Goblet of Fire

Shudder. Where are the happy faces of wonderment, and the first day of school feasts, and the comic relief Dursleys, and the magical world that makes us want to enrol in the nearest coven? In its place, dark, foreboding, grim, sinister evil abounds.....

As far as I recall, when I read the book, I thought it was a bit anti climactic, compared with the first 3, especially my all time favourite Prisoner of Azkaban. Some more I must have paid premium prices to get it on the first day of release, IN LONDON!!! I recall lugging back the books, (yes, BOOKS because others asked me to buy also), only to find out you could get them here. Of course these days, we are much wiser.....and just wait for a year after the release and when Popular sells them at like 50% off.

Having said that, I actually found the movie to be fantastic. From my vague recollection (I must have read the book when? 5 years ago?) I think they must have omitted the interesting fact that Journo Rita Skeeter could whats the word? Transfigure? And used to take on her paparazzi style stalking in the form of a beetle. Apart from that, I really cannot recall if anything was omitted. I also found it a tad depressing, to see how the kids have grown. Gone is the childhood innocence, and charm, of the trio. Hermione certainly has blossomed into a fine attractive young lass. Ron looks like he could use a haircut, (I loathe boys with long unkempt hair), and so could Harry. Cho Chang is quite cute.

I guess seeing the kids age so dramatically is a reminder of our OWN mortality, and how the clock is ticking..... which in a way contributed to the overall gloom and doom, for me. Do I have issues with getting old? Well, if I say yes, I know someone (who lives in Melbourne) is going to prescribe therapy for me.

The storyline was actually more interesting than what I recalled it to be. So this definitely calls for a re-read. Deliciously dark, some of the scenes. Makes the Exorcism of Emily Rose look like a Christmas pantomime. I don't know WHY they needed Gary Oldman at all, for that all of 30 second appearance as Sirius Black in the fireplace. Looked computer generated anyway.

Actually, it was a very last minute decision to go for the movie. I had booked the tickets on Monday, thru the net, but as at 7 pm, were still undecided whether to go or not. One thing that tipped the scale was the fact that son no 1, (or kid no 2), has lately been kicking up a fuss whenever we go out. I don't know what precipitated this sort of behaviour, the kids have never had any issue before with us leaving them at home. Suddenly, he'll go all moody, and when he leave, he'll burst into tears. Now, such behaviour is NOT to be tolerated, so we decided, okay, let's go for the movie afterall. It's quite sweet to see the youngest one comforting his kor kor...he'll pat him on the back, and say, "don't cry kor kor, it's okay". We wonder if it might be a sudden insecurity that has surfaced since the pregnancy, the anticipation of being relegated to oblivion. But far from that la, we spend an inordinate amount of time with them generally. Earlier in the evening, I had brought them to Lake Gardens.

Tuesday is usually no gym day, unless there's a favourite instructor replacing the combat class, and also, tuesday is usually bake day, for family dinner. But yesterday, neither of those events happened, so I had time on hand, so brought the kids, SINGLE HANDEDLY, to lake gardens. And all of Monday night we were out with the kids, and all of today, they'll be in Kajang with the in laws and the pregnant mother. So there is really no grounds for the boy to feel that way. Furthermore, it's not like he's an only child, and who is accustomed to tagging along with his parents for every single occasion. So really, we went for the movie, to toughen him up.