Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire (2005)

The 4th film in the franchise is the first one to be directed by a British Director. One Mike Newell, who's previous films include Four Weddings And A Funeral and more recently the disappointing Prince Of Persia. Mike is able to deal with the special effects in this movie with great ease. Showing off with great scenes which include the Quidditch world cup, a dragon chase and a underwater scene. He also brings on the performances, showing a more personal side to the main characters and dealing with the "teenage years".  Shame he didn't tell Daniel and Rupert to get a hair cut but I guess having the 'student look' is all part of growing up.

This is also the first film to receive a 12A certificate. This is definitely not one for the kids. But for the maturing potter fans this will be more suiting to there tastes. The story is very dark (they seem to get darker everytime) and is definitely more focused on the horror aspect of the story, especially with the return of Lord Voldermort. Ralph Fiennes makes a creepy dark lord and gives the audience great anticipation for the fights and frights to come in the later films.

Also joining the cast are Brendon Gleeson who is excellent as yet another dark arts teacher called Mad eye moody and one Robert Pattinson (before his Twilight years) who plays handsome school boy Cedric Diggory. It's actually quite ironic how Hermione gives a wondering look to her friend the first time she sees Cedric.

The book is one of the biggest in the series and must of been hard for Mike and screenwriter Steve Kloves to cut  down. Even though the film is still at 2 and a half hours long a lot of of the story had to be cut including Harry's usual scenes with the Dursleys. Unfortunately it does show during the film as some of the editing can be quite choppy and seems to be in a hurry to get the audience back into the main story when moving in other directions. Luckily it seems to all come together during the last few scenes. Mike Newell seems to have changed the direction the franchise was heading, becoming more of a thriller then previous films which is by no means a bad thing as it makes the story a bit more interesting.

Mike Newell and co have done a decent job in cutting the book down to make a movie out if it. the effects are terrific and the characters still posses enough charm to make this another enjoyable Harry Potter film.