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About some fans wishing Hermione would die in the last book (2007): "Oh, that's outrageous! Oh well, you know, as long as everyone sobs and cries and I have a really, really great dramatic kind of death then I guess that would be okay, but God, that's really harsh. I've never really thought about that."

Emma Watson - Reviews from Goblet of Fire era

Reeling Reviews.com:
Hermione Granger (Emma Watson, still the best actress out of the three protagonists)

Calendarlive.com:
This is especially true because Emma Watson's Hermione has grown into easily the most attractive student on campus, so far removed from the books' insistence that she is a plain and bossy girl that it makes a complete hash of the sections of the plot dealing with her social life.

Guidelive.com:
Ronald (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson). All three young actors continue to progress as they mature along with their characters. Kids just grow up so fast these days.

Entertainment MSN:
Interspersed is a school dance where Harry and Ron end up with the wrong dates, while Watson absolutely shines as Hermione. I would've liked to have seen more of these “human” elements that would've endeared me more to these exceptional kids who must confront astounding odds while battling hair-raising teenage hood.

Lafayette:
Young Radcliffe's Harry has matured into a semi-hunky young man, but still retains his humility and compassion. Emma Watson's Hermione has grown into a stunning teen-ager, and looks especially beautiful in her ball gown during the Christmas dance.

Rockymountainnews.com:
Watson - one of the most beautiful girls ever put on film - is beginning to settle into a more adult look.

Time:
Daniel Radcliffe is coming along nicely as the young hero, though it's up for grabs whether the teen actor will have the chest hair to face the horrors in store for Harry. I'm getting quite fond of Emma Watson as Harry's pal Hermione.

IGN Filmforce:
Watson continues to be the strongest link of the triad, the unequivocal rock of Gibraltar that provides the support and strength for the other two.

ChristianCritic.com:
Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson all show that they have the talent that will take them beyond this franchise if the movie-going public can muster the ability to see them in any other light.

Democrat & Chronicle:
His friend Hermione (Emma Watson) is maturing into a lovely young lady (and positively glistens at the Yule ball).

Decentfilms.com
Longtime pal Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) is poised on the verge of becoming a lovely young woman.

EdgeBoston:
But for the adults in the audience, the biggest surprise might be the emergence of sensuality in he film. Emma Watson is evolving into a stunning young woman.

Herorealm.com:
The three leads continue to grow and evolve with each film proving that someone did an excellent job when casting the first film.

SuburbanChicagonews:
As for Watson, she is managing to make Hermione a viable love interest without sacrificing one ounce of the character's trademark intelligence.

Denverpost.com:
Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, who portray Hermione and Ron, do a fine job playing hormone-challenged characters. The ship-smart Hermione is emerging into adult loveliness.

theStar.com:
Of the three child leads, only Emma Watson has improved her acting skills to match a more demanding assignment.

Variety.com
Emma Watson's studious Hermione comes into her own at the fabulous Christmas ball, which provides a breather after the first task.

Oscarguy.com:
Some performers improve with age. Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) and Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) have become decidedly better. They are able to convey adult emotions effectively, having no doubt picked up a few pointers from older and better actors like Maggie Smith.

Filmblather.com:
as well as the high point of Emma Watson's performance in the franchise.

SouthFlorida.com:
As Harry, Ron and Hermione enter the awkward stage, the young people portraying them -- Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson -- grow ever more confident as professional actors.

Filmfinder.com:
Watson's Hermione is positively blossoming.

SFGate.com:
The dress-up event is just the venue to show what splendid-looking teenagers Grint, Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson have grown into. Tweeners are likely to find Radcliffe's Harry quite a hunk in a cerebral kind of way, accentuated by his trademark glasses. Watson has an Audrey Hepburn moment out of "Sabrina" when Hermione makes a late appearance at the ball in a violet dress showing a hint of cleavage.

MySA.com:
Radcliffe, Watson and Grint once again provide journeyman service to their characters. They're all aging nicely right along with their characters.

Movieboy.com:
The same things could be said for Watson, delightfully warm and vulnerable as Hermione.

Oneguysopinion.com:
Emma Watson has grown if anything more engaging as Hermione Granger.

Filmfocus.co.uk:
Radcliffe and his co-stars Emma Watson and Rupert Grint have bloomed from cute kids into consummate acting professionals and with each Potter film we're being reassured that this series is more than just simple family entertainment. (...) And Radcliffe, Grint and Watson, along with all of the student cast, seem to find their place in this world better than they've ever done before. There are moments of true brilliance in each of their performances; from Harry's fear at the challenges that face him in the Triwizard tournament through to Hermione's upset at having her Yule Ball ruined by her two dearest friends.

SF Examiner:
The performances have grown richer, notably Radcliffe and Emma Watson as Hermione Granger.

Chicago Maroon:
Most of them are up to the task. Emma Watson as Hermione Granger is a revelation, handling her character's transition from nerdiness to grace with wonderful poise. She delivers one of the movie's few sexual innuendos, and does it with such wonderful timing and facial control that I cannot wait to see her star in something front and center.

