Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

The fourth of the HP franchise is the best to date, perhaps because it has a British director (Mike Newell) who has a less blinkered vision of public school life and perhaps because the kids are old enough (fourteen) to have interesting and complex lives even without magic. It may even be a gag that the first line of the film, muttered by doomed Eric Sykes, is 'bloody kids!' However, as someone who's getting this story from the movies rather than the books, I'm starting to recognise J.K. Rowling's habitual plot structure – and there's a left-kink in her plot in the third act, as the big contest which the whole film has revolved around is sidelined (Harry wins – big surprise) and turns out to be slightly rigged anyway while we get to the continuing story with the resurrection of the arch-enemy Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes, with no nose) and fairly sombre business (including the death of a sympathetic, third-tier character). The set-up is that Hogwarts plays host to a Tri-Wizard competition, which consists of three set-piece challenges, and a champ from the school has to play against a French girlie witch and a Bulgarian quidditch champion from underutilised visiting schools. Harry's name pops up in the Goblet of Fire, though he didn't enter himself and wasn't supposed to be there.

The challenges are all good big CGI action/scare sequences – a bout with a dragon, an underwater tussle with vicious merpeople and a runabout a morphing maze – but there's as much interest in the grand ball and who comes with who, with Harry for once taking the part of speccy loser. A subplot about the brief estrangement of Harry and best mate Ron feels token, but also makes them more like real kids – and the stuff about who asks who to the ball grounds the magic in something much more like human reality.

Of the newcomers, Brendan Gleeson with a big false eye and a metal leg gets the biggest role and his sinister benevolence tags him early on as the teacher-who'll-turn-out-to-be-a-baddie, though in this case the character is actually okay but being impersonated for most of the film by another disguised villain (David Tennant). Michael Gambon lets a bit more Irish into Dumbledore, while Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman and others have to plod along with scant lines this time. Shirley Henderson, always welcome, reprises her flirty soppy ghost and Miranda Richardson is funny as a magical tabloid gossip scribbler.

The look is gloomy but detailed, with more interesting use of the massive towers and dangerous environs of the school, and the upped rating means we get more seriously scary stuff. The kids still aren't quite as good as they might be, and the fact that a slab of book has had to be shrunk down to realistic running time means a lot of plots are skimmed through (Harry's potential love interest barely gets a look in) and apparently major revelations (that the bully's Dad is a Voldemort disciple) are just touched on.

First published in this form here.

Visit Kim's Official Website at www.johnnyalucard.com