“Dark and difficult times lie ahead, Harry. Soon we must all face the choice between what is right... and what is easy,” said Professor Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Who knew that Walk the Line, the story of Johnny Cash, would be in shadow from a fourteen-year-old boy? Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire hit box offices on November 18th and surprised many when it came in at number one with Walk the Line far behind.

Being a fan of the books since the beginning, I was looking forward to this movie for a long time. I was not disappointed. Director Mike Newell outdid the past three movies by a long shot. With an 18-month grace period between movies, audiences were buying their tickets nearly three weeks in advance. One local Pewaukee cinema was sold out of every showing from the first 12:01 AM performance through the following three days.

I enjoyed this movie from the beginning. The music was different that the other three, and I really was surprised that the movie didn’t start with the same song.

The movie progressed to get much better within ten minutes. When the schools including Beauxbatons and Durmstrang came in, there was a severe difference. Beauxbatons being an all women magic school was very feminine and graceful whereas Durmstrang had a very masculine and intimidating quality.

The Goblet of Fire chose its champions: Cedric Diggory (Robert Pattinson), Fleur Delacour (Clémence Poésy), and Viktor Krum (Stanislav Ivanevski). However, the champions were not done being chosen. Shortly after, another piece of paper appeared from the Goblet. It was Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe). Not only was he underage, but he didn’t want to be the center of attention. He was told that he must perform.

The first challenge was to battle a dragon. All the champions found out because of inside information. Harry was in no way prepared. He did find a way to use his broomstick to achieve a win and captured a golden egg.

The next challenge, amid school and tests, was an underwater challenge, of which Radcliffe did his own stunts for. This, Harry succeeded, but not in enough time. He did move on to the third task, which was a maze full of challenges that could change everything about one’s self. This, being the most terrible task, had the best graphics in the movie. With the maze tricking the champions and playing games, it was artfully done.

The graphics by far were better than the other three movies. There was no digital remaking of Radcliffe’s figure and he did his own stunts. The face of Voldemort was also very well done. Ralph Fiennes was chosen to play the snake-like Lord Voldemort. The entire end of the movie was wonderful. All of Fiennes’ makeup must have taken hours in order to get the look just right. He moved with such fluidity and awe that you couldn’t take your eyes off him.

There were a few things that weren’t in the movie, but that’s expected. The book is 734 pages long and the script was definitely not that long. They had to omit an entire section so the script would not exceed three hours.

I would recommend that if you wish to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire that you watch the first three before. It will give you a better view of the fourth. Or, if you wish to wait a while longer, read the books first. It will really let you understand this movie easier than if you just watched it without knowing anything about it. At 2 hrs and 30 minutes and finally with a PG-13 rating, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is definitely worth seeing.

4 out of 4 stars