goblet of fire: sweeps you away!

Firstly, let me inform you that one of the perils of following every tiny production details of the movie will cause you to sort of knew how the story will unfold on screen; you will know how the movie-makers will edit a particular scene, how a character will be inserted into a scene, how the sets and special effects will look like - in short, you will be well-versed with the transition from the book to the screen even before you went into the movie theater.

Therefore, even before the movie started, I knew that I wasn't going to see Winky, Dobby, SPEW, the Dursleys, the actual match at the World Quidditch Cup, the rest of the Weaslys among other things. And as dissapointed as I am to know that such things fail to make the cut, I am not thoroughly bothered about it.

Besides, I could not think of any other way they could have allowed such elements into the film; and at this point, one does not only have to think about extended running time, but also about the costs of the extra special effects and other necessary resources.

The way I see it, as long as J.K. Rowling approves of the book-to-screen transition made by the screenwriter, then I am fine with the ommisions they made.

So how does one enjoy a film which you have more or less knew its nitty-gritty details? Would it still be able to provide you with the kind of excitement and wonder one experiences if one were to watch it for the first time?

The answer was a satisfactory yes. I am really impressed with the way the movie-makers worked with the remaining amount of materials left after the initial cut was made - I am really comfortable with the changes they made to the plot, the character insertions or deletions they did.

However I must point out that the pacing of the first half of the movie seemed a bit off at times, jumping quickly from one scene to another, which I believe would leave complete newcomers puzzled and lost and avid fans bewildered and frusfrated. But as soon as we return to Hogwarts, the film regains its continuity and flow, steadily buidling up its momentum to the powerful and electrifying climax.

When you work with such a condensed and complex material such as the Harry Potter series, you are required to make a judicious choice of which elements you want to keep, remove, expand or compress. And in this particular film, I felt that the movie-makers got it right.

Granted, the movie is not as artistically poetic as the third one, but I think they did a fine job with it as an adaptation.

What really struck me however was the acting - from my point of view, it was a lot more convincing than in the previous ones. Even though some of the adult characters have limited screen time, they really manage to convey the feelings and inject the believability into their roles.

Actors such as Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Timothy Spall, Robbie Coltrane and Jason Isaacs truly shine in their respective roles - for the first time, I am ready to believe that they are the characters like the way I imagined them from the book.

There have been a lot of talk about Michael Gambon's potrayal of Dumbledore with some saying he deviates too much from the calm and composed Dumbledore many people imagined him to be. Personally, I do not find much trouble with his acting in this film.

True, maybe he is a little too intense, too worried, too erratic at times in the film. But when you think about it, if we are bothered with such things, then it is as if we are expecting him to be consistently reserved - in other words, we are close to expecting him to be a bit inhuman in his emotional reactions.

I think most of us look to Dumbledore as a 'rock' which will provide a firm foundation to which the other characters could anchor their swirling and unpredictable bouts of emotions. To see the headmaster agitated unnerved us a bit.

But I felt that what the movie-makers are trying to convey in this film is that everyone, even Dumbledore, has their own weaknesses - as revealed in the later books - and it is slowly beginning to show, thus setting up for the later movies.

On top of that, Michael Gambon has once said that in an interview that each character he played are just different facets or manifestations of his own character. When you put that into perspective, it seemed quite amazing that he is able to pull off Dumbledore's character effortlesly.

What can I say about Mad-Eye Moody? He is just "WOW!" Brendan Gleeson's potrayal has just the right amout of scruffiness and intensity I come to expect from his character; he is one of the best realized characters in the film. Another perfectly realized character is Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldermort which does it with excellent flourish, skill and subtlety.

The graveyard is without doubt, one of the most powerful scenes in the movie and possibly in the series so far. The confluence of Cedric's death, the return of Voldermort and the prior incantatem curse lends to an overall aura of omniousness and dread so heavy and so overwhelming that you just can't help but to cower in your seats fearing for Harry's life.

The scene when Harry returns to Hogwarts with Cedric's body afterwards is an immensely affecting scene. Harry's reactions, his cries and his reluctance to let go of Cedric's body are excellently executed and you just can't help but to shed tears at this point; I certainly did.

The new score for the film provides a fresh feel to the whole movie without completely neglecting the earlier themes composed by maestro John Williams. It hits the right notes and comes in at the right cues in the film.

When I watched this movie, I began to realize that Goblet of Fire is also about bringing people together, a fact which I never come to realize when I read the book. It is quite amazing for a movie to be able to get that point - which I have completely missed when I read the book - across effectively to its audience.

Indeed, I could think of no greater measure of the quality of an adapation other than that; and for that, I can fairly conclude that Goblet of Fire is truly the best adapation of the series yet.