Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)--****

It's easy to call Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire the best film of the series. It's easy because it is. Director Mike Newell successfully creates a stirring adventure film that makes even the most loyal fan forget that there have been significant changes to the book's plot, something Alfonso Cuarón could not do in The Prisoner of Azkaban. This is the Harry Potter film I've not only been waiting for; it's the Harry Potter film I've expected for a long time.

Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) has made it to year four at Hogwarts, but only after surviving a hostile attack on the Quidditch World Cup campground. The attackers were the dark wizard Voldemort's followers, known as Death Eaters. Can it be a warning that the disembodied Voldemort is about to be reincarnated? The Death Eaters' appearance seems to be a bad sign. When Harry is mysteriously selected as an underage competitor in the dangerous, and sometimes deadly, Tri-Wizard Tournament, the dark truth becomes even more apparent.

A few years ago, there was a rumor that Steven Spielberg would come on board and direct a "Harry Potter" film. With The Goblet of Fire, it's almost as if Newell has channeled the spirit of the late '70s/early '80s Spielberg and created the definitive Potter adventure.

I loved this movie. I loved this movie as a Potter fan who finally saw the magic of J.K. Rowling's books adapted with the courage and creativity that even the Chris Columbus version couldn't touch. While Columbus' films are brilliant paint-by-numbers adaptations, it took Newell to find the balance between fidelity and innovation.

Newell, who isn't known as a blockbuster director, certainly looks the part. His action is paced with the Spielberg-like precision. But Newell also makes sure not to neglect the more WB-esque teen drama moments. While I criticized Cuarón's Prisoner of Azkaban for making the Potter kids look to contemporary, Newell character-based storytelling made me almost forget that Harry looks like Gregory Smith from the TV series Everwood. What seemed like an uncomfortable combination in the third movie seems is a perfect fit once the storytelling functions are properly observed.

Maybe I can also give myself to the contemporary look because the kids feel like they are actually growing up in this film. Their friendships are no longer based around playing chess or anchored in a Hardy Boys mystery. The feelings are real. The jealousy is real. The subtle class warfare is real. The puppy love of the first three films is traded in for crushes that have the emotional weight of those in a Cameron Crowe movie. While the Wizarding world is falling apart, we can't seem to forget about the seemingly trivial character interactions. In fact, we care more.

There's urgency in The Goblet of Fire that surpasses anything we seen before. With the first significant deaths in the series, there's fatality, as well. It isn't a kid game anymore, as cliché as that sounds. While Potter is less inclined to be in awe of magic and more inclined to just accept it, he is less inclined to just accept the danger and more inclined to want to understand it. The children have grown up to finally comprehend the extent of the danger that looms over the Wizarding world.

Most of the significant improvements come from significant cuts. The book is no longer an outline; it is an inspiration. Like any good adaptation, the story of The Goblet of Fire is cut to make what is a brilliant book, a brilliant piece of cinema. Where The Prisoner of Azkaban (and to some respect the early films) retained the wrong things for the wrong reasons, The Goblet of Fire seems to be the first adaptation that works as a film 100 percent of the time.

Maybe the 700 plus page book forced the issue of cutting, but the resulting coherent screenplay led to a film right out of the heyday of the special effect blockbuster. Because forced cutting is what it finally took to nail it, I expect even better things from the adaptation of the nearly 900 page Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" Yes, the teenage Potter is out of that awkward stage. Now bring on the fantasy epic to end all epics. With The Goblet of Fire as inspiration, the coming storm should be the grandest cinema of the next half decade.