Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Revisited

Being the film that, in my opinion, is the worst in the series, I had low expectations about this edit. I was incredibly surprised at how it turned out, however there is only so much you can do with weak source material, so still expect to see things like Hermionies eyebrows try to act their way off her head, and Moody / Barty with the nervous tic.
It's now far more uniform and inline with the rest of the movies in the series. The highlight As with the rest of Andreas' revisited edits is the music, he certainly chooses good pieces that never seem out of place (the credits song of the first movie being the glaring exception). Unlike the first two movies the editing here is top notch, Andres resisted the urge to just reinstate every deleted scene, keeping the focus on the Tri-wizard Tornament and taking away from the subplots that go nowhere. He's made great choices on how much of angry Dumbledore to remove too, this restraint leads to the story line feeling far more coherent that the original.

First of all I would like to say thank you to Andreas for making such a worthy addition to the world of Harry Potter fan edits. I enjoyed his new take on the film, which I also felt was one of the weakest in the series. This edit successfully manages to bring the fourth film more in line both visually and aurally with the rest of the series. The narrative flows very well and the additional scenes really do help to give added weight to the overarching narrative, which of course is the return of Voldemort to the wizarding world. This edit is an ambitious and almost flawlessly executed fanedit, which I would heartily recommend to anyone interested in the series.

There were some issues I had with the edit, but these were almost entirely my own personal preference, rather than a problem with the edit itself. The one technical issue I have to raise concerns a continuity error which sees Madame Maxine sitting at the teachers table, before making an entrance into the Great Hall. This was slightly jarring and probably should have been cut from the final edit. It's not impossible that she left and then came back, but it did affect my immersion in the moment, so I include it as the one and only technical issue I had with the edit.

The other issues are all those of personal preference, so I'll just go into them briefly. I didn't really agree with many of the scenes which were cut. The one thing I felt the Newell did better than any other director was to tease a performance out of his young actors. I felt that he was the first director to really capture the spirit of the Weasley twins, as well as the camaraderie between the young protagonists of the film (such as the scene in the tent at the Quidditch World Cup where they chant "Krum! Krum" and start singing at a smitten Ron). Whilst this scenes was thankfully left in, many others I enjoyed were cut, such as a visibly distressed Ron giving Hermione a message to pass on to Harry down by the black lake. Ron was refusing to talk to Harry in the books, so this wasn't a cut that I could really understand, or agree with. I really feel that some of the best (child) acting in the series happens in this movie, which is let down by bizarre narrative and editing choices, more than anything. I also missed the scene where they pick the small dragons out of the felt bag. The purpose of this scene is to remind the viewer that Harry is getting a violent and bad tempered dragon, which builds suspense. I couldn't understand what merit there was in removing this scene at all. Lastly, I was hoping that there would be some sort of segway from the Hogwarts Express into the new school year. Probably the most jarring thing about the original film is the way the editing jumps straight from the train to the school year already underway and the students crowding around to watch the arrival of the Durmstrang ship and the Beauxbatons carriage. I would personally have cut this scene and have them go straight from the train to the Great Hall, because the time jump is so jarring and we're used to seeing them gather in the Hall at the start of the school year.

Overall this edit is a huge technical and artistic achievement. The issues I described are entirely down to my own personal preference and can do nothing to take away from Andreas' fine achievement in editing this film to be more consistent both in terms of narrative and in terms of fitting into the wider series.

I’d originally watched the first two edits a few years ago when they first came out. Because these were the most interesting edits of the Potter films out there I was a bit disappointed when the edit for Chamber came out because I believed that given your stated intentions for the edits that you were going to stop after that. So I was really pleased when I found out you were going to edit every film in the series. I was especially so when I found out that the next edit would be of Goblet of Fire, which was my least favorite of the movies, or at least it was until the recent release of Crimes of Grindelwald, although that’s another story and I still did ultimately enjoy that movie. The edits have improved with every film, and that trend continues here.

