Austinist reviews You Know Who and the You Know What
We’re a little bit sleepy today. Not only did we stay up til 3am watching the latest installment of the Harry Potter Enterprise (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire for those of you living under rocks), but we also drank a fair amount of wine in celebration of Beaujolais Nouveau. Delicious, delicious wine. Mmmmm, wine. Mmmmm, underage wizards. Wait, what? Forget we said that.
So we arrived at Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar and were promptly “sorted” into our theatres. We were sent to Griffyndor theatre – that’s right, suckers! Not that it meant anything. At all. We spent the next hour watching all those random clips of old, bizarre shows - requisite for any outing to the Drafthouse. The Harry Potter trivia game livened things up (we knew all but one answer, ahem). While we were waiting and yelling out answers to the trivia questions onscreen, we ordered the steak and potato pie from the special Harry Potter menu. The pie was tasty enough, though decidedly overpriced. We didn’t try the butterbeer, but noted that it was served in daiquiri glasses and topped with whipped cream. Kinda sissy. Couldn’t they have sprung for special collector’s edition keepsake beer steins just for the occasion? Just a suggestion, Alamo.
Okay, the movie. Now, we’ve been anticipating this film, well, since the last film. We’re big fans of all things Harry Potter, despite the fact that we’re well into our 20s. We’re willing to forgive a few oversights. To put it succinctly, we WANTED to like this film. But when we left the theatre 157 minutes later, bleary-eyed and maybe still a little drunk, we had to admit to ourselves that we sort of, um, didn’t. At least, not as much as we thought we would.
Warning, mild criticism ahead!! Click below, or just cover your ears and yell, “Lalalalala, not listening!!” as you proceed to the next post. Or you can just post in the comments your opinion on which Harry Potter character will the the hottest once he/she has completed puberty and is actually legal to talk about in such an inappropriate manner, you perv.
Before all you die-hards send threatening emails, we’re not saying it was a BAD movie. There are moments of sheer delight and, dare we say, even terror. This is the first HP movie to receive a PG-13 rating, and it’s well deserved. The gang is a bit more grown up now and dealing with issues every teenager faces, like crushes, raging hormones, jealousies, and school dances. Oh, and dragons.
Speaking of dragons, the special effects are, as usual, badass. We loved the dragon sequence – much more frightening than even the book portrays, we thought. The lake task was considerably spooky, and the final maze task was delectably suspenseful. We jumped in our seat at one point.
Oh, did you need some exposition? Well, you’re not going to get much of it from the film. This is a movie made for fans, and if you’ve never read the books or are rusty on the details, you’ll probably end up a tad lost. Director Mike Newell pushes the film at a breakneck pace, lingering mostly on the personal moments between characters and throwing all the action at you in between. The gist of the story is: Harry Potter & co. are in their fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This year, the newly resurrected Triwizard Tournament is hosted by Hogwarts. Three champions from three schools (Beauxbatons, the girly Frenchies, and Durmstrang, the manly Bulgarians, along with mild-mannered British Hogwarts) are chosen by the magical Goblet of Fire to compete for eternal glory in three death-defying tasks. Something goes awry and Harry Potter is chosen as a fourth champion, much to his and everyone else’s confusion. Uh-oh, looks like someone wants our young hero snuffed! But WHO? We think You Know Who.
So many subplots and characters were cut from the film version, and we understand that this is necessary when shifting from book to big screen. But how much is too much? Also, character development is noticeably lacking; the makers of this film are relying on the audience to already know who these people are, what they’re doing, and why they’re doing it. They assume that giving the other main characters (champions Fleur Delacoeur, Viktor Krum, and Cedric Diggory) roughly two lines each in the whole film doesn’t really take away from anything. But it does. Details have been rearranged, characters have been excluded, subplots are hinted at but unexplored. The exhilaration and humor are there, and you can sense the bourgeoning teenage angst, but still the whole thing feels somewhat unsatisfying. We worry about the next film, if there is one, because the story only becomes more complicated from here. Also? We really dislike Michael Gambon's Dumbledore. Far too gruff, manic, and unkempt for our taste.
We will note one more good thing, though: Voldemort. Thirteen years after that fateful day when he murdered Harry’s parents and lost his powers when he tried to kill Harry, the Dark Lord rises again during a rather scary graveyard scene. Played by an unrecognizable Ralph Fiennes, Voldemort is gruesome and absolutely pitch-perfect. The distorted features, the penetrating eyes, the almost translucent skin – everything about him screams evil.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire isn’t perfect, although admittedly it’s entertaining. Newell has made an effort to stay true to the increasingly dark drama of the Harry Potter series, and he succeeds somewhat in portraying the budding adolescence of its characters. But, like any film derived from a beloved book, something inevitably gets lost in the translation.
