HARRY POTTER
AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE
(Two-Disc Special Edition)
For
my money, HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE is the best book (so
far) in the series about the boy wizard. As for the movie version of the
book, HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE is wonderfully cinematic,
thanks to the efforts of director Mike Newell and is pretty much the best
movie in the series (so far). Director Newell really does a marvelous job
with the material, not only visually, but also by not pulling any punches
on the darkest aspects of the storyline, not to mention he is quite adapt
in bringing out the emotional complexities of the now teenage leading
characters.
As
someone who read the book, I have to admit that HARRY POTTER AND THE
GOBLET OF FIRE was a tremendous tome that needed to be whittled down
to the barest essentials of the story to make it work as a movie, instead
of a ten-hour miniseries. That being said, the film still runs nearly two
and a half hours. Despite the length, things do seem a bit rushed in
places and the story advances with something of an abrupt quality. Out of
necessity, subplots from the book are jettisoned; some of the supporting
characters become two dimensional, and occasionally, the story feels
somewhat over-compressed. Still, the movie itself offers fans a heck of a
wild ride and is visually captivating. I myself totally enjoyed the movie
version of HARRY
POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE, but will be going back to
read the book again to revisit those portions that did not make it up on
the screen.
The
plot of HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE finds Harry Potter
(Daniel Radcliffe) in his fourth year at Hogwarts’ School Of Witchcraft
And Wizardry, along with best friends Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and
Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint). This year, Hogwarts will be hosting The
Triwizard Tournament, which brings students from two other magical schools
to Hogwarts for a decidedly dangerous magical competition. With only a
single champion to represent each school, the selection process goes as
expected, with only students of certain more mature age being allowed to submit their
names into the Goblet of Fire.
However,
things take an unexpected turn when the Goblet of Fire spits out a fourth
name- an underage Harry Potter. Although he did not enter the competition,
Harry finds himself an unwilling participant The Triwizard Tournament and
facing the potentially lethal challenges awaiting the competitors, not to
mention being ostracized by his peers at Hogwarts, who think he cheated
his way into the contest. The marvelous cast of HARRY POTTER AND THE
GOBLET OF FIRE also features also features Michael Gambon, Alan
Rickman, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane, Brendan Gleeson, Miranda
Richardson, Gary Oldman, Jason Isaacs, Ralph Fiennes, Tom Felton, Mark
Williams, James Phelps, Oliver Phelps, Bonnie Wright, Robert Pattinson,
Matthew Lewis, Stanislav Ianevski, Katie Leung, Frances de la Tour,
Clémence Poésy, Shirley Henderson, Timothy Spall and David Tennant.
Warner
Home Video has made HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE available
on DVD in a 2.35:1 wide screen presentation that features the anamorphic
enhancement for 16:9 displays. Not surprisingly, Warner delivers another
terrific transfer. While much of the film is quite dark, but everything
appears sharp and well defined. Colors are strongly rendered, without
flaws or noise, plus the flesh tones are always appealing. Blacks are
inky, white are crisp and stable, plus the picture produces fairly smooth
contrast and good shadow detail. The film elements from which HARRY
POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE have been transferred are free of flaws.
A grain structure is noticeable in the darker sequences, but it never
becomes excessive. Digital compression artifacts are always nicely
contained.
HARRY
POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE features a solid Dolby Digital 5.1
channel soundtrack. Surround usage is generally good, with the rears
always providing a nice sense of acoustic space, along with well-deployed
active effects. The sound mix proves quite engaging during the action
sequences, but is decidedly more subdued during the talky portions of the
film. Fidelity is top notch, with the musical component having an
effortless quality and the sound effects coming across in a highly
convincing manner. As for the bass channel, it is deep and provides all
the rumble that the material requires. Voices have a warm, natural
quality, plus the film’s dialogue is always completely understandable. A
Spanish 5.1 channel track is also encoded onto the DVD, as are English,
French and Spanish subtitles.
