Goblet of Fire movie!

[lls_mutant]

So, I saw it. I did not- as I half expected- go into labor during it. I did see it. I'm not going to post most of my review yet, because I need to type up a proper one for the Mutant site, and I definitely want to post it there. However, I'll probably post the text of it here, because I have reviews in for Jarhead and Chicken Run that are likely to get posted before GoF is.

That said, an important thought NO ONE has pointed out yet, at least that I've seen.



Okay, so we're in Scotland. We FINALLY get a man in a kilt... and it's MOODY? COME ON! There are better looking men to put in a kilt! Seriously!!!!!! Ladies, where is the outrage here? I'm very disappointed in you all!

You know, another more important, more serious thought... okay. I've ranted about how sexist HBP is, in my mind. But GoF is, in a way, even worse. You have one female champion of the four, and she comes in last in every single task???? JKR, you are a female author! I did NOT expect you to have Fleur win any of the tasks. I can totally understand why Harry and Cedric needed to be tied for first. But could Fleur have not kicked Krum's butt in the first task? (Or could Krum have not been the one to be stopped by grindylows?) Or could you have just skipped the token female champion? ::sigh:: I don't fault even the dreaded Steve Kloves for this one, but go straight to the source. ::grumbles::

Can I just add my vote to the Neville-love-fest going on around here as well? And say how much more I liked Neville giving Harry the gillyweed instead of Dobby? Dobby on paper annoys me mildly. Dobby on screen drives me insaaaaaaaaaaaaaaane. And Neville giving Harry the gillyweed made total sense. (Unlike, as musesfool pointed out, Ron not telling Harry about the dragons. Ron changed his mind about Harry and the tournament as soon as he saw the dragons. Kloves, you did better this time around, but is it really THAT impossible to give Ron the respect he deserves?)

Kloves still clearly ships H/Hr, which was baffling at times and amusing at others. He did better with Ron, but still not great. But he did very well with Dumbledore's final speech about Cedric, and that was the only time I nearly cried in the movie. It was also the death that affected me most in the books, too. Yes, it hit me worse than Sirius or Dumbledore. Dumbledore- let's face it, the guy was the mentor in a fantasy series and linked to phoenixes. He had "DOOMED" stamped across his forehead in big letters. Sirius died a soldier. It was too young and after a life that hadn't really been lived for a third of it, and it had a huge impact on Harry, but Sirius knew what he was doing when he went into the DoM. He was aware of the risks and not only that- he accepted them. And at least with Sirius I can believe he's found some peace and found James. Cedric was flat-out murdered, senselessly, and also totally caught me by surprise. He had everything before him, and it wasn't his own mistake- or even Harry's mistake, really- that made him die. It wasn't like Dumbledore and Sirius, who truly knew the risks they were taking, because Cedric wasn't taking a risk when he died. And parents and adults mourning their children... gah, that's always hard to watch.

Anyway.

Overall, I quite liked it. I think it would be hell to watch if you hadn't read the book in spots, and really, a few things should have been clarified a little more. Like, oh, how about who WON the Quidditch World Cup? Or would it have hurt to add a sentence or two to explain Priori Incantum? (Kind of like, would it have hurt to at least explain why Sirius and Peter were Animagi so you could tell them James was, and his Animagus form was a stag? It really took the emotional impact out of Harry's Patronus if you didn't know that.)

The cuts- I could have predicted just about all of them. I didn't even mind how much they cut Sirius, even though I would have liked more of him. (I also agree with marauderthesn that his voice sounded really wheezy and strange in the fire, and have decided that Remus was giving him a blow job as he was talking. Just because I'm perverted like that. And speaking of pervs... Moaning Myrtle was like the total fangirl. You know she went back to her bathroom and wrote either Harry/Mary Sue fic or Harry/Cedric slash.) Cutting the S.P.E.W. plotline was apparently not a bad choice, as JKR seemed to forget it existed in HBP. Cutting Molly didn't bug me so much, given that the entire aftermath of the graveyard was cut down (and Mrs. Diggory was also completely cut, although she barely said two lines in the books anyway). I missed the Percy bits, but other than that, I can't think of too many cuts that really irritated me. And some of the liberties they took (combining the two trials into one, Neville and the gillyweed, the dancing lessons (which cracked me up with the girls being excited and the boys pretty much refusing to move), and Snape in study hall) I really appreciated. I loved Hermione getting all swoony over Victor at the ball, though.

I did get the feeling other people have described that the movie didn't flow. I do agree that PoA flowed the best of them, and I'd actually say CoS was a pretty decent movie as well, although it's my least favorite of the books. The kids did pretty well with the acting and Brian Gleeson obviously had a blast. And I really thought he did a great job with the classroom scene, incidentally. No real complaints about acting, although Emma Watson tends to drive me nuts. But then, so does Hermione at times, even though I love her.

