03.11.06
Goblet DVD
Sorry I haven’t posted anything lately, been quite busy. I received the Goblet of Fire DVD yesterday, and wanted to let everyone know what I thought of it.
I won’t review the film itself. To see what I think of the film, see here. What I want to do is review the special features. So, if you don’t want to know what is on the Special Features disc, don’t read ahead because there will be spoilers. You’ve been warned.
First let me issue a warning to those planning to buy the DVD. If you want the special features, you must purchase the Two-Disc Special Edition of the movie. If you buy the single disc version, you don’t get any special features. This happened to someone I know, so be careful.
First the packaging. The packaging on this dvd is quite nice. The outer cardboard slipcover is done in a silver foil with the now famous poster picture of Harry, Hermione, Ron, and the Triwizard champions. (See here for a picture). Very nice. The inner dvd case is basically the same. Inside, you’ll only find one booklet, the Noble Collection brochure which outlines some cool but pricey Harry Potter merchandise you can buy. Then you get the discs. Disc 1 is the movie and Disc 2 is the special features disc.
When you pop in the Special Features disc, after a couple of short previews for upcoming films and a menu asking whether you want to proceed in English or French, you’ll come to the main menu. It’s done nicely with a sort of 3D panoramic intro. Then you are pulled back over the scene and shown a menu consisting of four locations. The Dragon Arena, The Lake, The Maze, and Hogwarts Castle.
Clicking on Dragon Arena, you’ll find yourself in another menu. The first item is the Triwizard Tournament:Dragon Challenge, which is a game wherein you attempt to avoid the Hungarian Horntail and fetch its golden egg. I hate games, so I didn’t play it, and I don’t know what happens when you get the egg. On past Potter dvd’s you had to win certain games before gaining access to additional scenes or features, which I dislike. I hope that’s not the case on this DVD, but if anyone else plays the game, let me know. Also in the Dragon Arena menu there is Harry vs. The Horntail which is all about the first task. It contains interviews with various members of the crew and Daniel Radcliffe discussing the first task, the dragon, the visual effects used in the creation of the dragon. It goes into quite a bit of detail, but it’s interesting to watch and gives you a good idea of the work involved for this movie. The last item in the Dragon Arena is entitled Meet The Champions. It’s a really great feature that introduces us to the three young actors who played the Triwizard Champions, Robert Pattinson (Cedric Diggory), Stanislav Ianevski (Viktor Krum), and Clémence Poésy (Fleur Delacour). It follows all three during a complete day of filming and is very entertaining. Robert Pattinson in particular is a very funny, albeit odd, young man.
Going back to the main features menu, you can visit The Lake. Here you will find another game, the Lake Challenge, and a feature on the second task called In Too Deep. Like the feature on the first task, it contains interviews and interesting clips on how the underwater world was created.
Also in the main features menu, you can visit The Maze. There are two games in this section, the Maze Challenge and the To The Graveyard And Back Challenge. There’s also a feature on the creation of the maze for the third task. The last feature in this section is called He Who Must Not Be Named. It has some interviews with Ralph Fiennes (Voldemort) along with the director Mike Newell, Dan Radcliffe, and various other crew, all discussing the character of Lord Voldemort. It’s a really great feature, especially if like me, you thought Fiennes portrayal of the Dark Lord was absolutely brilliant. Just hearing him talk about his preparations for the role, you realize that the man is a genius and that he took this role very seriously. Really hope he returns for Order and movie 7.
The last stop on the main menu is Hogwarts Castle. There are a ton of features in this location. The first is the most exciting, Additional Scenes. There aren’t actually that many (about six or seven I think). For most of them it is apparent why they were cut. Either they just weren’t very good or they were too long without advancing the story. There was only one scene that I saw that I wish very much had been left in the film. It’s a scene where Harry ventures outside during the Yule Ball and witnesses a heated conversation between Snape and Karkaroff. It’s a good scene in my opinion, and it would have given the film a bit more Snape, which is always a good thing. The next feature in Hogwarts Castle is Preparing For The Yule Ball, about the design of the Yule Ball. It has interviews and clips of a lot of the kids. Conversations With The Cast is an in depth interview with Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson. It’s a nice feature with some interesting questions, and it’s fun to see how grown-up the stars of the movie have gotten. Reflections On The Fourth Film is another great feature with comments from the young cast (Dan, Rupert, Emma, and many others) about life on the set.
All in all, the special features on this dvd are great. Just the amount of clips and interviews is an improvement over the previous dvds, and the quality is wonderful. This dvd is truly worth purchasing the special edition.
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