 --- Harry Potter: The Complete Collection Years 1-7 (8-Disc 8-Film Set) --- When Harry Potter's name emerges from the Goblet of Fire, he becomes a competitor in a grueling battle for glory among three wizarding schools - the Triwizard Tournament. But since Harry never submitted his name for the Tournament, who did? Now Harry must confront a deadly dragon, fierce water demons and an enchanted maze only to find himself in the cruel grasp of He Who Must Not Be Named. In this fourth film adaptation of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, everything changes as Harry, Ron and Hermione leave childhood forever and take on challenges greater than anything they could have imagined. Storyline: Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts is about to start and he is enjoying the summer vacation with his friends. They get the tickets to The Quidditch World Cup Final but after the match is over, people dressed like Lord Voldemort's 'Death Eaters' set a fire to all the visitors' tents, coupled with the appearance of Voldemort's symbol, the 'Dark Mark' in the sky, which causes a frenzy across the magical community. That same year, Hogwarts is hosting 'The Triwizard Tournament', a magical tournament between three well-known schools of magic : Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. The contestants have to be above the age of 17, and are chosen by a magical object called Goblet of Fire. On the night of selection, however, the Goblet spews out four names instead of the usual three, with Harry unwittingly being selected as the Fourth Champion. Since the magic cannot be reversed, Harry is forced to go with it and brave three exceedingly difficult tasks. Written by Soumitra Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Greg Maltz on January 9, 2008 -- "It is not our abilities that show who we truly are," Hogwart's headmaster Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) tells Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe). "It is our choices." Harry and his friends Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) are back for a fourth year at Hogwarts in the film translation of J.K. Rowling's hugely successful novel. But this time, Harry's friends cannot help him as he is unwittingly entered in a prestigious competition that will ultimately determine who is the most gifted wizard. Harry faces the tournament's dangerous challenges, including a maze full of man-eating foliage and a deadly dragon. But he also must face the embodiment of evil itself, Lord Voldemort, who is brought into human form by the forces of darkness. Coming on the heels of the strongest and most technically dazzling Potter film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Goblet of Fire is a bit of a letdown. The characters are older and not as charismatic. Harry and Ron even harbor grudges against each other for much of the film and there are other signs of growing pains as the children move firmly into adolescence. Comic relief is in short supply. But the larger problem is that the story has become much too formulaic and predictable, and the acting too stilted. Different challenges are presented, but the premise and arc of the story is much the same. Thankfully, those new challenges provide an opportunity to create dazzling special effects, and The Goblet of Fire does not let us down. While Dumbledore's message in the scene noted at the top of this review is really the moral of this story--and it's a good one--the film fell flat for me. Perhaps The Prisoner of Azkaban raised my expectations too high with its character development and quirky humor, but I found the lack of comic relief and overdramatization weighed down Goblet of Fire excessively. As I plodded through the Blu-ray versions of the Potter films, I was struck by the narcissism of it all. In many of the films it is palatable, and we all can relate, to some extent, as we each want to think we are special people and we discover unique aspects of ourselves as we grow up. But of course the core of the Harry Potter saga carries this egocentrism to excess, and Goblet of Fire was a bit too much for me to stomach. The film centered around a competition for Hogwarts seniors, but Harry was entered into the contest by seemingly divine power, even though he was too young. My eyes started to roll at that point. I'm all for superheroes and wizards, but trying to put the two together in a prepubescent teen is just a bit much unless it is handled just right. Cast Notes: Eric Sykes (Frank Bryce), Timothy Spall (Wormtail [Peter Pettigrew]), David Tennant (Barty Crouch Junior), Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), Mark Williams (Arthur Weasley), James Phelps (Fred Weasley), Oliver Phelps (George Weasley), Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley), Jeff Rawle (Amos Diggory), Robert Pattinson (Cedric Diggory), Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy), Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy), Stanislav Ianevski (Viktor Krum). IMDb Rating (07/24/14): 7.6/10 from 297,100 users IMDb Rating (11/21/09): 7.6/10 from 101,467 users
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