harry potter 4

a focus group review

by Johnny

Last weekend, Jake went to see "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" with his two sisters and brother-in-law. Coming out of the theater, they all had very different opinions on the film.

background
	Jake: 21 years old. Movie junkie. Hates books; has never read any of the Harry Potter books. Has a Harry-Potter-obsessed girlfriend.
	Guest Commentary: Aaron: Jake's older brother. Tells everyone he's 22. Loves movies and books. Saw Harry Potter 1 in the theatres before he knew the books existed; immediately read all the books the week after. Not a Harry Potter junkie, but rereads the entire series before each new book is released.
	Judy: Jake's older sister. 30-something years old, 8 months pregnant. Casual fan of the books. Politics tests show her to be Totalitarian.
	Carlos: Jake's brother-in-law. 30-something. Child-like mind. A passive fan of the Harry Potter books. Enjoys talking about "negroes," "jews," and "gays."
	Abby: Jake's younger sister. Just turned 17. Artist, Author, Loafer.

On the subject of Plot Compression
	Johnny: I don't know what was missing from the book, but I liked what I saw on the big screen.
	Judy: They did a very good job condensing the book into a movie, although they focused mostly on the tri-wizard tournament. In the book there were a lot of things that were also going on. I don't remember what they were, but they were important.
	Carlos: I'm pissed off that they left out the part where Hagrid violates Harry.
	Abby: I don't like in-depth discussions.
	Aaron: Similar to "Lord of the Rings," they had to make certain scarifices to get a long book converted into a movie format; they left out certain characters and plot points, but this rates up there as one of the better Harry Potter conversions.

musical score / john williams' absence
	Jake: "They finally got someone other than John Williams. His music was getting so stale. He wouldn't have been bold enough to write some of the musical cues, most notably the choir's sinking triad when Harry is about to drown. Williams would have used his 'cliche violins playing really fast for tension' effect."
	Carlos (singing to theme): "Ha..rry Po..tter is... a fa...got. He... is such... a gay. Ha..rry Po..tter, queer... with Ha...grid. He's... a fu...cking gaaay."
	Judy: "I guess they could afford a big movie but they couldn't afford John Williams to do the score again. ...what? His scores aren't stale!"
	Aaron: Music here was the best ever, esspecially better than Harry Potter 3.
	Abby: "I don't know. I suppose I noticed the opening theme. I was like "oh, this is darker."

cho chang
	Carlos: "I'm pissed off that they had a Chinaman be Harry's love Interest. Asian women really aren't very attractive. No offense."
	Jake: "Cho Chang was in the original book. If you don't like it, you have the author to thank. Her scenes did create a good tension for the pubescent Harry. The true critics usually have a crush on Harry Potter and cope by inserting themselves in Mary Sue (love fantasy) fan fictions. "
	Judy: "Molly must talk about these books an awful lot if you knew that she was in the original book."
	Aaron: "Mary Sue Fan Fics" with characters inserted sound like the worst thing ever.
	Abby: "There really wasn't even enough of her in the movie for me to make a comment."

overall movie
	Aaron: I definately loved it, will see it again if given the opportunity, and I want to own the DVD.
	Jake: This is by far the best Harry Potter movie release yet. It felt like an actual movie. I'll probably buy the DVD when it comes out.
	Judy: Oh, shit. We forgot to pick up the cherry frosting for Abby's birthday cake.
	Abby: It was good, but it was way too long for me to ever watch it again.
	Carlos: Maybe it was Viktor Krum that violated Harry.