Harry awakens from a nightmare. He had seen a Muggle caretaker named Frank Bryce (Eric Sykes) murdered by Lord Voldemort because he had overheard a conversation among the evil wizard and Peter Pettigrew (Timothy Spall) and one other person Harry did not recognize. Harry attends the Quidditch World Cup with his friends, but Death Eaters—loyal to Voldemort--attack the camp and the man from Harry’s dream summons the Dark Mark in the sky. At Hogwarts, Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) introduces Mad-Eye Moody (Brendan Gleeson) as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.
In other news, Hogwarts will host the Triwizard Tournament. The three magic school challengers to compete are Viktor Krum (Stanislav Yanevski) from Durmstrang Institute in Eastern Europe, Fleur Delacour (Clémence Poésy) from the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic in France, and Cedric Diggory (Robert Pattinson) of Hufflepuff House in Hogwarts. Only wizards older than sixteen may compete, but the Goblet of Fire itself chooses the too-young Harry as a fourth competitor. This is highly irregular to say the least, but Barty Crouch Sr. (Roger Lloyd Pack) of the Ministry of Magic insists the cup’s decision must be followed.
The first task is to retrieve a golden egg guarded by a dragon. Harry succeeds in doing so and gains information about the second challenge. On the Yule Ball on Christmas Eve, Harry and Ron attend with sisters Parvati and Padma Patil (Shefali Choudhury and Afshan Azad). Harry was too slow off the mark to invite Cho Chang (Katie Leung), who is going with Cedric. Hermione is asked by Viktor, making Ron jealous.
The second task is an underwater rescue of someone you care about. Harry finishes third but is promoted to second after saving both Ron and Fleur Delacour’s sister Gabrielle (Angelica Mandy). Afterward, Harry finds Barty Crouch dead in the forest. Waiting in Dumbledore’s office, Harry finds a Penseive, which contains readable memories. He witnesses a Ministry of Magic trial in which Durmstrang Headmaster Igor Karkaroff (Predrag Bjelac), a former Death Eater, reveals the names of other Death Eaters after Voldemort’s defeat. He names Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) but Dumbledore vouches for him because he was spying on Voldemort. Barty Crouch Jr. (David Tennant) is named, and his father reluctantly sends him to Azkaban.
In the final task, the champion must seize the Triwizard Cup itself in the centre of an aggressive hedge maze. Fleur and Viktor are incapacitated, and Harry and Cedric reach the cup together. As they grab the cup, they find it is a Portkey and they are transported to a graveyard where Pettigrew and Voldemort himself (Ralph Fiennes) are waiting for them. Pettigrew kills Cedric with an illegal killing curse and fully regenerates Voldemort, who summons the Death Eaters. Harry and Voldemort battle. All of Voldemort’s victims appear, including Harry’s parents. Voldemort is distracted and Harry portkeys away with Cedric’s body.
Harry reports to Dumbledore. Moody takes Harry to his office and inadvertently reveals himself. He had submitted Harry’s name to the Goblet of Fire and manipulated his wins. Moody tries to kill Harry, but Dumbledore, Snapes, and McGonagall (Maggie Smith) subdue him. The real Moody is locked in a trunk. The fake Moody is Crouch Jr. and is sent back to Azkaban. Despite the Ministry’s misgivings, Dumbledore reveals to the world that Voldemort killed Cedric. Durmstrang and Beauxbatons depart in their magical way.
Produced by David Heyman, written by Steve Kloves, and directed by Mike Newell, the film was immensely successful, was nominated for an Oscar for art direction, and won the BAFTA for production design. It was indeed gorgeous to behold and garnered just about the best reviews of the series. David Tennant is, of course, the Tenth Doctor Who. Ralph Fiennes is brilliant as the realistically evil Voldemort, and Brendan Gleeson is a delight as the bizarre Mad-Eye Moody. By eliminating many sub-plots in the long novel, the story was fashioned into a thriller, so director Newell watched North by Northwest, The Parallax View, and Three Days of the Condor to get in the mood. The animatronic Dragon, a Hungarian Hornbeak, was a particular favourite of mine.
Daniel Radcliff spent, all together, 41 hours and 38 minutes underwater. He got two ear infections. A full-scale dragon that breathed fire had to be created, though it was not technically a dragon, but a Wyvern, as I’m sure Hermione would point out. As Victor Krum, Stanislav Yanevski has only two lines. This film featured one of the largest underwater sets ever built, at half a million liters. The one for The Abyss was bigger. The DVD holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest-selling DVD of all time. 3000 girls auditioned for the role of Cho Chang. This was Robert Pattinson’s first role and he preferred it to his career-making vampire role in the Twilight Saga. A Canadian band called the Wyrd Sisters sued to stop the movie’s release because of the Weird Sisters band in the film, but the suit failed.