Waiting in line for tickets to “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” was a bit like the magical trials that Harry faces in the film. Attempts to get tickets at our first choice theater were unsuccessful, and the second go-round was complicated by a cramped, crowded theater lobby, where about two dozen eager Potter fans showed up 45 minutes early for tickets. The theater’s employees shouted angrily at all of us in line to either stay inside the ridiculously small waiting area or go stand outside in the cold. This led one guy in line to start shouting obscenities at an employee by the popcorn machine, all very much to the chagrin of a mother waiting in line with her two kids. The pre-film conflagration was pretty irksome, but it perfectly paralleled the intersection of childhood antics and adult scares that make up “Goblet.”

Now in his fourth year at Hogwart’s, Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) finds himself shouldering all sorts of challenges. A creepy recurring dream, which involves Voldemort and his henchmen plotting a murder, haunts Harry. Meanwhile, Hogwart’s plays host to the annual Tri-Wizard Tournament, a contest that involves the students of Hogwart’s and two other schools of wizardry competing against each other in feats of magical strength. Though participation in the tournament is limited to those ages 17 and older, Harry, only 14, is selected by the mystic Goblet of Fire to be the fourth “champion” in the Tri-Wizard, a contest traditionally limited to three contestants. Making it into the Tri-Wizard is usually an honor, but not for Harry—best friend Ron (Rupert Grint) resents Harry’s place in the competition, and Harry himself is wary of participating. As if that weren’t enough, Voldemort is growing in strength and is much closer than Harry thinks.

Got all that? For non Potter fans, it might get a little confusing and a brief, “Star Wars”-esque title crawl before the opening credits might have helped clear things up a bit.

But director Mike Newell juggles the sprawling cast and chaotic action expertly. For a movie that clocks in at just under two and a half hours, the film has a natural, casual pace that never drags or feels rushed. The action scenes are fun and suspenseful, although Harry’s trip through a maze in the latter half of the film loses some of the momentum found in the preceding dragon battles and underwater fights.
All the magic is balanced nicely with the various subplots surrounding the emerging adolescence of Harry and his friends. A fancy dress ball accompanies the tournament, and Harry, Ron and Hermione (Emma Watson) all have to find a suitable date for the evening, a task that none of them is particularly prepared for, despite having just escaped the clutches of a dragon. Watson, Grint and Radcliffe all capture those shifting, mercurial emotions that come with being 14, but Grint and Watson in particular have more wholly developed characters.

This built-up teen angst, coupled with some scary scenes in “Goblet’s” climax, give the film a pretty grown-up tone. While it works much of the time, there are a few moments in which it seems forced and annoying. In once scene, Harry must take a bath in order to decipher a clue for the tournament; in the bath, Moaning Myrtle accosts him. She’s a ghostly girl who makes more than a few overt attempts to sneak a peek at his, ahem, wand. It feels out of place and icky, much like swearing and shouting in a theater lobby full of kids, and is one of the few failings in a film that’s otherwise suspenseful and captivating.

directed by: Mike Newell
starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson and Michael Gambon
rated: PG-13 for fantasy violence and frightening images