Harry Potter and the 
Goblet of Fire (2005)

Preceded by: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Succeeded by: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)

	Directed by: Mike Newell	COUNTRY UK/USA GENRE Fantasy/Drama NORWEGIAN TITLE Harry Potter og ildbegeret RUNNING TIME 157 minutes
	Produced by: David Heyman
	Written by (based on the novel by J. K. Rowling): Steve Kloves

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Harry Potter	Daniel Radcliffe	½
Hermione Granger	Emma Watson
Ron Weasley	Rupert Grint
Wormtail	Timothy Spall
Barty Crouch Junior	David Tennant	½
Ginny Weasley	Bonnie Wright
Cedric Diggory	Robert Pattison	½
Lucius Malfoy	Jason Isaacs	½
Draco Malfoy	Tom Felton
Viktor Krum	Stanislav Ianevski	½
Cornelius Fudge	Robert Hardy	½
Neville Longbottom	Matthew Lewis
Rubeus Hagrid	Robbie Coltrane	½
Albus Dumbledore	Michael Gambon	½
Minerva McGonagall	Maggie Smith	½
Severus Snape	Alan Rickman
Igor Karkaroff	Predrag Bjelac	½
Professor Alastor Moody	Brendan Gleeson
Rita Skeeter	Miranda Richardson	½
Sirius Black	Gary Oldman
Moaning Myrtle	Shirley Henderson	½
Lord Voldemort	Ralph Fiennes
Cameos by	Jarvis Cocker Phil Selway and others

Review

The third entry in the series, directed by Mike Newell, is first and foremost a nice coming-of-age drama, with fine performances by the three young leads, Radcliffe, Watson and Grint. There are emotions stirring, including love, friendship, insecurity, jealousy and restrained sexuality. Newell does well to let the actors express themselves, and there are some wonderful scenes set during a ball which dramatically surpasses everything the series has had to offer so far.

In contrast to the two former entries, The Goblet of Fire offers a continuation of the story on a more comprehensive level – pitting Harry against Lord Voldemort himself, intriguingly portrayed by Ralph Fiennes. This and the subsequent concluding scenes are exciting and well-executed, but the contest our young magicians are put through in order to get there is disappointingly run-of-the-mill, with one-dimensional characters, irrelevant events and, of course, never any real doubt as to who the winner is going to be. Rowling throws every trick she knows into the fantasy mixer (or goblet, if you like), and screenwriter Steve Kloves adapts it eagerly and uncritically to the screen format. Some sequences are good (the Brendan Gleeson character is both cleverly written and expertly acted), but at some point you may question just how many characters a film can handle without becoming too cluttered. It also doesn't make matters better that the most important of them are the least interesting. I'd rather this film was named "Neville Longbottom and the Goblet of Fire", because that Harry Potter kid is turning into something of a mushy, over-considerate, unflawed bore.