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"HARRY POTTER AND GOBLET OF FIRE" (2005) (Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson) (PG-13) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons *Mild Moderate Extreme *Extreme Moderate Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Mild Minor Extreme None Mild Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence Moderate None Heavy Moderate Heavy QUICK TAKE: Action/Adventure: A teenage wizard must compete in a dangerous magic tournament while also dealing with puppy love and the return of evil forces in this fourth installment of the "Harry Potter" series. PLOT: It's year four at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry run by Albus Dumbledore (MICHAEL GAMBON) and Minvera McGonagall (MAGGIE SMITH) where new instructor Alastor 'MadEye' Moody (BRENDAN GLEESON) joins veterans like Professor Severus Snape (ALAN RICKMAN) in teaching the young wizards the finer points and potential dangers of magic. Star pupil Harry Potter (DANIEL RADCLIFFE) and his close friends Ron Weasley (RUPERT GRINT) and Hermione Granger (EMMA WATSON) have turned fourteen, which means they're in the throes of puppy love and teen angst, but are too young to participate in the Triwizard Tournament. A perilous and potentially dangerous competition to determine the best young magician from various schools of magic, it's only open to those 17 and over who've submitted their names into the mystical Goblet of Fire. Durmstrang's Quidditch superstar Victor Krum (STANISLAV IANEVSKI) and the alluring Fleur Delacour (CLÉMENCE POÉSY) from Beauxbaton join Hogwarts' own Cedric Diggory (ROBERT PATTINSON) as the three chosen competitors. Yet, the Goblet then spits out Harry's name despite him having not entered. With Dumbledore and Ministry of Magic official Barty Crouch (ROGER LLOYD PACK) deciding they can't overrule the Goblet, Harry is allowed to enter. Even so, Dumbledore asks Moody -- a former dark wizard catcher who has a large, magical and mechanical eye on his eye patch -- to watch over Harry who doesn't seem to have the maturity to compete in, let alone win the tournament. Harry also gets help from others, including groundskeeper Rubeus Hagrid (ROBBIE COLTRANE) when the latter isn't otherwise enamored with Madame Maxime (FRANCES DE LA TOUR) the head of Beauxbaton and Fleur's chaperone. As the tournament begins, Harry's unaware that he's not only going to have to overcome the tremendous physical and mental challenges the Tournament poses, but also a pesky reporter in the form of Rita Skeeter (MIRANDA RICHARDSON) and the recently resurrected Voldemort (RALPH FIENNES) and his minions who want Harry dead. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? If they're fans of the books or movies, that's a definite yes. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13 For sequences of fantasy violence and frightening images CAST AS ROLE MODELS: DANIEL RADCLIFFE plays the now 14-year-old wizard who must participate in the magic tournament while dealing with his newfound feelings toward girls, and the return of Voldemort, showing bravery and smarts along the way. RUPERT GRINT plays his good friend and fellow wizard who uses some brief and minor profanity while briefly having a falling out with Harry. He's also jealous of Hermione going to the dance with Krum. EMMA WATSON plays their other friend who assists Harry in his quest while dealing with Ron's jealousy. BRENDAN GLEESON plays the new professor of the dark arts with a large, mechanical eye who teaches his students about curses and doesn't suffer fools or bullies as he assists Harry in the tournament. STANISLAV IANEVSKI plays the Quidditch superstar who's also a chosen one in the magic tournament who becomes affected by it. ROBERT PATTINSON plays Harry's older classmate at Hogwarts who's another participant in the tournament. CLÉMENCE POÉSY plays the lone female contestant in the tournament. MICHAEL GAMBON plays the head wizard at Hogwarts who allows Harry to participate in the magic tournament since the Goblet deemed it so. MAGGIE SMITH plays the headmistress and professor at the school who teaches Ron how to dance for an upcoming ball. TOM FELTON plays Harry, Ron and Hermione's snide, elitist and condescending rival, while JASON ISAACS plays his father with the same sort of attitude who turns out to be in cahoots with Voldemort. ROBBIE COLTRANE plays the school's groundskeeper who falls for Madame Maxime and assists Harry in prepping for the tournament. ALAN RICKMAN plays another professor and head of a rival house at Hogwarts who seems to be in a perpetually stern mood. RALPH FIENNES plays the evil lord who's resurrected and wishes to kill Harry. MIRANDA RICHARDSON plays a tabloid type reporter covering the tournament and Harry. