The Goblet of fire holds me in thrall

Beware : potential spoiler ahead, tread with wary steps

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Well, I have been reading HP and the halfblood prince these days. Nearing the end and waiting for dumbledore to die. First HP book I fully read. And found it to be quite good. The mystical and fantasy world of magic is captivating. JKR does a good job of putting her imagination to words evoking wonderful imagery in the mind. Of course, in my case, I have seen a couple of the earlier movies. So whenever I read about Harry, Radcliffe boy came to my mind. Hermione was always Emma Watson.

So, I had looked forward to seeing the latest offering in Harry Potter - the movies. I havent read HP and the Goblet of Fire yet. Well, Sunday came and by evening, I didnt manage to see the movie yet. But finally I caught hold of a friend and went for the 10pm show at Innovative Multiplex. Braving the nippy wind, I reached the multiplex, went in and settled down in the comfortable seat. All this effort proved to be worthwhile. It is quite important that you see this movie in a theatre with good accoustics and in comfort.

Since I watched the movie without having read the book, my cinematic experience was unadulterated and not weighed down by the expectations raised by the book. So this is my unprejudiced opinion of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - the movie. :-) Maybe, after I go through the book, I shall revisit and publish another post on it for me to compare my thoughts.

The film opened with the scene of Tom Riddle's house (I think thats what it is). There was the imposing sculpture of the "Grim Reaper" supposedly there as the face of the evil. The Quidditch stadium and the display was impressive. The vision in the sky of the mark of the dark lord was also cool. But one of the best scenes of the movie for me was the entry of the team from the Witches school (I didnt catch the name of the school). The sheer grace with which they made their entry was simply superb. The actual triwizard tournament wasnt that great except for the first task. The dragon-harry chase was 'shot' well. But the movie previews made the underwater scenes to be something really special. Maybe it took great effort and skill to film, but I didnt really find it visually that great. The new Dark Arts Teacher or rather the impersonator was quite cool too. Actually his eyeball was quite eye-catching. Why, it seemed to have a 10x optical zoom !

But one of the takeaways for me from this movie was the scene where Hermione appears in her ball dress. Emma Watson looks beautiful in it and Parvati didnt manage to beat me in remarking on how lovely she looked. And the Russians looked good in their tunics too. All in all, I felt that the special effects, the cinematography and the costumes were quite good in the movie.

"Sau rupiye poore vasool", I would say. And I didnt mind the chill in my bones, when I rode back at midnight.