Now I've Got Another Movie to Wait a Year For: HARRY POTTER IV

After much bemoaning that the years were feeling empty and hollow without a Lord of the Rings installment to cap them off, and since my petition Peter Jackson to make the Silmarrilion endeavor doesn't seem to be gaining any traction, I contented myself that the holidays would never be same as they were for those three glorious years I had anxiously rushed to the theater for the debut of each hobbitt filled fantasy. But bubbling under the whole time, HARRY POTTER boils over in attention with this fourth movie, THE GOBLET OF FIRE. For the record, I never read the HP books until after the movie comes out, that way I am given complete enjoyment of each as individual arts without having to moan and whine about what was left out. And I have enjoyed all three prior movies and books (each book I read sheds more light on the movie I just saw, giving me fuller enjoyment). But without a doubt, the FOURTH MOVIE is the best so far.

Chris Columbus knows how to work with child actors, and he picked an amazing cast back five years ago, and it has a been a pleasure to watch them grow up and grow as actors under different directors. The pay off has got to be in GOBLET OF FIRE, when they have finally reached the age where they begin to notice each other as attractive human beings (or wizards and muggles). Nev er before has the series offered such opportunity for character development as the horrors of having to go to your first formal dance. Add to this the final visual/physical representation of the evil Voldemort and the influx of whole new set of characters from wizardy schools elsewhere in the world and you have the make up of an exciting movie.

THE GOBLET OF FIRE revolves around a wizarding competition between the three schools, and Harry somehow is chosen to represent his school despite being vastly underaged. And unlike the past movies, where this feels oh, he's just a special wizard, this time it's really a mess. Everyone is mad at him and it is very dangerous. Meanwhile, the Death Eaters, the cloaked followers of the Dark Lord seem to be everywhere proclaiming their master's return. And even scarrier, Harry blows it with the girl he likes and Ron is too clueless to make the move on Hermoine.

At the director's helm this time is British director Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Mona Lisa Smile), who gives the emotional and social turmoil as much depth as the normal scare and tear of the other Potter films. Everyone's favorite trio of students turn in their best performances. Daniel Radcliffe (Harry) has finally grown into the stoic hero he needs to be and Rupert Grint (Ron) injects humor into an often dark film. The true star of the film is Emma Watson (Hermoine) who finds herself caught between the boy she likes who's too stupid to realize it and the boy who like her who is just plain stupid. I am anxious to see what she can do outside of the Potter world in the years to come and I hereby tag her it girl of the future as I did Kirsten Dunst after Jumanji and Anna Paquin after the Piano (before you comment I'm jumping on the band wagon a little late on this one I will report that I so labelled her after the first movie, I just didn't have a blog to write about it). Alan Rickman is excellent as ever as the morally questionable Snape and it's fun to see Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid) get a love interest.

And since this is fantasy, a word about the effects. They rule. And they are so much better than the earlier films (which I recently watched to brace up for the film). It is always interesting to see what a director will do with already predesigned sets and costumes and how they will add their own touches. ANd where as the prior director Alfonso Cuaron added much to the moodiness of the serious and the third film is still the best shot... Newell has done what others have so failed to do, made these characters lovable and made me love them. Even the minor characters... the most emotional moment of the film for me involved two new characters, Cedric Diggory and his father.

HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE is recommended for anyone who enjoyed the first movies or misses Lord of the Rings, anyone who still has nightmares of the Sophomore year Homecoming Dance, parents who want to scare the crap out of their kids, and if you haven't seen the other three movies, rent them, watch them, and then go see this one, then you two can anxiously await 2007 and the Order of the Phoenix. Rick's Rating: A