OneidaDispatch.com:
Of the trio, Emma Watson, now 15, as Hermione Granger, is the one to really watch. Her character has grown the most and she has a winning screen presence that becomes stronger with each film.

DesMoinesRegister.com:
Watson, whose feisty tomboy performance is so endearing to audiences.

Zap2it.com:
Watson gets her chance to blossom in the Yule Ball scene, a splendidly produced wizard prom that ought to guarantee the film Oscar nominations for costuming and production design. In addition to being treated like a young woman for the first time, Watson's Hermione has a great rant at Ron that sets the groundwork for the excruciatingly slowly developing romance between the two characters.

Davisenterprise.com:
and indeed Watson is given a moment to shed her tomboyish clothes for a gorgeous gown at the Hogwarts Yule Ball, which reveals the degree to which this now 15-year-old young woman has matured, since the film series began in 2001.

Cinema Center:
Emma Watson (Hermione) probably has the brightest future as an actual actress,

123 India:
Watson as Hermione performs her most emotionally wrenching scene when she lashes out at Ron for not asking her to the ball early enough. In a fit of despair, she plants herself on the stairs in her beautiful evening dress with shoes that hurt. That is the most telling scene as a rite of passage. They are experiencing adult emotions, the innocence is lost, and Voldemort is waiting.

Alibi.com:
The film's young actors, fighting off the effects of puberty as long as possible, continue to grow into their roles. Emma Watson (playing Hermione) and Rupert Grint (playing Ron), in particular, look to have fruitful film careers after the Harry Potter series shuts down.

Cinematical:
Watson's Hermione may be the smartest student at Hogwarts, but Watson plays her with real feelings, too, capturing all the aching see-saw swings of adolescent emotion. (Ron asks Hermione to the Yule Ball at the last moment; she explains, tearfully, that she's already been asked by another boy – and said yes. When she does make her entrance to the ball, you can practically hear Neil Diamond's ‘Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon' on the soundtrack as she leaves Ron slack-jawed with her previously-unrevealed glamour: From agony to victory, in a snap.)

Dunkirkma.net:
but of the teen actors, it's Emma Watson as Hermione who steals the show, and rightfully so, for it's Hermione that is the most mature, level headed, and ambitious character, dealing with Harry and Ron's bumbling like a surrogate mother, rather than a potential love interest. Harry has his glorious moments, such as his broomstick battle with a vicious Hungarian Horn Tail Dragon (the film's most spectacular sequence), and Ron is good comic relief, but the big set piece is the school ball, and Watson, adorable and heartbreaking, shines as Hermione chastises Ron and his jealousy for ruining what should be one of a girl's most cherished memories, her first school dance.

Post-Gazette.com:
Emma Watson's ever-faithful Hermione hasn't too much to do but blossom, which she does nicely, especially when the music moves from ballroom stock to rock at that gorgeously photographed ice-palace dance.

Illusion:
Emma Watson, as befits a girl rushing headlong into womanhood, is protective and grown up.

SciFi.com:
Talented Watson puts aside her character's annoying "know-it-all" persona to reveal a budding beauty who can't quite believe the spell she's cast over Bulgarian hunk Viktor Krum (Stanislav Ianevski).

EFilmcritic.com #1:
but it's the kids who have really come on leaps and bounds. Emma Watson is proving herself an actress of real quality,

EFilmcritic.com #2:
Emma Watson may be growing into someone whom her schoolmates may need extra books for, but professionally she gets to play scenes of great emotion in the midst of a period where Hermione is more the worrying galpal than the “A” student one step ahead of the boys. It's unfortunate to see this route taken with the character after becoming the true hero of the Prisoner of Azkaban , but it affords Watson moments that enrich the friendship past soap operatic dilemmas of sadness. She develops simple motions like hugging Harry before his impending challenge into the weight which comes with the true fear that those you love might be slipping away

EFilmcritic #3:
Daniel Ratcliffe and Emma Watson continue to amaze with their ability to step right out of the pages as Harry and Hermione.

Futuremovies.co.uk:
Emma Watson in particular is excellent as Hermione, no longer giving you that Keira Knightley feeling of dread every time she opens her mouth and another over-enunciated over-elocuted speech emerges.

Baltimoresun.com:
The movie, of course, is called Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but Harry's budding-beautiful friend Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) is the one who gives it a glow. (...) Yet Hermione is the one who lets all the comic-dramatic complications of their age play out across her face. Watson is a natural in the role. The centerpiece of the movie should be the three trials Harry and a trio of rivals endure in a tri-school student-wizard tournament. Instead, it's Hermione's appearance at the Yule Ball in the company of a dashing Bulgarian champion. Watson makes Hermione's entrance as lovely as Eliza Doolittle's at the Embassy Ball in My Fair Lady.

