“Dark times lie ahead, Harry. We must all make a choice between what is right, and what is easy.”

So says Prof. Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) to his student Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) during the fourth school year of J.K. Rowling’s literary hero, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.” They are ominous words, unsettling to the 14-year-old junior wizard-in-training, even if they are incredibly appropriate considering the situation. You see, Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) has finally decided to make his move, picking this year to reassert his presence within the wizarding world.

As if this weren’t all Harry had to think about, someone has entered his name into the Triwizards Cup Tournament, a lethally dangerous competition pitting competitors from all three of the major magic schools against one another, eternal glory the prize for the student lucky enough to win. But Harry, too young for the tournament, did not enter his name, so when the Goblet of Fire spits him out he’s more than a little worried someone wants to see the competition break him into little pieces.

The thing is, everyone at the school seems to think this behind-the-scenes trickery is all his doing, gossip monger Rita Skeeter (a carnivorously funny Miranda Richardson) more than happy to fan those flames inside the paragraphs of her daily column. Even Harry’s best friend Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) thinks he cheated somehow to get into the tournament, which really wouldn’t be so bad had his compatriot only told him he was about to do so. Topping it all off, the two boys need to learn how to dance and – gulp! – ask out a girl to the Yule Ball. What’s a Hogwarts student to do? Whatever it is, the guarantee is that Harry, Ron and the studious Hermione Granger (Emma Watson, who’s truly becoming a lovely young woman and a fine actress) will think of something, their bonds of friendship more than enough to get them through another school year.

I was completely unprepared for last summer’s “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.” I wasn’t a fan of the first two features, too schizophrenic and unfocused (and much too long) to be completely appealing. That third chapter, though, was a stunner, Rowling’s now-classic characters coming to life in all their multifaceted glory inside a mature and complex fantasy-drama worthy of all the fuss. It was a remarkable movie, fun and exciting and completely enthralling in ways only the very best in family entertainment can ever truly be.

Part four finds another new director taking the reigns of the Potter franchise, “Four Weddings and a Funeral” and “Donnie Brasco” filmmaker Mike Newell trying to fill the shoes of Chris Columbus (years one and two) and Alfonso Cuarón (year three). For the most part, he acquits himself admirably, handing the budding adolescent growth of these characters with restrained confidence. Better, he and his crackerjack team of craftsmen stage many of the centerpiece sequences, most notably an aerial dogfight with a dragon and a climactic showdown between Harry and Voldemort, stupendously taking “Goblet of Fire” to heights sure to thrill fan and non-fan alike.

And yet, as nice as this is, I can’t exactly say part four bowled me over. While returning screenwriter Steve Kloves (“The Fabulous Baker Boys”) does a commendable job paring down Rowling’s voluminous prose, there is still such a high been there-done that quotient watching 150-plus minutes of it can be a hard slog. Also, while a person can’t help but admit the three stars are growing up beautifully, Newell completely loses touch with both Hermione and Ron for such long stretches that their glorious triumvirate friendship with Harry – the series’ heart and soul – almost feels like an afterthought. Finally, for all of Dumbledore’s warnings and grand lectures to the contrary, save for that superb bit with that Hungarian Dragon the three tasks presented by the Triwizards Cup are really rather boring. While they might have read well on the page (I admit to having stopped reading after year two), Newell does a poor job of making them exciting, scary or worthy of much in the way of interest.

What does work, as in the last film, is how richly the filmmakers dive into Harry’s growing and evolving adolescent personality. Radcliffe, who was kind of a wet noodle overshadowed by his costars in the first two, is really starting to come into his own as an actor. His scenes with Gambon are stirring, while some introspective moments learning to prepare for the tournament with new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Alastor “Mad Eye” Moody (Brendan Gleeson, all fast twitches and raised eyebrows, looking like he just stepped out of a Spaghetti Western) are almost perfect. Best of all, though, are Radcliffe’s palpitations and sweaty uncertainties bringing Harry’s trepidation towards speaking with opposite sex to life. In fact, a rambunctious, highly entertaining scene between Ron, Hermione and Harry towards the end of the Yule Ball just might be the movie’s highpoint, all three of the actors hitting just the right notes as they take their next steps into young adulthood.

All of this would be moot, though, if Newell and Kloves failed to pull off part four’s main event, and that is the long-awaited arrival of Harry’s arch nemesis returned from the world of the dead. Fiennes is a stunning, leathery, almost serpentine Voldemort, and Radcliffe uses all his young skills to literally not be blown off the screen by him. Truth be told, he not only does manage to hold his own, he also manages to plant the seeds of continued intensely furious mutual confrontational hatred, seeds which can only grow and mature as the wizard gets closer to graduation.

The first in the series to carry a PG-13 rating, “Goblet of Fire” is a far more mature adventure than the proceeding tales, Harry’s world becoming much more tangled and mysterious the older he and his friend get. This is only to be expected, the problems of childhood giving way to the complexities of youth, who themselves disappear into the murky mysteries of adulthood. As such, there is more here for parents to discuss with their children, not the least of which is the shocking demise of one of the main characters. But Newell, no stranger to handling family tales with hidden depth with works like “Into the West” under his belt, makes all this evil and sadness understandable for a young audience, and parents willing to spend a little quality time with their kids afterwards shouldn’t be too worried.

On the whole, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” is a fine entry into the popular series, sure to enthrall and entertain audiences around the world. While certain parts work better – much better – than others, and despite being too long, the denouement left me moved, even to the point of tears. That alone makes this entry into the boy wizard’s schooling worthwhile. Heck, for those rabid fans in love with everything Harry, this probably makes it darn near required.

Film Rating: êêê  (out of 4)