This is the best of your edits so far, and I enjoyed almost all of the choices you decided to make. The best part of the edit is how you completely restructured the plot of the film from when they get to Hogwarts all the way to the first task. Removing Ron and Harry’s fight isn’t something that I would think to do. I personally really liked this about the film and book, but I can understand why others would take issue, as the execution of it in the film had some questionable moments. However, I didn’t miss this at all when watching the edit. I’d credit this to the way that you reordered the scenes as that’s what makes this removal work and it wouldn’t have without that decision. Without the restructuring, the plot would have moved way too quickly from the instant that Harry gets chosen to the first task, and the tension wouldn’t be able to build properly.

The rest of the changes continue along the lines of the first two edits, but with almost none of the weaknesses that detracted from the previous attempts. No scenes that were removed felt jarring, and adding in those two deleted scenes massively improves the film on its own. Another change that continues from the previous edits is adding in more music from the rest of the series to make it musically consistent which I really appreciate. My favorite moments during which this occurred were the tracks added to Sirius and Harry’s conversation and the tracks from the first two movies during the dragon fight.
My only substantial complaint that I had was the music you added to scenes that originally had none. This wasn’t a problem with the quieter tracks, like those small stings from prisoner and chamber, but the worst offender was during the intro to Moody and when Harry’s name gets pulled from the Goblet. Those moments were silent for a reason and adding music rather than adding to the scene, actually detracts from it. I’d caution the use of this on future edits as it robs the movie of its subtlety. I think using quieter tracks and putting comedic tracks in order to accent the comedy like in Moody’s class works much better, but louder and more conspicuous music should, in my opinion, be avoided.

There were also a few things that I wish you would have been able to take out, such as Crouch Jr. in Harry’s visions, and that weird tongue flick that David Tenant and Brendan Gleeson do, but that just isn’t possible with the available footage. I also wish that the ending could be made more somber, as I’m not a fan of the trio’s last moment in the film, as it’s too comedic coming from the devastating finale, although the music you added does help to somewhat rectify it. However, I’m glad to say that this is your best edit yet, and it actually does replace the original movie for me. I can’t wait for your next edits for the rest of the series, and also any other edits you make from now on.

This is the Harry Potter edit that I've been looking for. This was by far my least favorite film. While this edit still can't bring it up to being one of my favorites it has definitely made it watchable now. I love that Andreas has continued bringing the music cohesively together like his previous two edits. The pacing is so much better now and doesn't drag on and on. And the much of the obnoxious stuff has been removed, chiefly the Ron being mad at Harry stuff. This will be the only version I ever watch from now on.

Really great work again by Andreas on the Harry Potter series. This one required a lot more work, undoubtedly. This is my favorite book in the series and my least favorite film theatrically. Andreas has done wonders to bring this up to a good movie IMO. By far, the best part of this (and all the Revisited edits) is the music. Weaving some musical cohesion throughout the series is massive for me. It's probably the thing that irks me most about the movies. Most of the scores are good in a vacuum but so many ignore the previous music and style that it's really frustrating. A couple of minor quibble: the music fades a bit abruptly after the letter from Sirius and the cuts from the Yule Ball practice to Neville dancing to the next are pretty quick. I personally would have cut more of Dumbledore yelling, like to quiet crowds on a couple occasions (I would cut the yell and just have the crowd quiet down) because it is so antithetical to the character I know and love from the book and first movies. There were many very smart musical choices, some of my favorites were the graveyard scene, the letter scene and as the other schools leave, plus many more. I would love it if the sound were in 5.1 but as someone who's done a lot of audio replacement in fanedits, I've done stereo every time, too so I very much get it. Overall, just great work. The movie still moves at a very fast pace but a lot of unnecessary bits being cut helps it flow better. The pace and tone are very much improved for me. I look forward to seeing what Andreas does for the rest of the series!