THIS 'GOBLET' OVERFLOWS WITH TEEN ANGST.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

WITH THE ARRIVAL of the fourth movie in the ``Harry Potter'' series, it may well be time to assert the obvious, namely that J.K. Rowling's huge doorstop books aren't great source material for good movies. The novels are simply too stuffed with stuff, and it takes something of a minor miracle to cut through all the characters and events and subplots and whittle the thing down to a two-hour-plus movie that doesn't feel like a night spent in a hedge maze.

Alfonso Cuaron managed to pull off that trick with the last ``Potter''movie, the lyrical ``Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.'' But with ``Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,'' Mike Newell steers the series back to the first two plot-heavy Chris Columbus adaptations. ``Goblet'' isn't the long slog that the Columbus movies were, but it still suffers from a sense of duty to the bulky source material. Fidelity has again replaced fearlessness, and only literalists can take joy in that.

This isn't a slam on Rowling or her books, which, if nothing else, have spurred a new generation to savor the written word. But if you have a novel like ``Goblet'' that introduces several new characters, features a half-dozen set pieces involving dragons, screaming eggs, underwater monsters and ferocious foliage AND finally pulls the wraps off the dreaded Lord Voldemort (you know, He Who Must Not Be Named), then you're going to have trouble getting to the finish line without the whole thing feeling like something of a scattered mess.

What you'll notice first about ``Goblet'' is that our little wizards have grown up and own the raging hormones to prove it. In fact, the best, most convincing parts of this film involve the agonies and ecstasies of adolescence, where, as young Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) summons the courage to ask a Hogwarts classmate to a dance, he tells a friend, ``I think I'd rather tackle the dragon right now.''

The kids' awkwardness as glimpsed in ``Azkaban'' is now a case of full-blown teen angst with all the inherent, overflowing emotions. The movie's most frightening scene doesn't involve a monster or Voldemort but a spurned Hermione (Emma Watson), livid over the inability of Harry and Ron (Rupert Grint, the young actor who makes the greatest leap here) to recognize her for the special young lady that she is. (In the boys' defense, Hermione does come off as a bit of a drama queen.)

These scenes, comprising the middle section of the movie, teem with a life that's largely absent elsewhere. The main plot involves a wizard competition, pitting Harry (who, though technically too young to participate, gets a free pass from the titular goblet) against a swarthy Eastern Euro superstar (Stanislav Ianevski), the delicately powerful French-ish Fleur Delacour (Clemence Poesy) and Hogwarts golden boy Cedric Diggory (Robert Pattinson).

Harry's in over his head here, so Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) asks Alastor ``Mad-Eye'' Moody (Brendan Gleeson), the school's new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, to watch the kid's back. Watching Gleeson - his face made up to resemble New Hampshire's Old Man of the Mountain just before it collapsed into rubble - chew scenery is great fun, and knowing that he'll be popping up again soon makes the movie's dull patches almost bearable.

All plot threads lead, of course, to the Ultimate Evil, who will terrify anyone under, say, 12, but might leave parents and the uninitiated wondering what all the fuss is about. In Harry's world, it turns out that the everyday struggles of adolescence are scarier than anything a dark lord - even one raised from the dead - can muster. But then, any teenager could tell you that.

Glenn Whipp, [phone]

glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com

HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE - Two and one half stars

(PG-13: sequences of fantasy violence, frightening images)

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Brendan Gleeson.

Director: Mike Newell.

Running time: 2 hr. 37 min.

Playing: Screening at midnight tonight in select theaters. In wide release Friday.

In a nutshell: Fourth installment in ``Potter'' series plugs its way through dense source material, offers proof that adolescence is far more frightening than anything a dark lord can offer.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Alastor ``Mad-Eye'' Moody (Brendan Gleeson) will be keeping an eye on Harry.

(2 -- color) Ron (Rupert Grint), left, and Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) learn the full meaning of adolescence in their fourth year at Hogwarts.

(3 -- color) New fears - and challenges - await the boy wizard in ``Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.''