It is Harry’s 4th year at Hogwarts. The school is hosting the Triwizard Tournament, where three schools compete with each other. They include Hogwarts, the French wizarding school, Beauxbatons, and the eastern European school, Durmstrang. But due to the level of danger involved, only students over 17 are allowed to enter.

After Durmstrang’s student, Victor Krum, Beauxbatons’ Fleur Delacour, and Hogwarts’ Cedric Diggory, are selected, Harry’s name comes out. Poor Harry is turned on for “cheating himself” into it, even though he didn’t enter. But no one will believe him.

Harry completes the 3 tasks: one involving a fight between him and a dragon, saving Ron from merfolk in the black lake, and facing various obstacles inside a maze. 

And shockingly, he is taken to a graveyard, where he encounters a revived Voldemort. Thus, he is now in great danger.

Below are what I liked and what I didn’t.

Strengths:

The characterization 

As usual, the characters express their normal behaviors, whether it’s Hermione expressing her intelligence or Draco bullying Harry.

Speaking of Harry, I am impressed with how maturely he handled various situations. Examples include:

• How he told Ron about his shocking selection as a champion, by telling him that although he didn’t know what happened and why, it just did.
• How he was able to handle it when other students wore the “Potter stinks” badges and Cedric told the other kids around him not to wear them.
• When Ron told Harry how barking mad he was to put his name in the goblet of fire and how everyone was saying it behind his back. Harry was like, “Really? That makes me feel loads better.” I know his reason was sarcastic. But most people would have reacted in a more literal manner, such as, “How many times do I have to tell you that I didn’t put my name in it?”

But there’s also that scene where Hagrid shows him the dragons and expresses his love for Madame Maxime. While under the invisibility cloak, Harry sticks his tongue out, obviously grossed out. LOL, what a typical 14-year-old boy.

There’s also Moody, who rebels against Dumbledore’s request not to teach certain defensive practices. He also punishes Draco by turning him into a ferret and making him go up and down with magic, and then going inside Crabbe’s pants (that must’ve been super awkward). Even Harry laughed.

I also loved it when Professor McGonagall told Moody that transfiguration can never be used as a punishment.

The entertainment at the Quidditch World Cup

Aside from how the entire game is cut from the movie (a bit of a bummer), when Harry, the Diggory’s, and the Weasleys enter the camping area where they will stay, there is cool entertainment, such as people on tall stilts and jugglers.

Another surprise is when Dobby and another elf (possibly Winky) are riding llamas. Note that this is very hard to catch. I never noticed it until people in different YouTube videos pointed that out. So, look carefully.

The desserts at the start-of-the-term feast

After the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students arrive, everyone is having dessert. Although this isn’t exactly an important detail, I have to admit that they looked very delicious. A lot of them had chocolate on them. They looked like baked goods that you could find in a fancy bakery. 

The pacing

Even though the movie is more than two and a half hours long, it breezes by. The scenes move quickly yet can still tell the story.

Here’s a fun fact: This movie was originally going to be split into two movies, like The Deathly Hallows. But since it was centered around the Triwizard Tournament, the filmmakers considered it too awkward for it to be divided into two parts.

Weaknesses

The infamous “DID YOU PUT YOUR NAME IN THE GOBLET OF FIRE?!?!”

After years of having no problem with this, I eventually understood why fans hated it so much. It’s completely out of character for Dumbledore to lose his temper like that. In the book, he asked calmly. And the text even specified that.

At some point, I had some little life experience that prompted me to agree with other fans. If Harry didn’t suffer enough from being glared at and publicly shamed after his name emerged from the goblet, the headmaster asking him aggressively and shaking him must have added more to his stress.

The male and female stereotypes

This includes moments such as the Beauxbatons girls acting like dreamy ballerinas as they entered the great hall. Then the Durmstrang boys performed warrior-like actions as well as fire breathing right after.

In the book, both schools were co-ed. The filmmakers only made them all-girls and all-boys so that they could distinguish them more. But I don’t think that was necessary. I especially feel bad for any Beauxbatons students in the movies if they are tomboys or trans (but didn’t disclose it).

There’s also the scene where Professor McGonagall announces to the Gryffindors the upcoming Yule Ball. She tells the girls to release a beautiful swan (figuratively) and the boys to let out a fierce lion (also figuratively). 

I know that this came out in 2005 and is set in the 1994-1995 school year. But I’m pretty sure that these stereotypes might have been a bit much then. I could be wrong.

Yet, there were still girls and boys who wouldn’t have agreed with those gender stereotypes.

How were the champions not cold during the second task?

According to the book, it’s February when the second task in the black lake occurs. I assume it’s around that time in the movie too.

I don’t know about the books, but in the movie, the champions are in summer attire while everyone else is wearing winter gear. The boys just wear tank tops and shorts. Fleur wears a bathing suit. How were they not freezing like crazy?

You’d think they’d wear something like wet suits (or anything similar). Unless wizards are immune to hypothermia, their outfit choices are very bizarre.

Sometimes the characters weren’t very believable.

This includes small moments such as when Hagrid “falls” as the Beauxbatons carriage flies right after him and students are thrilled (I would’ve been like, Oh my God! Is Hagrid okay?) and when everybody glowers at Harry after his name comes out of the goblet. The latter bugs me a lot.

I could never see anyone in my high school reacting like that. They would have gone, “Ahh” or not cared. I could see elementary school kids caring. But even they wouldn’t have cared that long or that much or have gotten mad at any classmate who broke a rule like not listening to an age restriction the way the Hogwarts students did with Harry.

The only way this would have been believable was if wizards’ brains developed differently than muggles, including behavior, or if a bunch of death eaters had snuck into the great hall, put everybody under the imperius curse, and obliviated them after, and several times. 

I know–this type of reaction is important to the plot. However, I still can’t help but not find this believable.

A lot of this movie became boring.

This was a big surprise. I watched this movie a lot when I was a kid. It kept my interest and attention all the way through.

Despite all the strengths, I couldn’t help but get bored when rewatching this as an adult. I don’t know why.

I already found it odd enough that I was bored when watching Deathly Hallows: Part 1. I never got bored with the Harry Potter movies. I actually look for new content and videos related to the franchise regularly.

So, unlike when I was younger, I found Goblet of Fire to be just a little better than Deathly Hallows: Part 1.

Bonus: a more neutral opinion

It took some time to get used to the boys’ long hair.

A lot of people dislike their hair, which surprised me. When I was younger, I thought Harry was hot in this movie. In fact, he looks more similar to his physical description in the book, where he has messy hair.

It took a little time to get used to seeing Harry, Ron, Fred, George, and Neville’s lengthier hair. But then it was fine.

There’s actually a reason that they had longer hair. The crew wanted to show them progressing through their teenage years as well as distinguish them from the other movies.

Overall Impression

This movie ended up being just okay. Hopefully, it will keep me engaged at some point again.

I recommend it to anyone who can handle its intensity and scariness levels. Note that it’s PG-13. Even though there isn’t really any mature content, such as swearing, it might be a bit too scary for kids under, say, 8.

As of now, I give Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 3.5 out of 5 stars. But that could change.