notice that Dumbledore’s spell didn’t take effect until after the Weasley twins had put their name into the goblet. It seems like it’d be easy to cast a spell that would check names and their owner’s ages, then give them over to the goblet for consideration. But that would also make for a shorter movie, and book.
Short thoughts as they come to me;
Curse you IMAX theatre operator. Everybody else starts the movie after ten minutes or more of previews and singing popcorn boxes, not you. I got there five minutes late and they were being yelled at by Mr. Weasley to grab the portakey.
Whew that said. Where’s the love for Michael Gambon? I liked seeing him as a more regular man. Not the great and all powerful he can do anything god like Dumbledore people want him to be.
The maze was pretty dull and anti-climatic. If Fleur is the best and brightest that Beauxbatons has to offer than that school has really low admission standards. What a waste of a character. The writing, direction or editing for Hermione was messed up. Her character was all over the board. Nothing like her usual pulled together self. I thought the music was a little flat and blah. Myrtle was way too creepy for me. I saw Ginny a bunch of times, did she ever say anything? Trying to keep costs down by having some of the other characters never say a word?
Overall top bad impression was the editing is wretched. The dance was a mess to watch.
Some great set design. The great hall turned into an ice palace was incredible. I loved some of the exteriors of the castle, even if it is doubling in size every year. The Quiddich stadium was great. I loved the dragon scene. I wonder how much it costs at the broom and fender shop to get new bristles on a firebolt after they’ve been singed off? I liked the costumes. Malfoy looked good in a suit at the quiddich cup, the girls were a little too prom dressy, but I liked it overall.
The kids are growing up and I think it’s translating pretty well.
It’s not Shakespeare or ever going to be the best. movie. ever. But it was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it for the entertainment it was.