Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
May 2006 Reviewed by: Rad Bennett Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

Doing a series is a tricky business that seldom succeeds. The Star Wars series faltered on the fourth film, stumbled on the fifth, and never fully redeemed itself with the sixth and last. In spite of Tom Cruise, the Mission: Impossible series, with a third film due soon, has been uneven. The original Christopher Reeves Superman series got worse as it went on, as did Warner’s Batman films. James Bond has held the boards because each film has been an original, reinventing Bond several times over.

But the Harry Potter series has found the answer. Using a consistent cast, each film has been as good as, or better, than the one before it. The first film was cast right in the first place, with principal actors young enough that they could age, just as they do in J.K. Rowling’s novels. The adult characters have stayed the same, with the exception of Richard Harris, who passed away after the second film was released. They have been an anchor that allows the young actors to mature and voyage into new adventures.

In this latest installment, Harry’s name is spit out by the goblet as a contestant in the Triwizard Tournament. At the same time that the young wizard must pass three grueling trials, he is also faced with the things any normal boy would encounter as a budding teenager. He starts noticing girls and learns about friendship and its bonds. Since the young characters are bridging the gap into adulthood, this movie is darker and more adult.

Its picture is also often dark. Many of the shots here are interior or night shots, often with a blue cast. If you have a player that does not crush blacks, you will be okay, but if your player does, you are going to miss a lot that happens in the shadows. The outdoor scenes are dandy, bright, and cheerful. As in other Potter movies, the sharpness doesn’t seem quite as detailed as in other contemporary films, but this gives the movies a storybook look that is not inappropriate. The sound design is very imaginative and clear. There is little mud in the music or Foley effects, and those are exceptionally well balanced. The surround effects in the third trial, which takes place in a spooky maze, are quite terrifying.

The extras for this series have been largely aimed at a younger crowd. Although this movie is more adult, the extras still seem juvenile in part. There are games and challenges that most people will just skip or turn over to any children in the household. There are some documentaries that show how the special effects for each challenge sequence were created, and there is one fascinating, if trivial, featurette that traces the history of the series, in which you can see the three young heroes when they were in elementary school. They were so young when they started, but we don’t realize it until faced with those photos because we have all matured with them. Because they have become DVD friends through this consecutive series, I am looking forward to sharing their growth in the next episode.

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