November the 19th saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the fourth film based on JK Rowling's popular book series, out in cinemas everywhere. According to Chadderbox's critic, the film scores 4 St Chad's shields out of a total 5.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is about Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts, and how he is mysteriously selected to compete in the Triwizard Tournament, along with older and much more experienced wizards, including Cedric Diggory, and students from other, rival, European wizarding schools.

On top of that, Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters are spreading fear throughout the wizarding community, as he rises to power and they show their 'Dark Mark' at the Quidditch World Cup.

The film was originally going to be split into two parts, but instead the producers made one film. In order to do this, they just followed Harry's story, missing out most of the sub-plots, such as Hermione's fight for the right's of house elves, and a surprising discovery about nosy journalist, Rita Skeeta.

The film shows all of Harry's toils in the Triwizard Tournament. He has to complete three tasks: facing a deadly Hungarian Horntail dragon, diving to the bottom of a lake to retreve Ron from the merpeople, and finding the Triwizard Cup in an enchanted maze.

The underwater scene was filmed in a massive tank, and all the special effects were added later. The merpeople are a stunning example of special effects, and they are also quite scary!

Do you agree with the scoring? E-mail all comments and reviews to: chadderbox@st-chads.halton.sch.uk

by Sarah Steele
article published 13/12/05