Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (UMD for PSP) (2005)

Rolling Stone
3 stars out of 4 -- "With the cast getting looser and the mind games kinkier, it's hard to resist." 12/01/2005 p.136

New York Times
"[T]he director Mike Newell embraces the saga's dark side with flair....[T]he combination of British eccentricity, fatalism and steady-on pluck remains intact." 11/17/2005 p.E1

Uncut
"As Harry's life becomes more complex, so this film takes on a darker hue....Brit director Mike Newell enlivens the brooding atmosphere with stunning action sequences..." 01/01/2005 p.130

USA Today
"Harry's climactic duel with Lord Voldemort packs an emotional wallop. And it's fun to watch the kids grow." 11/23/2005 p.7D

Sight and Sound
"[I]n granting THE GOBLET OF FIRE an earthier real-world tone, Newell has crafted a parable about the pains and pangs of adolescence. In doing so, he has made the most grown-up Potter yet." 01/01/2006 p.57

Ultimate DVD
4 stars out of 5 -- "GOBLET OF FIRE is crisp, vibrant, and absolutely magical." 08/01/2007 p.91

Chicago Sun-Times 9 of 10
Well into "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," Albus Dumbledore intones as only he can: "Dark and difficult times lie ahead." What does he think lay behind? In this adventure Harry will do battle with giant lizards, face the attack of the Death Eaters, and in perhaps the most difficult task of all for a 14-year-old, ask a girl to be his date at the Yule Ball. That Harry survives these challenges goes without saying, since in the world of print his next adventures have already been published, but "Goblet of Fire" provides trials that stretch his powers to the breaking point. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) was just turning 13 in the previous movie, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" (2004), and the Potter series turns PG-13 with this installment. There is still at least a mail-owl, and what looks like a mail-raven (it may represent FedEx), but many of the twee touches of the earlier films have gone missing to make room for a brawnier, scarier plot. Is it fair to wonder if the series will continue to grow up with Harry, earning the R rating as he turns 17? Certainly Lord Voldemort seems capable of limitless villainy. Although we glimpsed his face in "The Sorcerer's Stone," we see him in full on screen for the first time in "Goblet of Fire," and he does not disappoint: Hairless, with the complexion of a slug, his nostrils snaky slits in his face, he's played by Ralph Fiennes as a vile creature who has at last been rejoined by his Death Eaters, who were disabled by Harry's magic earlier in the series. Hogwarts School and indeed the entire structure of Harry's world is threatened by Voldemort's return to something approaching his potential powers, and the film becomes a struggle between the civilized traditions of the school and the dark void of Voldemortism. The film is more violent, less cute than the others, but the action is not the mindless destruction of a video game; it has purpose, shape and style, as in the Triwizard Tournament, which begins the film. Three finalists are chosen by the Goblet of Fire, and then the Goblet spits out an unprecedented fourth name: Harry Potter's. This is against the rules, since you have to be 17 to compete in Triwizardry, and Harry is only 14, but Dumbledore's hands are tied: What the Goblet wants, the Goblet gets. The question is, who entered Harry's name, since Harry says he didn't? The Triwizard Tournament begins near the start of the film, but after the Quidditch World Cup, which takes place within a stadium so vast it makes the Senate Chamber in "Star Wars" look like a dinner theater. The cup finals are interrupted by ominous portents; the Death Eaters attack, serving notice that Voldemort is back and means business. But the early skirmishes are repelled, and the students return to Hogwarts, joined by exchange students from two overseas magic academies: From France come the Beauxbaton girls, who march on parade like Bemelmans' maids all in a row, and from Durmstrang school in central Europe come clean-cut - Roger Ebert
 
Variety.com 8 of 10
No more kids' stuff at Hogwarts. In "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," the budding teenage wizards-in-training grapple with incipient romance, jealousy and mortality. Last year's "The Prisoner of Azkaban" seemed dark, but this excellent fourth film derived from J.K. Rowling's books is the darkest "Potter" yet, intense enough to warrant a PG-13 rating. This factor alone will prompt another modest dip in franchise B.O. performance, as some younger viewers will steer clear, at least until homevid release. But pic's excitement and quality bode well for sustained fan interest and confidence through the enterprise's remaining three installments. Worldwide theatrical gross for the three features stands at a staggering $2.6 billion, although totals have dropped with each subsequent film, from $974 million for "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" to $879 million for "The Chamber of Secrets" to $749 million for "Azkaban." After Mexican helmer Alfonso Cuaron elevated the series so considerably last year, producer David Heyman gave a second chance to Mike Newell, who turned down "Sorcerer's Stone." Newell becomes the first English director to have a go at Harry, and he doesn't let the home team down. The books' millions of readers, youthful and otherwise, will know what's coming: the emergence of Lord Voldemort, the ubervillain who killed Harry's parents, was later sapped of his powers by the tyke but has now concocted an ingenious plan to trap his nemesis at the conclusion of the interschool Triwizard Tournament. Screenwriter Steve Kloves, faced with the task of boiling the 734-page book down to manageable length (157-minute running time makes it the second-longest "Potter" picture, after "Chamber"), makes short work of Rowling's bloated 157-page prologue devoted to the Quidditch World Cup. In economical fashion, pic reels off Harry's nightmare about Voldemort's return, his journey to the White Cliffs with Hermione and the Weasleys to attend the match (in an astonishing modern stadium), the fiery assault on the wizards' massive tent city by the Voldemort's Death Eaters (outfitted in pointy Klan-style hats) and the threatening apparition of Voldemort's Dark Mark -- a ghostly skull and snake -- in the night sky. After just 14 minutes, we're back on the Hogwarts Express with the Fourth Years, all noticeably taller, older and more mature than in the last installment. That this year will be different from all previous years is announced by the arrival of a flying-horse-drawn carriage bearing the French female students of Beauxbatons, and the emergence from under the lake of a vintage sailing ship carrying the Middle European boys from Durmstrang. As Dumbledore explains, this exercise in international cooperation among wizarding schools is meant to foster the age-old tradition of the Triwizard Tournament, a trio of daunting tasks to be undertaken by an exemplary representative from each institution. General acclamation greets the selection of the represen - Todd McCarthy