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: The following is a brief summary of the content found in this adventure film that's been rated PG-13. Profanity consists of at least 8 hells, while other expletives and colorful phrases are also uttered. Non-explicit, but sexually related dialogue is present, and a ghostly girl joins a nude teen (we don't see anything) in a large bubble bath and snuggles up to him. The camera focuses on girls' clothed butts representing one or more boys' point of view of them, and an adult tries to put his hand down on a woman's clothed butt while dancing with her. Violence consists of several characters being killed on and off screen, characters zapping others with powerful jolts of magic, and several encounters with monstrous beings. Those scenes, others moments of peril and various visuals may be unsettling, suspenseful or downright scary to younger viewers, but to a lesser extent or not at all to older kids. Some of that violence has bloody results, while various characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes. A father grieves over his dead son, while there's brief talk of losing parents. Some potentially imitative behavior is present, as is some drinking, while one character is made to look like an alcoholic (always drinking from a flask), but we later learn that what he's drinking is a non-alcoholic, magical potion. Should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, you may want to look more closely at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE Maxime makes a comment that a certain people only drink single malt whiskey. On many occasions, Moody drinks from a flask. Ron wonders what it is and Harry says it's not pumpkin juice. We're led to believe it's alcoholic, but we later learn it's a magic potion that must be consumed continually to keep the magic active. Some adults drink what looks like wine. BLOOD/GORE Harry has a mild amount of blood on his face and neck. We later see something resembling stitches on his face over the cut there. Harry has more bloody scrapes on him, as well as some red suction cup marks on his neck from an encounter with squid monsters. We see blood on a knife blade after Wormtail cuts Harry to get some of his blood to help resurrect Voldemort (who initially appears as a slimy-looking being). Harry has some mild, bloody cuts on his skin. We see a bad (and bloody) cut wound on Harry's forearm (in the shape of an image), with a villain then touching that and smelling that blood on his finger. DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE Viewers who don't approve of the notion/practice of magic may find many of the characters and most of the movie as having both types of attitudes. Voldemort and his minions have bad attitudes for their nefarious plans (including wanting to kill Harry). Harry cheats to a degree in the tournament by accepting help and magic from others to win. Lucius Malfoy has a condescending attitude toward Harry and the others. Freddy and George try to cheat by taking an aging potion so that they can enter the tournament (despite being under 17). The magic surrounding the goblet, however, blasts them away and we then see that they're now old (played for comedy and they're later back to normal). Harry and Ron have a falling out after the latter thinks Harry entered the tournament (against the rules) and that he didn't tell him that he was going to do so. Other kids wear magical buttons that read "Potter Stinks" and they laugh and make fun of him. We see that a villain has held another person captive and assumed their identity via magic to try to achieve his nefarious goals. FRIGHTENING SCENES The following scenes/sequences (especially when accompanied by suspenseful music) and others listed under "Violence" may or may not be unsettling, suspenseful and/or scary to some kids, all depending on their age, level of maturity and tolerance for such material. That said, there's little doubt that some/much of the following may affect some kids and could be the stuff of which nightmares are made. We see a large snake slither out from a skull and then travel to an old cemetery where we see a skeletal statue of what looks like the grim reaper (skeletal face in a hood). An old man enters an old and seemingly unoccupied house where he hears voices. He slowly ascends the stairs and then sees Wormtail and another man talking to Voldemort. They then realize the old man is there and Voldemort, who isn't seen in full, zaps the man with some sort of energy beam (we don't see the impact, just a flash of light). We then realize