Full
motion video, animation and sound serve to enhance the DVD's interactive
menus. Through the menus, one has access to standard scene selection and
set up features, as well as the supplemental materials, which have been
relegated to disc two of this set. The supplements have been broken up
into sections entitled: Dragon Arena, The Lake,
The Maze and Hogwarts Castle. Like the
preceding Harry Potter DVDs, much of the content is skewed towards the
younger fans, although there is some meat for the older fans to chew on. Dragon
Arena contains Harry Vs. the Horntail: The First Task,
which offers a look at the creation of that rather impressive action
sequence, along with Meet The Champions, which features
interviews with the young actors portraying the competitors in The
Triwizard Tournament. An interactive game, Triwizard Tournament:
Dragon Challenge closes out the Dragon Arena
section.
The
Lake features In Too Deep: The Second Task, which
looks at the how this aquatic sequence was undertaken. An interactive
game, Triwizard Tournament: Lake Challenge closes out the The
Lake section. The Maze includes The Maze: The
Third Task examines how this final challenge sequence is brought
to life, while He Who Must Not Be Named looks at the
reemergence of Harry’s arch nemesis. Two interactive games, Triwizard
Tournament: Maze Challenge and To The Graveyard And Back
Challenge close out the The Maze section. Hogwarts
Castle offers about ten minutes of Additional Scenes
that were lost to the cutting room floor; Preparing For The Yule
Ball, a look at the film’s most elegant set piece; Conversations
With The Cast is a half hour question and answer session with the
young stars; Reflections On The Fourth Film looks back on
the latest installment and beyond. A Theatrical Trailer and
bonus trailers close out the supplements.
As
I stated above, I think that HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE is
not only the best book in the J.K. Rowling series; it is also the best
film in the Warner Bros. motion picture series. Warner’s DVD looks and
sounds terrific, so one isn’t going to be disappointed on that front. If
you are a fan HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE is another must
have DVD. Very highly recommended.
For
my money, HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE is the best book (so
far) in the series about the boy wizard. As for the movie version of the
book, HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE is wonderfully cinematic,
thanks to the efforts of director Mike Newell and is pretty much the best
movie in the series (so far). Director Newell really does a marvelous job
with the material, not only visually, but also by not pulling any punches
on the darkest aspects of the storyline, not to mention he is quite adapt
in bringing out the emotional complexities of the now teenage leading
characters.
As
someone who read the book, I have to admit that HARRY POTTER AND THE
GOBLET OF FIRE was a tremendous tome that needed to be whittled down
to the barest essentials of the story to make it work as a movie, instead
of a ten-hour miniseries. That being said, the film still runs nearly two
and a half hours. Despite the length, things do seem a bit rushed in
places and the story advances with something of an abrupt quality. Out of
necessity, subplots from the book are jettisoned; some of the supporting
characters become two dimensional, and occasionally, the story feels
somewhat over-compressed. Still, the movie itself offers fans a heck of a
wild ride and is visually captivating. I myself totally enjoyed the movie
version of HARRY
POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE, but will be going back to
read the book again to revisit those portions that did not make it up on
the screen.
The
plot of HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE finds Harry Potter
(Daniel Radcliffe) in his fourth year at Hogwarts’ School Of Witchcraft
And Wizardry, along with best friends Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and
Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint). This year, Hogwarts will be hosting The
Triwizard Tournament, which brings students from two other magical schools
to Hogwarts for a decidedly dangerous magical competition. With only a
single champion to represent each school, the selection process goes as
expected, with only students of certain more mature age being allowed to submit their
names into the Goblet of Fire.
