Year 6: The Half-Blood Prince
I think Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince might be my favorite HP movie so far! My first viewing was in IMAX 3D. It was cool, but I’m not sure it’s worth shelling out the extra money because 3D effects are only in maybe the first 15 minutes. Beware, spoilers galore!
Ron develops from his supporting role/best friend act, and gets much more credit to himself. Rupert Grint is the funniest he’s ever been in this character when he finally gets female attention (Jessie Cave does a great job too. Her “Lavender” is just nuts, literally and figuratively over Ron.), when he thinks he’s high on Felix Felicies luck potion, and when he’s high on love potion. I laughed so much in his scenes!
Harry is pretty much himself, making it through while trying to handle so much pressure. It was nice to see him get female attention in a new scene at the beginning. He has the added teenage struggle of loving Ginny secretly. Her character is given extra scenes but some were taken out and their relationship was suggested at, but never officially developed. Harry is one of my all-time favorite characters but the best scene is when he has taken the luck potion. He becomes so irreverent, loose, and funny (very unusual) until he reaches his goal.
Tom Felton does a beautiful job developing “Draco” into the would-be assasin. Draco has always been Harry’s nemesis but this year he really has a purpose beyond the general boasting and challenging. He shows much more emotion, has become quite suave, and could be charming if he were not focused on his mission. Not to mention his facial features have matured significantly into a very handsome guy.
Luna is the best. She’s given an extra scene, finding Harry on the train (instead of Tonks who appears later in a scene where she is supposed to be curiously absent). Every scene she’s in just lights up, her party dress (I wish we’d seen their version of a vampire), her lion head, she’s awesome. Helena Bonham Carter makes an excellent “Bellatrix” (but it bugs me when she’s refered to as “Bella”, some of you may know the reason). The inclusion of Fenrir Greyback bothers me. You can tell he’s a crazed monster but other than that, he’s not a developed character. There is no explanation of his monstrosity and his main scene in the book is not included. As always, I love the Weasley twins. It’s briefly asked, “how are they doing it?”, but it seems to refer to their thriving business in such times, not their original source of income. It’s disappointing that we see so little of them. Despite his part in the title, Snape seems to be less prevalent, most of the established professors take a backseat to Dumbledore and Slughorn with the allotted time frame.
As always, many book parts are taken out or changed in the adaptation. Many of the changes left me disappointed despite me enjoyment of the rest of the movie. Dumbledore seems less informed regarding Riddle’s collection of items for horcruxes. The “magpie” tendancies for Hogwarts collectibles is never mentioned, and he says he had no idea how deep Voldemort had gone. This leaves “Deathly Hallows” in a strange place. How is Harry supposed to know what the seven Horcruxes could be? He has even less than no idea what to look for, though there seemed to be a foreshadowing that “Dark Magic [left] a trace” on him. The end, which should be the climax, was disappointing. There was no battle, the death and grieving didn’t touch me as it does when I read, and Snape’s exit was less than I expected. There was less heart ache between Harry and Ginny, and no funeral, I suppose they didn’t want us sitting through another eulogy as after Cedric (*sniff*). I think the disppointment in the adaptation is stronger because I was so excited and most of I loved. I’m looking forward to my 2nd viewing a couple days to try it again.
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