that this was Harry's dream. The kids scream as an old boot turns out to be a portal device that sends them through a vortex and then flying through the air, with the kids landing hard on the ground and the adults gliding in for a soft landing. People at a Quidditch festival panic as fiery explosions erupt around them, with hooded figures shooting out those fireballs (and we see tents there on fire). During the ensuing stampede, Harry is inadvertently hit and knocked unconscious. We later see the burned out tent village and Harry then spots a man who casts a magic spell that causes an enormous image of a skull and snake to form and move about in the sky. There's talk of characters known as Death Eaters. Moody has a large, mechanical eye as an eye patch that moves around in jerky motions. Dumbledore warns the students that once they enter the big magic tournament, there's no turning back and adds that it's not for the faint-hearted. To teach his students about three unforgivable curses, Moody uses a rather large, flying insect as a demo. It first flies about and lands on various students, scaring them but amusing everyone else until it's their turn. He then causes it a lot of pain via another curse (prompting Hermione to tell him to stop and leaving Neville looking dazed) and then zaps it with a killing curse, killing it. We see a bunch of worms crawling about a large jar that Moody is using in class. Some kids might be unnerved by seeing Sirius' fiery-looking face in a fireplace fire, that he tells Harry that there's danger within Hogwarts and that people die in the magic tournament. Hagrid takes Harry through the woods at night where they hear monstrous sounds and then see cages there from which blasts of fire erupt (from dragons within them). A trunk in Moody's place moves about from something within it and he tells Harry he doesn't want to know what's inside it. The first contest is to retrieve an egg that's being protected by a huge, fire-breathing dragon that's chained to some rocky terrain. After the other contestants are successful (we don't see their attempts), it's Harry's turn. He then has various close calls with his dragon that tries to hit him with its tail and blasts of fire. The dragon then breaks free and flies after Harry who's now on his flying broom. There are more close calls, with it hitting Harry with its tail. Harry ends up hanging by his fingertips on the edge of a roof, as the dragon lands there and slowly crawls across the sloped surface toward him. He then falls a long distance and finally gains control of his broom with the dragon in close pursuit. He then flies beneath a stone bridge into which the dragon crashes into and then falls away, presumably dead. Harry has his dream again featuring the old house, Wormtail and Voldemort. After taking gillyweed, Harry develops gills and webbed hands and feet for another segment of the competition (that transformation might be unsettling for some younger kids). Harry and other contestants swim underwater through what look like long strands of floating kelp, with a glimpse of creatures darting about, including one passing by in the foreground of a shot and the girl seemingly being pulled down. Harry then sees Ron, Hermione and another kid floating underwater, looking dead. The contestants can only pick one, and as Harry tries to decide a shark comes racing at him, but it's just Krum who's now half shark and half person and he grabs Hermione. Harry then decides he must save both Ron and the other kid, but he's confronted by menacing looking mermaids (with mean eyes and sharp teeth) who hold their tridents to Harry's neck. He gets away from them but then runs into squid creatures that attack him. He zaps them away for a moment, with Ron and the other kid floating up (and all are okay once at the surface), but Harry then starts to sink toward the bottom. He then evokes some magic that sends him blasting up out of the water and he's fine. Harry finds a minor adult character dead in the woods (no blood). Harry looks into Dumbledore's mystical fountain and then finds himself falling a long ways before landing at a trial of another character. Dumbledore instructs the contestants about the maze segment (with enormous hedges), saying that people change in it and that they could lose themselves along the way during it. Once inside, the contestants, who have split up, hear weird noises and part of the maze hedges suddenly start closing toward Cedric. Something is then behind Fleur and we see that it's Krum whose eyes look weird. Various roots or vines then envelope Fleur on the ground, and by the time Harry gets there, they pull her inside the maze and out of sight. Possessed by