However,
things take an unexpected turn when the Goblet of Fire spits out a fourth
name- an underage Harry Potter. Although he did not enter the competition,
Harry finds himself an unwilling participant The Triwizard Tournament and
facing the potentially lethal challenges awaiting the competitors, not to
mention being ostracized by his peers at Hogwarts, who think he cheated
his way into the contest. The marvelous cast of HARRY POTTER AND THE
GOBLET OF FIRE also features also features Michael Gambon, Alan
Rickman, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane, Brendan Gleeson, Miranda
Richardson, Gary Oldman, Jason Isaacs, Ralph Fiennes, Tom Felton, Mark
Williams, James Phelps, Oliver Phelps, Bonnie Wright, Robert Pattinson,
Matthew Lewis, Stanislav Ianevski, Katie Leung, Frances de la Tour,
Clémence Poésy, Shirley Henderson, Timothy Spall and David Tennant.
Warner
Home Video has made HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE available
on DVD in a 2.35:1 wide screen presentation that features the anamorphic
enhancement for 16:9 displays. Not surprisingly, Warner delivers another
terrific transfer. While much of the film is quite dark, but everything
appears sharp and well defined. Colors are strongly rendered, without
flaws or noise, plus the flesh tones are always appealing. Blacks are
inky, white are crisp and stable, plus the picture produces fairly smooth
contrast and good shadow detail. The film elements from which HARRY
POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE have been transferred are free of flaws.
A grain structure is noticeable in the darker sequences, but it never
becomes excessive. Digital compression artifacts are always nicely
contained.
HARRY
POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE features a solid Dolby Digital 5.1
channel soundtrack. Surround usage is generally good, with the rears
always providing a nice sense of acoustic space, along with well-deployed
active effects. The sound mix proves quite engaging during the action
sequences, but is decidedly more subdued during the talky portions of the
film. Fidelity is top notch, with the musical component having an
effortless quality and the sound effects coming across in a highly
convincing manner. As for the bass channel, it is deep and provides all
the rumble that the material requires. Voices have a warm, natural
quality, plus the film’s dialogue is always completely understandable. A
Spanish 5.1 channel track is also encoded onto the DVD, as are English,
French and Spanish subtitles.
Full
motion video, animation and sound serve to enhance the DVD's interactive
menus. Through the menus, one has access to standard scene selection and
set up features, as well as the supplemental materials, which have been
relegated to disc two of this set. The supplements have been broken up
into sections entitled: Dragon Arena, The Lake,
The Maze and Hogwarts Castle. Like the
preceding Harry Potter DVDs, much of the content is skewed towards the
younger fans, although there is some meat for the older fans to chew on. Dragon
Arena contains Harry Vs. the Horntail: The First Task,
which offers a look at the creation of that rather impressive action
sequence, along with Meet The Champions, which features
interviews with the young actors portraying the competitors in The
Triwizard Tournament. An interactive game, Triwizard Tournament:
Dragon Challenge closes out the Dragon Arena
section.
The
Lake features In Too Deep: The Second Task, which
looks at the how this aquatic sequence was undertaken. An interactive
game, Triwizard Tournament: Lake Challenge closes out the The
Lake section. The Maze includes The Maze: The
Third Task examines how this final challenge sequence is brought
to life, while He Who Must Not Be Named looks at the
reemergence of Harry’s arch nemesis. Two interactive games, Triwizard
Tournament: Maze Challenge and To The Graveyard And Back
Challenge close out the The Maze section. Hogwarts
Castle offers about ten minutes of Additional Scenes
that were lost to the cutting room floor; Preparing For The Yule
Ball, a look at the film’s most elegant set piece; Conversations
With The Cast is a half hour question and answer session with the
young stars; Reflections On The Fourth Film looks back on
the latest installment and beyond. A Theatrical Trailer and
bonus trailers close out the supplements.
As
I stated above, I think that HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE is
not only the best book in the J.K. Rowling series; it is also the best
film in the Warner Bros. motion picture series. Warner’s DVD looks and
sounds terrific, so one isn’t going to be disappointed on that front. If
you are a fan HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE is another must
have DVD. Very highly recommended.
