- Strange as it may seem, the most memorable scene in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire doesn't involve magic, wizardry, or dragons. Now that we're four movies into the series, such conceits have a tougher time leaving much of an impression. No, the best scene depicts an event known as the Yule Ball, which is Hogwart's equivalent of a high school homecoming dance. Ron (Rupert Grint) is obviously smitten with Hermione (Emma Watson), but she's off mingling with the rather austere-looking Viktor Krum (Stanislav Ianevski). Even Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), the young man who has thwarted the evil Lord Voldemort on more than one occasion, has to watch from the sidelines as his love interest Cho Chang (Katie Leung) dances with Hufflepuff heartthrob Cedric Diggory (Robert Pattinson). In a world filled with wands, curses, and magical goblets, only the adorably awkward teenage dance really rings true.
- The rest of the film revolves around The Triwizard Tournament, a magical version of the Olympics that pits various wizarding schools against one another in nominally friendly competition. Krum is there representing the distinctly Eastern European Durmstrang Institute, while the entrancing Fleur Delacour (Clémence Poésy) will be competing for the amusingly Gallic Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. The aforementioned Cedric Diggory is selected for Hogwart's, but, in an odd break from tradition, the mystical Goblet of Fire also chooses Harry Potter as a fourth participant. One might rightly worry that all this has something to do with that terrifying skull apparition that appeared in the sky at the beginning of the film and various other portents of doom, but dutiful bureaucrat Barty Crouch Sr. (Roger Lloyd Pack) insists: the tournament must go on.
- Unfortunately, the competition itself is far less interesting that nearly everything that proceeds it. There are some dragons, naturally, but the most novel thing about them is how similar they are to bats. Of course, there is also a fiendish plot by Voldemort that culminates primarily in finally casting a regular actor, Ralph Fiennes, to play him. There are also intrigues having to do with Hogwart's newest faculty member, Mad-Eye Moody (Brendan Gleeson), the hiring of whom reflects poorly on Hogwart's increasingly incapable Human Resources department. In my opinion, the real problem is that this film immediately follows one directed by the incomparable Alfonso Cuarón. Mike Newell, most famous to me for directing the thoroughly interesting Donnie Brasco, is no amateur, but his talents for bringing out human interest, as he does with the Yule Ball, aren't always terribly applicable to stories of dragon-fighting and spellcasting. As a result, the parts of the film that emphasize spectacle over soulfulness tend to fall a bit short. At least the series continues to be watchable, even if one fears it may have hit its high-water mark back in the third film.
- The Yule Ball band, The Weird Sisters, apparently features members of Pulp and Radiohead.
