Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Special Edition
Warner Bros. (11/18/2005)
Adventure, Family, Fantasy, Mystery, Thriller
In Collection
#142
0*
DVD
157 mins
IMDB 7.7

Daniel Radcliffe Harry Potter
Emma Watson Hermione Granger
Rupert Grint Ron Weasley
Timothy Spall Wormtail
David Tennant Barty Crouch Junior
Eric Sykes Frank Bryce
Mark Williams Arthur Weasley
James Phelps Fred Weasley
Oliver Phelps George Weasley
Bonnie Wright Ginny Weasley
Robbie Coltrane
Ralph Fiennes
Michael Gambon
Brendan Gleeson
Gary Oldman
Miranda Richardson
Alan Rickman
Maggie Smith

Director Mike Newell
Producer David Heyman
Writer Steven Kloves
J.K. Rowling
Steve Kloves

The fourth entry in the Harry Potter saga could be retitled Fast Times at Hogwarts, where finding a date to the winter ball is nearly as terrifying as worrying about Lord Voldemort's return. Thus, the young wizards' entry into puberty (and discovery of the opposite sex) opens up a rich mining field to balance out the dark content in the fourth movie (and the stories are only going to get darker). Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral) handily takes the directing reins and eases his young cast through awkward growth spurts into true young actors. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe, more sure of himself) has his first girl crush on fellow student Cho Chang (Katie Leung), and has his first big fight with best bud Ron (Rupert Grint). Meanwhile, Ron's underlying romantic tension with Hermione (Emma Watson) comes to a head over the winter ball, and when she makes one of those girl-into-woman Cinderella entrances, the boys' reactions indicate they've all crossed a threshold.

But don't worry, there's plenty of wizardry and action in Goblet of Fire. When the deadly Triwizard Tournament is hosted by Hogwarts, Harry finds his name mysteriously submitted (and chosen) to compete against wizards from two neighboring academies, as well as another Hogwarts student. The competition scenes are magnificently shot, with much-improved CGI effects (particularly the underwater challenge). And the climactic confrontation with Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes, in a brilliant bit of casting) is the most thrilling yet. Goblet, the first installment to get a PG-13 rating, contains some violence as well as disturbing images for kids and some barely shrouded references at sexual awakening (Harry's bath scene in particular). The 2 1/2-hour film, lean considering it came from a 734-page book, trims out subplots about house-elves (they're not missed) and gives little screen time to the standard crew of the other Potter films, but adds in more of Britain's finest actors to the cast, such as Brendan Gleeson as Mad-Eye Moody and Miranda Richardson as Rita Skeeter. Michael Gambon, in his second round as Professor Dumbledore, still hasn't brought audiences around to his interpretation of the role he took over after Richard Harris died, but it's a small smudge in an otherwise spotless adaptation. --Ellen A. Kim

On the DVD
The highlight of the two-disc set is a half-hour conversation with actors Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint. They discuss their reactions to the film and other topics with British writer Richard Curtis . Then they answer questions from contest-winning fans, such as what are their favorite kids' books (Watson bypasses the obvious answer in favor of Roald Dahl and Philip Pullman) and what scenes are they looking forward to in upcoming films. More routine extras include the "Reflections on the Fourth Film" featurette (14 min.), though it has comments from some of the other young cast members, and "Preparing for the Yule Ball" (9 min.). The 10 minutes of additional scenes are mostly skulking and skullduggery, plus a long musical number from the ball. The remaining material is grouped along the lines of the Triwizard Tournament, with behind-the-scenes looks at each of the competitions (about 22 min. total), two longer featurettes on He Who Must Not Be Named (11 min.) and the workday of the other contestants (Robert Pattinson, Stanislav Ianevski, and Clémence Poésy, 13 min.), and four games, playable with the directional arrows on the remote control, that can be frustrating to figure out. --David Horiuchi

Edition Details
Audience Rating PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Country UK
Language English
Edition Widescreen Two-Disc Deluxe Edition
Barcode 012569764538
Region Region 3
Release Date 3/7/2006
Packaging Keep Case
Screen Ratio 1.66 Letterboxed
1.85 (16:9) Letterboxed
Fullscreen (4:3)
Subtitles English; French; Spanish
Audio Tracks Dolby Digital 5.1 [English]
Dolby Digital 5.1 [Spanish]
Layers Dual Side, Single Layer
No. of Disks/Tapes 2

Features
Disc 1: Alternate Scenes
Cast Interviews
Interactive Game
Additional Scenes
Conversation With The Cast
Preparing The Yule Ball
Reflections On The Fourth Film
Triwizard Tournament: Dragon Arena
   · Dragon Challenge
   · Harry Vs. The Horntail: The First Task
   · Meet The Champions
Triwizard Tournament: Lake
   · Lake Challenge
   · In Too Deep: The Second Task
Triwizard Tournament: Maze
   · Maze Challenge
   · To The Graveyard And Back Challenge
   · The Maze: The Third Task
   · He Who Must Not Be Named
Insert This Disc Into Your PC's DVD-Rom Drive
   · EA Game Demo
   · Hogwarts Timeline
Personal Details
Purchase Date 3/31/2006
Seen It Yes
Location Singapore
Owner MSC
Store Borders
Condition Excellent
Links Amazon US
IMDB
DVD Empire