Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire pt. 1 (early access)

Great review as always. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the second half of the book & I agree that the whole house elf situation is a complex topic to talk about.

I waited your book review. I'm so glad you doing this! I think HARRY POTTER series show every character are flawed. So there are plenty of grey area. But in the end When the time comes their the action is their true personality. I think that is the thing you can find every book.

YUN

as weird as this sounds I loved how sad Harry was without Ron and how much he missed him despite continuing to be so stubbornly at odds with each other, the whole thing is so accurate with middle school friendships lol. plus you see how much they really do rely on each other’s companionship as a duo, & I love their reunion I’m excited for y’all to get there

I agree completely with this. And I might also add, I then Jo is comparing the elves a bit to "worker bees." People who do hard manual labor for little pay, but are just happy to have a job and don't complain. I don't think that's a big thing in our society now, but its definitely something in our past. You could even make a case, for say, teachers. They definitely don't get paid as much as they should, and it used to be even worse before unions. So I think its a bit of a commentary on society in treasuring all our hard workers, even if they are happy to do it for less money. They can't see the wood for the trees because they are so close to it, and again, just happy to have a job. Change happens gradually, in this case, Dobby might be helping to inspire the change, free thinker he is.

Jenny MacRunnel

The first three book are up on their YouTube channel !

I think the movies suffered heavily from having different directors. Like what you said with Bill and Charlie, there's a lot of issues with continuity between movies because they cut something in one movie that becomes important in another.

Sean Silence

So glad you guys are reading the books. But this is the first video review of the books that I have seen. Did you do videos for the first three books? And if so can you tell me how to find them? I love hearing your comparing the books with the films. Now you know how so many of us felt who read the books before the movies came out. We enjoyed the movies, but typically felt sad that so much of the story was cut out. Of course this always has to happen to some degree when you go from book to film. But there were times that it was really disappointing and as you said, they often could have added so much more with just a bit more exposition. I think that Star Stormer gave a good answer to your house elf dilemma. In my opinion, the author wanted to show through Dumbledore that dramatic societal change is typically more effective if it happens incrementally. Hermione has good intentions, but she is acting in a fanatical type of way that can sometimes cause more harm than good. I think by Deathly Hallows you will have a much deeper understanding of the whole house elf situation.

Blackeyedlily

Batty Crouch Jr was already pretending to be Moody when he was at the welcoming feast. There’s a very small, throwaway line in the first part of the book, where someone mentions Moody disturbed his dustbins and Mr Weasley had to go help get him out of trouble. That was the night Moody was trapped in his chest and kept alive by Barty so he could cut his hair and use it in the potion all year. And also to interrogate him so Barty could learn his mannerisms and not arouse suspicion from Dumbledore

What did you guys think of the whole introduction of Winky and the scene in the woods when Harry's wand is discovered alongside her? Compared to the movie when Harry sees Barty Jr cast the dark mark when he was supposed to have died in Azkaban with no explanation as to how he got there.

Trav Gorin

i forget how good goblet of fire is as a book because the movie skimmed over so many things! most of the reason why there are so many differences from the book is mainly because mike newell refused to read the books and really only watched some of prisoner of azkaban because alfonso cuaron kept pushing for him to watch it for tonal continuity. wished we had a director that was more open to reading the source material but at least there were funny moments that we got from it!

Angela

What did you guys think about the beginning of the book? Mrs Weasley sending a letter with the entire envelope covered with stamps, how the weasleys got stuck in the chimney, Fred & George giving Dudley the ton-tongue toffee. I wish they included it in the movie. 😂

Eshi

I think the house elf issue is handled well in the book, and your confusion about how to explain your feelings on the matter proves that. The issue is highly complicated, just like ending real slavery was. On one hand, you have people defending the institution because “they’re happy.” On the other hand, you have pie-in-the-sky people like Hermione who just want to snap their fingers and end it completely. In reality, after generations of being born into slavery, the house elves have culturally assimilated, much as many American slaves had. They know no other kind of life. Ending it completely all at once leaves you with thousands of homeless elves who have no idea how to live freely and take care of themselves. It also leaves piles of work that now must be done by paid labor. It’s a huge economic and cultural upheaval. The change needs to happen; slavery of any sentient being is vile, but it has to be planned, supported, and managed properly with job training, counseling, etc. Dumbledore has the right of it, letting Hogwart’s elves make a choice and exposing them to Dobby’s ideals. That way the change can come about organically and naturally.

Star Stormer

it isn't my favorite book (still a good one tho), but the movie does do a disservice to the book, especially at the end

Zach Winters

I remember you guys talk about how you love Dobby, and in this book and in the others you get a lot more of house elf's and S.P.E.W side story that the movies ignored and in the later books it plays a much bigger role, and I personally love that arc in the books Edit/P.S so the house elfs genuinely enjoy working/ being servants Dumbledore gave the elf's a choice and all but dobby choose not to be free, Dobby who was a free elf even had his own limits by talking down his own pay and vacations. In later books (Book 5-7) it will go into more depth about this whole arc which more you read, the more it makes sense I'm beating around the bush here with spoilers

Zach Winters

My fave book of the whole series! The movie pales in comparison