Initial review by Diana L.

[Diana]

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Saw it for the first time tonight and have come home with mixed 
feelings.  Overall, I like the movie, but there are several 'huh?' 
moments which bothered me after the fact, though a couple bugged 
during the movie.  I'll get what bothered me about the movie out of 
the way first.  

The major 'huh?' for me was the vastly abbreviated life and death of 
Barty Crouch Sr.  No mad babbling?  No explanation or even mention 
that Crouch Sr was under the imperious curse?  No mysterious 
disappearance?  Just him dead on the ground and a jump cut to Harry 
going to Dumbledore's office (how long?) after the fact for some 
unknown reason?  No reactions at all from students, teachers and the 
visiting schools to the murder of a Tri-Wizard judge on Hogwarts 
grounds?  To me, this entire important sub-story was botched.  This 
one bothered me as I was watching the movie.

More moments that defied explanation were:

Barty Crouch Jr. wasn't presumed dead in Azkaban years ago in the 
movie like he was in the book.  Why change this from the book?  
Couldn't Dumbledore have inquired about Crouch Jr.'s status at the 
prison once Harry had revealed to him that he'd seen this guy in his 
dreams?  This exremely important plot point was THE reason behind 
Crouch Sr.' being murdered by his son.  Can't have dad spill the 
beans that son wasn't really dead, could he, so he had to be 
eliminated.  Without it, there was no motivation to immediately kill 
Crouch Sr. because he could spill the beans.  

Krum's eyes were clouded over due to the Imperious curse?  HUH?  
Then why was this curse such a problem for the Ministry if the 
victim's eyes cloud over while in effect?  Was this a red herring 
for the five audience members who didn't know that Voldemort, 
through Moody!Barty Jr. was controlling Krum?  The red herring 
planted in plain site was Dumbledore's plainly bizarre comments at 
the beginning of the maze telling the contestants that the "maze 
changes people".  What in the heck was that nonsense about?  If his 
words were just to set up Cataract!Krum, then why bother to 
introduce the Imperious curse earlier in the movie?  The whole point 
in the book of having Cedric and Harry bewildered as to why Krum, 
who both thought was a good guy, would attack them just to win the 
Tri-Wizard tournament was because it tied in nicely with the 
problems that the Ministry had with the Imperious curse - who's 
lying and who's really a victim?   

Dumbledore practically tackling Harry after his name came out of the 
Goblet threw me for a loop.  Dramatics is one thing, but his near 
assault of Harry is not in character.  DD burned Umbridge's hands 
when she shook a student, so him backing Harry into a table full of 
trophies and grabbing him by the shoulders and lightly shaking him 
just does not fit DD's style.  

No confrontation between Dumbledore and Fudge about what Harry says 
happened and what Fudge wants to pretend didn't happen?  Kind of an 
important thing to cut.  The beginning of the dispute between the 
Voldemort's-back-half and the no-he's-not-half of the WW at the end 
sets up the uneasiness building in books five and six.  In fact, the 
entire fifth book is about the consequences of that disagreement. 

The shortened and de-monsterfied maze was an interesting choice.  
While I can understand they didn't want to overshadow the graveyard 
scenes, a few magic beasties and mystical spells that turned the 
world upside down would have been nice.  Killer zipper-closing 
hedges and people-eating roots were a strange replacement.   

I'll probably think of more after I've seen it a second time.  Now 
on to some things I really liked about the movie.

The first task was awesome!  Loved the dragon, the close calls and 
the derring do!  I acknowledge it was much longer than as presented 
in the book, but as it's own piece in the movie, I enjoyed it 
tremendously.  

The second task was also very well done with the floating hostages, 
Fleur and Cedric's bubble-head charms, Krum's half-formed shark and 
eerie undersea plants and creatures.  I liked all of it, though 
Harry's shooting himself out of the water like a rocket before he 
drowned will need a re-watching before I decide on that one.

Hermione coming down the steps to meet Krum at the ball and the 
entire fight between her and Ron were excellent.  True to the spirit 
of the book while equally funny and painful to watch.  

Harry's bringing Cedric's body back to Hogwarts.  Appropriately gut-
wrenching and sad.  Made me feel sad about Cedric dying all over 
again.  And I felt a great deal of sympathy for what Harry had just 
gone through.  The scene was well-scripted and acted.

Neville's practicing dancing alone in his dormroom was a very nice 
character moment.  His joy at being one of the last to return to his 
room after the ball made me smile.  The writer removing Ginny's 
earlier disappointment at not being able to go with Harry because 
she had already agreed to go with Neville added to the Neville-love 
present in this movie.  It was nice to see his character get, well, 
some character!

Harry's frantic bubble-scooping in the bath was wonderfully amusing -
 a great addition to his encounter with Moaning Myrtle in the 
prefect's bathroom.  Myrtle did help him after all and should get 
some *reward* for that, even if it to purposely embarass him in the 
tub.  LOL  

The twins were great all the way around.  Their betting business, 
allowed to flourish with the missing Ludo Bagman not taking all 
their gold at the QWC, was quite funny.

Yay, more Ginny!  Since she'll be a major character in book six it's 
nice to see them beefing up her part now and not cramming it all 
into movie five, or worse, movie six.   

Now, onto plot changes and omissions I didn't really have a problem 
with as well stuff I was glad to see made the movie.  I'm sure some 
will have major problems with a few of these.

I don't miss Ludo Bagman as much as I thought I would.  In fact I 
didn't miss him at all.  I also didn't miss Molly Weasley, either, 
but then she's been little more than a cameo in the last couple 
movies.  

I didn't miss Voldemort's long, drawn-out 'pity-me-villian-monologue-
that-explains-everything' speech.  I had a few problems with 
Voldemort, but it was his speaking voice and spryness I wasn't fond 
of, not his lack of lengthy speeches.  I picture Voldemort as having 
a deeper voice and a more quiet/still demeanor.  I didn't realize it 
until just now, but when reading the books I pictured the demeanor 
and voice of Jafar from the Disney Aladdin movie!  Sure, it's 
animated, but the demeanor and voice were spot on for my vision of 
Voldemort.  Fiennes voice was too breathy and he was too boyouant 
for my vision, though he was definitely creepy and over-confident 
like in the books.  

All of SPEW was missing and I was grateful.  Those were always the 
least enjoyable sections of the book for me as I was more anxious to 
read the advances in the main plot-lines instead.  While several of 
Dobby's scenes in the books were fun, they didn't need to be in the 
movie.  

I liked that the "Potter Stinks" buttons made it into the movie!  It 
shows how rough Harry was having it with only a few lines.  

No fight between Hagrid and Olympe.  Surprisingly I didn't miss it 
at all once I realized we weren't going to see any of it.  

I did miss the scene where Harry's leg gets caught in the stair and 
he nearly gets discovered by Snape, but only a little bit and I can 
understand why it was cut.  

Greatly enjoyed the amazing bouncing ferret scene!  If it had only 
had lasted a little bit longer.  LOL 

Harry's dreamy looks after seeing/talking to Cho were amusing and 
well-done.  They made me think of my childhood crushes.  

Some scenes I did miss were:

Percy being called Weatherby by Crouch Sr. in front of the twins.

Krum confronting Harry about Hermione because he regarded Harry as 
competition for her affections....and Harry's reaction when he 
realizes this.  

Harry throwing off Voldemort's Imperious curse at the graveyard and 
Voldie's surprise at this.  

That's all I can think of at the moment.  It'll be interesting to 
read what others think of the movie.

Diana L.