Hmmm. I babbled for much longer than I expected! And Rome starts in 14 minutes, so....

Yeah. Worth seeing, and will be reviewing.

Comments

[lucymay-lj.livejournal.com]

Truly awesome review, and covered my own impressions of the film aptly. And bless your pervy soul for the theory on Sirius' voice in the fire scene. :) I'm going to have even more fun now when I inevitably go see it again!

[ignipes.livejournal.com]

My sisters and my brother-in-law, have never read the books, and they don't have any trouble at all following the movies -- and especially not this one, which they all agreed was by far the best of the bunch. I think we hardcore HP fans tend to overestimate the importance of the things that get left out.

JKR should have totally thought of having Neville give Harry the gillyweed.

And she should have thought of making Fleur not useless.

And -- most of all! -- it's nice to know that all we needed to make Voldemort a compelling and frightening villain was to cast Ralph Fiennes.

[krisomniac.livejournal.com]

Totally with you except for one thing. Gambon's last speech did not do it for me at aLL. In fact, I thought the whole ending belittled Cedric's death, rather, and I was much more attached to movie!Cedric than book!Cedric.

I think he lost me when he opened with "Really Terrible"

It was "Terrible." And then some. It was worse than terrible, and "Really" is one of those dead words that detracts from the power of the word it modifies.

Am clearly a big dork.

But I was lost from then til the credits. I thought that most of the rest of the movie was grand.

[magic-at-mungos.livejournal.com]

What I forgot to put in my review and what was discussed at length after I went to see it was that all the mother figures were cut. People were a little ucomfortable about that although you could see why. But I loved this film :)

[jackielupin.livejournal.com]

But he did very well with Dumbledore's final speech about Cedric, and that was the only time I nearly cried in the movie.

Ah same here. It was very touching, and almost too much to handle. So glad I went to see it, though, and glad someone else liked it as well :)

[gwendolyngrace.livejournal.com]

That's one of the reasons I don't like Fleur for Bill - I always had the impression that Fleur wasn't worth much, and that we were learning (through her example) that looks aren't everything. But suddenly in HBP she makes this "profound" statement about how she's "good-looking enough for both of us" (GAG) and that's supposed to redeem her as a person? No. She's stuck-up, she's in love with herself, and she doesn't have the cred to back it up.

I was waiting all though Dumbledore's speech at the end for the right vs. easy comment. My ire subsided a teensy bit when he said it to Harry privately, but still. Dude, it's way more important to say it to everyone. But then, I think that the "Remember Cedric" speech in the book is one of JKR's best moments of writing pathos, and should have been lifted word-for-word.

I was much more upset with the ending because it didn't, you know, SET UP the fifth book. No Parting of the Ways information at all. Huh? And leaving Snape to guard Barty, Jr., without specifying that he later cannot report to Voldemort? Bad pipe-laying.

On the whole, I do think this one has more to recommend it than PoA, but then, PoA will never be forgiven for the Shrunken Head or the Worst Movie Werewolf Ever.

[a-t-rain.livejournal.com]

But suddenly in HBP she makes this "profound" statement about how she's "good-looking enough for both of us" (GAG) and that's supposed to redeem her as a person?

I can take or leave Fleur, but that line isn't meant to be profound or redemptive, it's meant to be funny. (And I think it works, although I'll concede that comedy is in the eye of the beholder.) The whole Fleur / Bill story arc is there for comic relief, and it's funny because she's such an over-the-top, cheerfully egotistical character.

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

I do agree with a_t_rain that the Fleur line is meant to be funny, not profound. My problem with Fleur isn't in HBP, but here. Ah well.

But I TOTALLY agree that it was some bad pipe-laying, and OotP is really going to have its work cut out for it. Did Harry even react when Snape was revealed as a former Death Eater? I mean, not that it was a huge shock, but still.

I did like the speech at the end, but I agree with you- that was some of JKR's best writing ever, and it probably should have just been lifted word for word. ::sigh::

Ah well. About what I expect for Steve Kloves!

[marauderthesn.livejournal.com]

It's funny, how the way JKR writes Fleur in GoF is sexist, and then in HBP Fleur's the only one of the women in love who I liked better because of it. It gives me some hope...but I still really want to see some man in Book 7 go slightly nuts because some woman won't go out with him.

I think the two biggest fandom explosions since the GoF movie came out are the Neville-love (not that there wasn't already Neville-love!) and Harry/Cedric shippers. ;)