something inside a maze, Krum is about to zap Harry, but Cedric zaps Krum. Vines or roots then envelope Cedric and Harry must choose between saving him and winning the game (all while being affected by the same power that corrupted Krum). Harry and another boy are transported into the creepy cemetery from Harry's dreams. Wormtail then zaps the boy dead and uses magic to trap Harry. Wormtail carries some small version of Voldemort that he then resurrects by mixing him, a leg bone from a grave, his apparent cut-off arm (we see the initial motion of the cutting with a knife, but there's no blood, etc.) and blood from Harry (we see the motion of him cutting Harry's arm and then see some blood on the knife blade). Voldemort is then resurrected, starting as a slimy being and then transforming into a sort of alien-looking being (that may be disturbing or scary for younger kids). A tattoo seems alive on another character's arm. Voldemort places his finger to Harry's head, causing him much pain. He then causes him more pain, but doesn't touch him to do so. He then says, "I'm going to kill you Harry Potter." Harry and Voldemort battle with energy charges from their wands that clash between them, with each trying to overcome the other. Ghostly (but friendly) spirits then assist Harry and allow him to escape. A character morphs into another character, distorting in a way that could be unsettling to some younger viewers. GUNS/WEAPONS Magic Wands/Knife/Tridents: Used to threaten, injure or kill others. See "Violence" for details. A cannon is used to signal the start of tournament segments. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "Bloody," "Bloody hell," "Haven't the foggiest," "Merlin's beard," "Blimey," "Shut up," "You idiot," "Wicked," "That's rubbish," "Old codger," "The hell he is," "You know bloody well what," "Piss off," "A right nasty piece of work," "You're a right foul git," "I don't give a damn," "You're pathetic," "What the bloody hell was that?" "It's completely mental," "It's ghastly," "Bloke" and "What's got your wand in a knot?" The film could inspire some kids to get involved in magic and such. Hagrid stabs a fork down into a smaller man's hand when the latter reaches for something near Hagrid's food (played for comedy). Although they're drinking a magic potion and not alcohol, Freddy and George say "Bottoms up" as they down the concoction. Other kids wear magical buttons that read "Potter Stinks" and they laugh and make fun of him. A man has a tattoo on his arm that moves. JUMP SCENES A figure passes by in front of the camera. Hedge mazes suddenly close toward a character. MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) An extreme amount of suspenseful and ominous music plays in the film. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) None. PROFANITY An entire scene of the movie at our screening was sans audio, so the following should be considered a minimum: At least 8 hells, 1 damn and 1 use of "Oh my God." SEX/NUDITY Presumably representing the boys' point of view (after Ron says he likes to watch girls walk away), the camera focuses on the clothed butts of girls from another school as they enter Hogwarts. Ron is jealous of Hermione going to the dance with Krum, telling her that Krum has more than friendship on his mind regarding Hermione (although it isn't made clear if he means just romance or something more sexual). Later, Hermione says that Krum is more of a physical being, but realizing what that sounds like, says that she means he isn't loquacious. While Hagrid dances with Maxime, his hand goes down out of the camera shot (presumably to her clothed butt that we don't see) and she then pulls it back up to her back. Following advice that will help him discover the secrets of the large egg he possesses, Harry gets into a large bath (we see him shirtless, but he's presumably nude). He is then visited by Moaning Myrtle, a ghostly girl (clothed, but transparent in a ghostly way) who eventually snuggles up close to him in that water, making him uncomfortable (At our screening, there was no audio with this scene, so we don't know what, if any possible suggestive dialogue is present or not. That said, we asked another critic from a different screening who said that Myrtle tries to see through the bubbles to see Harry naked, and joyfully tells him how another cute boy almost ran out of bubbles before he figured it out). We see Fleur in a formfitting, one piece bathing suit before an underwater segment of the tournament. SMOKING None. TENSE FAMILY SCENES Hagrid briefly talks about his father dying. There's brief talk of Harry losing his parents in the past. Harry sees the spirits of his dead parents, but they're