Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Blu-ray SteelBook

No extended cut, no 6.1 audio, no point ! Nothing "Ultimate" here. Way to drop the ball Warner Bros.

Like many of you who purchased the first two ultimate editions at a pretty penny, i was expecting extended editions of movies 3 and 4. What a disappointment! Were the big wigs at WB thinking that their fans would triple dip editions when they bring out all films in one super ultimate collection? I already owned all of the HP on Blu, but sold them when i started buying the Ultimate editions. I will NOT be purchasing 3 and 4. Very poor on WB's part to say its ultimate, and include 8 hours of bonus materials, but not the few extra scenes that regularly show on TV. Very poor indeed.

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Unlike the first two potter films released in "Ultimate Edition" form, the second two versions do not include their extended editions. This might not be a legitimate complaint if these versions of the films didn't already exist. In the US, they are aired quite regularly on ABC Family, and are quite good.

These extended editions of the film make the price point of the first two versions palatable, but their absence makes you wonder what exactly you're paying for with both this and the ultimate edition of PoA.

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****SPOILER ALERT****

Okay...the GoF book is 734 pages, and the movie adaptation is a little over 2.5 hours. Of course a lot of stuff was going to be cut. Some of the cuts I was able to deal with (e.g., Hermione and S.P.E.W.). Unfortunately, many of the characters (especially the other Triwizard champions) were severely underdeveloped as a result.

Giving Viktor Krum only two lines in the entire movie was inexcusable. So was cutting out the entire Quidditch World Cup match. The viewer isn't given enough reason to care about Krum, or why he became a potential love interest for Hermione. He simply comes across as a dumb jock. The movie should have shown a couple minutes of the World Cup match to show off his prowess, and little scene here and there of him interacting with Hermione (I was actually quite peeved that the didn't show her teaching Viktor how to pronounce her name).

The other champions were likewise poorly developed. You learn practically nothing about Cedric or Fleur Delacour (who got the least screentime out of the four champions). Fleur was simply another pretty face; they even cut the part about her being a quarter-veela (which was why the boys were swooning over her in the book). And if I didn't read the book, I probably wouldn't have cared too much about Cedric's death near the end of the movie.

Even Ron and Hermione were mainly relegated to the background. They didn't even use any kind of magic for the entire film! It would've been nice to show how exactly Hermione was helping Harry (like with the Accio spell), instead of just having her simper and worry. Ron seemed to be purely comic relief.

My other quibble was that the first task was WAY too long. The dragon chasing Harry around Hogwarts was ridiculous. They could've easily shaved off a good five minutes, and instead use that time for the World Cup match they DIDN'T show (can you tell that I was mad about that being cut out?)

Don't get me wrong. I still enjoyed the movie; it did capture the spirit of the book pretty well. And I was VERY happy to see the ferret scene (YES!)

Overall impression: Good entertainment, but read the book first. That'll help fill in the blanks. Three out of five stars.

3/16/06 UPDATE: I received the Special Edition DVD set last week. I liked the interview with the Golden Trio, but it would've been nice if they had other cast member interviews, like in the PoA DVD. The reflection of the fourth movie (which included sharing from other cast members) was a nice touch, but again, I wish they had more in-depth interviews with them. As for the deleted scenes, they weren't worth it. I'm not giving away all of the deleted scenes, but I'll just say that there was NO footage whatsoever of the Quidditch World Cup Match!

I'm also slightly puzzled at why there was a *seperate* Special Edition DVD this time around. I'm sure that confused a few people.

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Warner Bros. has shown us the dark side of the entertainment business by releasing this "Ultimate Edition" without the extended version. It's unfortunate they will still make money on these flawed editions from people who were pleased with the year one and year two sets(as was I), which included both the theatrical and extended films, who will feel compelled to keep this incomplete set (I will be returning mine). I encourage everyone who feels the same to write about it. Whether it's in these reviews, a blog or emails directly to Warner Bros., letting the powers that be know that their customers are dissatisfied is the only way they'll even consider terminating these shady business practices. The following link is to Warner Bros. Studios' online customer service: