Movies tend to get bulkier this time of year, but it’s not always a given that they get better too. Clocking in at nearly two hours and forty minutes long, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” demands a substantial commitment from filmgoers – one that a gazillion or so fans will be more than happy to make over and over again. For most, not a minute will feel like wasted time. “Goblet of Fire,” the fourth installment in the blockbuster series, is at least as good as last year’s “The Prisoner of Azkaban,” theretofore the best Harry Potter yet. This very British franchise gets its first homegrown director in Mike Newell (“Donnie Brasco,” “Four Weddings and a Funeral”), who continues down the dark path Mexican helmer Alfonso Cuaron tread in “Azkaban.” What’s new here is a challenge young Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and his best buds Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) hadn’t encountered in previous outings: Puberty. Screenwriter Steve Kloves, who has adapted all the Potter books thus far, handles the characters’ sexual awakening very delicately, but one need look only as far as the MPAA rating — PG-13 — to see that this series is growing up. “Goblet of Fire” also offers the first mano a mano confrontation between our titular hero and the evil Lord Voldemort, a sinister figure effectively portrayed by Ralph Fiennes.
Several magnificent set pieces highlight “Goblet of Fire,” the bulk of which concerns a magical “Triwizard” competition pitting Hogwarts golden boy Cedric Diggory (Robert Pattinson) against the best from an all-girl French academy and an Eastern European school called Durmstrang. Mysterious circumstances land Harry in the contest as well, causing a rift between he and a jealous Ron, and raising concerns among his Hogwarts stewards who are certain something wicked is afoot. Familiar faces abound, with Michael Gambon returning as Dumbledore, Maggie Smith as Minerva McGonagall and Alan Rickman as the delightfully acerbic Severus Snape. Brendan Gleeson shines as newcomer Alastar “MadEye” Moody, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor who keeps Harry under his watchful, all-seeing glass eye. As for sight and sound, “Goblet of Fire” exceeds the technical achievements of its predecessors — and that is no small trick. (RATED PG-13. RUNNING TIME: 157 MINUTES.)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 18, 2005. Read the original PDF.