there to help him against Voldemort. A man grieves over his dead son (and a crowd of people see this and are upset). TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT The use of magic/sorcery in the film. Harry and Ron have a falling out after the latter thinks Harry entered the tournament (against the rules) and that he didn't tell him that he was going to do so. We see that Moody has a prosthetic leg and then see him not wearing it. Ron is jealous of Hermione going to the dance with Krum, telling her that Krum has more than friendship on his mind regarding Hermione (although it isn't made clear if he means just romance or something more sexual). Later, Hermione says that Krum is more of a physical being, but realizing what that sounds like, says that she means he isn't loquacious. Harry is told that he must choose between what is right and what is easy. VIOLENCE Voldemort, who isn't seen in full, zaps a man with some sort of energy beam (we don't see the impact, just a flash of light). We then realize that this was Harry's dream. People at a Quidditch festival panic as fiery explosions erupt around them, with hooded figures shooting out those fireballs (and we see tents there on fire). During the ensuing stampede, Harry is inadvertently hit and knocked unconscious. We later see the burned out tent village. Some adults fire on Harry and his friends with magic when they mistakenly think they're villains (but no one is harmed). Hagrid stabs a fork down into a smaller man's hand when the latter reaches for something near Hagrid's food (played for comedy). To teach his students about three unforgivable curses, Moody uses a rather large, flying insect as a demo. He causes it a lot of pain via another curse (prompting Hermione to tell him to stop and leaving Neville looking dazed) and then zaps it with a killing curse, killing it. Some magic blasts two twins away from the Goblet. Dumbledore grabs Harry when he thinks he cheated on submitting his name into the goblet. A large bird messenger nips Harry's finger. Draco Malfoy prepares to zap Harry when the latter's back is turned, but Moody sees that and zaps Malfoy, turning him into a ferret that he then suspends and moves around in midair before turning him back (played for comedy). The first contest is to retrieve an egg that's being protected by a huge, fire-breathing dragon that's chained to some rocky terrain. After the other contestants are successful (we don't see their attempts), it's Harry's turn. He then has various close calls with his dragon that tries to hit him with its tail and blasts of fire. The dragon then breaks free and flies after Harry who's now on his flying broom. There are more close calls, with it hitting Harry with its tail. Harry ends up hanging by his fingertips on the edge of a roof, as the dragon lands there and slowly crawls across the sloped surface toward him. He then falls a long distance and finally gains control of his broom with the dragon in close pursuit. He then flies beneath a stone bridge into which the dragon crashes into and then falls away, presumably dead. Snape whacks Harry and Ron several times on the head to make them pay attention to their classwork (played for laughs, although he's not doing it to be funny). While underwater, Harry is confronted by menacing looking mermaids (with mean eyes and sharp teeth) who hold their tridents to Harry's neck. He gets away from them but then runs into squid creatures that attack him. He zaps them away for a moment. Harry finds a minor adult character dead in the woods (no blood -- and from unseen violence). Some licorice bits end up biting Harry. Moody zaps a villain with magic. Possessed by something inside a maze, Krum is about to zap Harry, but Cedric zaps Krum. Harry and another boy are transported into the creepy cemetery from Harry's dreams. Wormtail then zaps the boy dead and uses magic to trap Harry. Voldemort pushes his wand into Wormtail's arm (no blood). Various Death Eaters (hooded characters) descend from the sky, but Voldemort is disappointed in them and thus kills many of them (we see dust come out from their hoods before they collapse to the ground). Voldemort places his finger to Harry's head, causing him much pain. He then causes him more pain, but doesn't touch him to do so. He then says, "I'm going to kill you Harry Potter." Harry and Voldemort battle with energy charges from their wands that clash between them, with each trying to overcome the other. Ghostly (but friendly) spirits then assist Harry and allow him to escape. Dumbledore blasts a villain backwards with magic. Reviewed November 10, 2005 / Posted November 18, 2005

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