I now blog over at The Eyre Guide! This blog is an archive of my past posts.


Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Awesome Adaptations (28) - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Posted by Charlene // Tags: ,

Awesome Adaptations is a weekly bookish meme, hosted at Alisa Selene’s books blog, Picturemereading.  Anyone can play along! Each week there is a new category of adaptation to blog about. Any format (television series, film, web series, etc.) is acceptable as long as it is based in some form on a book. If you’re playing along on your own blog, just mention Picturemereading in your post and include the banner above. Let them know which film you’d pick and why it is an awesome adaptation worth watching. Oh, and don’t forget to share the link to your own post in the comments for that week’s challenge so that everyone can read your thoughts!

An Awesome Fantasy Adaptation
Title: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Adapted from: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

The fourth book in the Harry Potter series is my favorite of the HP books.  I remember freshman year of college, Thanksgiving break, I was staying in the dorms, and I borrowed my friend's Harry Potter books - finally I was going to check out what the hype was all about - and four days, four books later, I knew. I'm not sure if it's because I ended that magical vacation with this book, or if the combination of action-packed competitions and the real return of Lord Voldemort is what made me love this book so much.  But I do love it.  And I felt the film delivered in bringing the book to life in many ways.

First, going back to the first film, the casting of the three leads was just inspired!  Daniel, Rupert and Emma continue to translate their characters so well to the big screen, and carry the film perfectly.  The teen angst increases in this film as well, and seeing our heroes struggle with romantic interests is pretty cute.  There are some great new characters introduced in this story that again are fantastically realized on film, with some actors we were soon to see a lot more of (Robert Pattinson and David Tennant!).

There are a few interesting visuals that had to be explored in this movie - a dragon fight and the undersea challenge that really worked well for me. I thought it was nail-bitingly exciting (even though I knew what was going to happen!)  And though the final challenge in the maze isn't quite the same as it is in the book, I was impressed by how well it was done, and by the scenes with Harry's confrontation with Voldemort.  And geez, is Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort creepy as heck!  I just loved his interpretation of the character!   And since Dumbledore has always been a favorite character, I really enjoyed seeing him getting angry and taking control in some of the final scenes of the movie.

I love all the Harry Potter films, and don't feel like I could fairly say this is the best of the series, but I do find it the most entertaining, and I like how, as the tagline says, everything starts to change - the danger and darkness is just beginning to hit in the series and I think the film manages to temper that shift very well in addition to being a wonderfully suspenseful, exciting, and emotional adaptation.  

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4 comments:

  1. I really love this book and movie as well..the end is so sad as well with Cedric! Gah..Love the Harry Potter series!

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  2. I really love this book and movie as well..the end is so sad as well with Cedric! Gah..Love the Harry Potter series!

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    Replies
    1. OMG, yes those scenes with Cedric and how Harry brought him back was so emotional! Loved Dan's acting with that!

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  3. I really enjoyed reading this book. I've reread it many times! I love seeing the different Harry Potter covers. This one is so cool!

    regards,
    russel of Matrox Graphics

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