Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Critic Reviews

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire does have its quota of antic marvels.

Childhood ends for the young wizard with the zigzag scar in the happily satisfying film adaptation of the fourth book in J. K. Rowling's series.

It's scarier than the previous three movies and more poignant.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is probably the most engaging Potter film of the series thus far.

There's a darkness on the edge of Hogwarts, and its name is adolescence.

To this viewer and reader, the decade-old juggernaut is as deeply felt as it is flawed, dense and illogical and laudably weird.

Goblet shifts effortlessly from dark to light to dark again.

The film follows in the fantasy tradition of stretching perceptions of the possible, and it does so in a richly realized and recognizably human universe.

Newell deftly mixes in sweet teenage angst and lighter moments of physical humor.

[Newell] cannot do much about the slightly tired sadism that is creeping into the cracks of the Potter franchise.

[Newell] balances delicately between whimsy and the ominous, on the uncertain middle ground where Harry lives, poised between fun at school, teenage romance and the dark abyss.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, fourth in the fantasy franchise, is the most fun and the most fraught with conflict.

The strongest film of the bunch.

More impressive than wondrous, it won't transform the series, but it moves it along, pushing its charges toward adulthood and the mean sorcery of the grown-up world.

The fourth installment (yes, it never ends) in the series about the little wizard with the round glasses grows so violent and ghoulish that it drains the appeal of stories that are best when they stay innocuous.

The fourth and most boring entry in the franchise.

The filmmakers keep the narrative screws fastened tight, which gives The Goblet of Fire an intensity that rarely flags.

Exactly what fans are looking for, offering eye-boggling spectacle and lots of well-executed action scenes.

Wait a minute. Sequels aren't supposed to get better.

Screenwriter Kloves deserves a tip of the wizard's hat for cutting Rowling's immense tome (636 pages) down to size, and for keeping the story moving despite a surfeit of characters and incidents.

Easily the most involving of the movies so far.

It balances the exhilaration of independence -- one of the great joys of growing up -- with the sobering realization that being a grown-up means there's no one around to protect you.

It's always a treat to see what big-studio-franchise cash can produce in the way of top-flight British (and Irish) actors.

Harry Potter has become a rare cinematic constant -- something to be anticipated every year or two.