Sunnews.com:
The battle of the hormones rages most noticeably at Hogwarts' annual "Yule Ball," the grandly picturesque holiday fete where Hermione (lovely little Emma Watson) blossoms before our eyes, then goes into a womanly funk that neither Harry nor Ron could possibly understand.


Philly.com:
For the human factor, Newell relies on the vibrant Emma Watson, whose Hermione is emerging as the real actor of this teen wild bunch, as poised and focused as her hair is flyaway. Of all the younger actors, only she delivers something to Newell's in-your-face close-ups.

TheCrimson.com:
Emma Watson deserves straight Os in her acting OWLs for finally bringing a full-blooded Hermione to screen. She convincingly exudes incandescent giddiness in her scenes at the Yule Ball, and turns a brief confrontation with Ron over his belatedly asking her to the dance into a teary confessional spectacle.

Advertiser.com:
The actors, particularly Daniel Radcliffe as Harry and Rupert Grint as Ron, are growing into their awkward teenage parts, and it's entertaining to watch. Emma Watson, as Hermione, has some adorable and touching moments at the Yule Ball, as the close of the evening finds her sobbing on the castle steps as she unbuckles her well-danced shoes

Comingsoon.net:
The performances of the three leads continues to mature as they do. In particular, Emma Watson as Hermione Granger comes into her own extremely well as she moves between her concern and fear over Harry's (Daniel Radcliffe) well being and her growing romance with Ron (Rupert Grint).

JDNnews.com:
The main trio of Radcliffe, Watson and Grint continue to improve their acting skills. Watson in particular is a scene stealer…

Dailypilot.com:
Grint and Watson are really coming into their own as actors

Summit Daily news:
The original three child actors have matured in their skills, bringing more layers of depth to their characters. Hermione (Emma Watson) particularly stands out with her emergence as a beautiful young woman at the ball.

Daily Yomiuri:
Of the three, Watson turns in the most credible performance.

Journalnow.com:
Watson is truly coming into her own, giving a poised and polished performance as Hermione.

The Guardian:
But the movie only becomes humanly interesting with the excruciating prom-style ball which the young Hogwarts scholars are forced to attend. It is here that Harry and Ron find themselves furious, confused and resentful to see that Hermione scrubs up into a premier-league babe and is being squired by the young foreign wizard superstar - but she'd accepted his invitation only because she was sick of waiting for either of these two dullards (particularly Ron) to do the decent thing and invite her. Hermione is angry and heartbroken at their churlish sneering, and Emma Watson's gutsy, confident performance nicely shows that inside and outside the world of magic there is a growing discrepancy between a teenage girl's status and her accelerating emotional and intellectual development.

Metro Weekly:
Watson is radiant -- she needs to be, as she has few other opportunities to shine in the movie -- and for the first time, you sense the emergence of a truly fine actress.

TCG news:
Though Emma Watson's lovely face somewhat detracts from the awkward eccentricity usually found among the bibliophile, she still sparkles as Hermione, perfectly capturing the plucky smarts of the independent woman.

News Tribune:
Newell's touch shows most prominently in the performances of his three young leads: Daniel Radcliffe as Harry, Rupert Grint as Ron and Emma Watson as Hermione. (..) Though still small in stature, Radcliffe seems to have filled out, bringing a more solid physical presence to match Harry's resolve to take on the evil forces stalking him. No longer relying on his signature frown, Grint seems more solid as well, and Watson, always the sturdiest of the three, adds new dimensions to Hermione by showing the girl's growing awareness of her own beauty.

Epinions.com:
Emma Watson remains one of the best young actors in the series as the always intelligent but now worrisome Hermione as she is more maternal in her role while proving to be a very beautiful young woman in that Yule Ball scene

Movie Web:
The Goblet of Fire is a more mature story and its young stars prove they have the acting skills to grow with their characters. Emma Watson in particular does a wonderful job. As the only girl with more than a few lines, she carries the feminine weight of the film and balances out Daniel Radcliffe's heroics

Blog Critics.org:
With movies like Into The West under his belt, where he worked with children, Mike Newell has a proven track record of eliciting performances from young actors. While both Rupert Grint and Dan Radcliffe turn in their expected performances as Ron and Harry respectively, it's Emma Watson as Hermoine Granger who seems to have benefited the most from him. This has to be her best performance to date in the series, as she shows an emotional range and depth far beyond what one would expect from an actor of her age. Watch her crumble in the scene at the end of the Yule Ball after she has yelled at the boys. Why can't her friends be happy for her? Why, if Ron didn't want to go with her, is he ruining her night? Why does she care what Ron even thinks? Emma may not be expressing each of those thoughts, but they are there for us to read if we want.

SFsite.com:
And I'm sure Emma Watson is going to take the world by storm someday. She was the real hero of Prisoner of Azkaban , and here she gets to inject honest emotion into scenes that could have easily been maudlin.

CanMag.com:
When it comes to the ‘children' and the rest of the cast, some one should give the casting director for the Potter films a raise. (…) Emma Watson has aged and changed perfectly in tune with the books; she is Hermione Granger.