Pictured Mary Poppins.
Not keeping up with Harry Potter on the page, I arrive at each new film chapter uninformed about what lies ahead. And though it's only been a year and a half since the last installment, look how our kids have grown! Wasn't it just yesterday that Harry was no more than a put-upon, wee lad knee high to Dumbledore, Ron not much bigger than his pet rat familiar Scabbers and dainty, prissy Hermione a mere slip of a lass? Suddenly, with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ( hereinafter HP4 ) , the magical, nerdy trio has made the leap into messy adolescence.
The childlike wonder that enthralled me in part one is gone, replaced by something deeper and sinister and much closer to the darkness of adulthood. HP4 is most decidedly NOT for kids ( be warned—there's a death ) , but that doesn't keep it from being the best film in the series to date. Though it falters at the fade out ( not unlike The Empire Strikes Back—how can there be a slam-bang finish when we're only at the mid-point? ) , the movie is so visually stunning and inventive that one is swept along in the dark undercurrent. A movie like HP4 is the reason why widescreen was invented. It's going to be a doozy in the IMAX format.
In addition to experiencing the insecurity of adolescence and the laying down of childish pursuits, Mr. Potter and company are now on the cusp of their separate ( or perhaps commingled ) Destinies, not to mention their first initiations into ah-hem, adult diversions. So now we don't need to slog through the low comedy scenes with Harry's adopted, obnoxious family. Instead, new-to-the-series director Mike Newell ( Mona Lisa Smile, Four Weddings and a Funeral ) jumps right into the action with lots of typical teenage concerns: sports competition, celebrity worship and hormonal anxiety about who to take to the Yule Ball, the school's big dance ( done in Hogwarts style, of course ) . There's even a touch of homophobic bantering amongst the lads. Yet there's still youthful exuberance and innocence ( at one point, early on, Harry exclaims 'I love magic,' speaking for the audience and the filmmakers ) . But increasingly, it seems, there's a cost to be paid for delving into the supernatural. A battle is brewing ( not unlike the one for Middle Earth at the heart of the Rings trilogy ) between the dark arts and the, what, white arts? Naturally, our young hero and his companions are going to be smack dab in the middle of it.
HP4 follows the group through an ever-twisting maze of a plot. This involves new characters called Death Eaters, a snotty photo journalist played by Miranda Richardson, the series' version of Moriarty, Lord Voldemort ( Ralph Fiennes ) , and the spectacular Brendan Gleeson ( one of my favorite character actors ) as 'Mad Eye' Moody, introduced amid some equally spectacular sequences. The Quidditch championship at the film's outset sets the tone and starts us on a high note. There's to be no dallying with Newell and we're tossed right into the heart of this dazzling sequence set in a structurally fantastic stadium. Soon after the plot shifts into high gear—against his will and to the derision of his schoolmates, the underage Harry is selected to compete in the dangerous and renowned Triwizard competition after his name issues forth from the blue flames of the goblet of fire. Like it or not, Harry is charged with performing several death-defying stunts. He's matched against a Slavic contestant, teen idol Viktor Krum ( Stanislav Ianesvski ) , Fleur Delacour ( Clémence Poésy ) , a French beauty who literally bewitches the boys ( and from all appearances, some of the girls ) , and Harry's fellow Hufflepuff, Hogwarts heartthrob Cedric Diggory ( Robert Pattinson ) . Each of the tests of skill ( they deliciously involve dragons and mermaids and an impossibly large hedge maze ) are excitingly filmed and packed with special effects.
In between the contests, the hormones are raging. The co-ed students at Hogwarts suddenly have a lot more interest in love potions and spells and, true to adolescence, today's crush can be forgotten tomorrow. And yes, there's a distinct gay undertone to some of this. For example, Ron professes a celebrity crush on Viktor, finds himself taunted, and quickly backs off. Then Harry and Cedric exchange quick Knowing Glances ( but not quick enough to be missed—it's a look I immediately recognized ) . Even the spectral Moaning Myrtle flirts with a stripped-to-the-waist, frolicking Harry in a bubble bath. The Yule Ball, the culmination of a lot of this teenage ambiguity, is a great deal of icky fun—complete with an '80s-sounding 'magic' band, dreams dashed and others fulfilled.
This entertaining diversion is soon replaced by the underlying plot, which deals with the return of Voldemort. This provides the Big Finish that's not really a big finish—as there's a lot more story to contend with up ahead ( Warner Bros. originally wanted this edition to be broken into two parts but Newell opted out ) . So we don't get a satisfying conclusion to either the Triwizard championship ( it's allowed to fritter away ) , Harry's ongoing story, or who's going to end up with whom.
For the moment, it's the movie's biggest flaw ( again, just like The Empire Strikes Back ) , but once Part Five arrives, that will cease to be a negative. I can hardly wait.
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The folks at the Music Box Theatre must be psychic or very canny. I'm guessing that they knew in advance that HP4 wasn't going to be a movie for little kids, so they're offering a smart bit of counter programming designed specifically for the Potter-deprived kiddies. Surely one of the greatest of children's movies is Mary Poppins, and the thought of being encouraged to belt out 'Chim Chim Cher-ee,' 'Jolly Holiday,' et al via a Sing-A-Long Mary Poppins is even more enticing than a spoonful of sugar. From Nov. 18 ( the day HP4 opens ) to Dec. 1 you'll have the chance to do that with this special screening. Like the Sing-A-Long versions of The Sound of Music and The Wizard of Oz that preceded it, this edition of Mary Poppins will feature a goodie bag packed with toy props to ensure audience participation in-between the songs ( the lyrics of which are subtitled on the screen ) .
The story of the magical nanny Mary Poppins was released in 1964 ( it's the first movie I can recall ever seeing—at a tiny drive-in theater in Ohio ) . This Disney production is a hermetically sealed fantasy in which nothing was allowed to get in the way of Walt's Vision—it's the culmination of Disney's particular brand of control that is oddly soothing and claustrophobic at the same time. A musical set inside a snow globe world. Dick Van Dyke is horribly wrong as Bert the Chimney sweep but charming nonetheless while David Tomlinson is strident and shrill as the cranky banker father, and, for reasons unexplained, Glynnis Johns as the mother is given the same dress to wear over and over again.
But Julie Andrews is sublime—not just because of her eerie, ethereal singing and perfect diction, but because she balances the magical nanny's perfectionism with a healthy dose of negative ego.
Advance tickets highly recommended. www.musicboxtheatre.com