Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Review: Oh Won-won!

01 Aug 2009 2 Comments

by randompandemonium in Uncategorized Tags: Movie Review, ohnoes you're a fan, summer nonsense

As a  huge harry potter nerd -the term ‘potter-head’ has never exactly agreed with me… So i prefer to simply be labeled ‘hp nerd.’- I was super-excited  for the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. HBP was one of my favorite books in the seriesbecause of the thrilling storyline, the introductions  of vibrant  new characters, the hints of romance, and nearly-revealed secrets. It was setting up the end of the series, which was sad and exhiliarating at the same time. Anyway, lets just say I had super-high expectations when I walked into that theatre for the first time (especially since the release date got moved!!!).  

Overall, I was very happy with the way it turned out, and I really enjoyed it. I’ve heard that many people have mixed feelings about this movie. Die-hard fans either loved it or hated it (especially because of the additions made by David Yates); Non-readers felt that there was too much talking and not enough action; Critics gave glowing reviews (83% fresh); Others just loved it anyway.

Personally though, feel that this movie needs to be looked at from 2 points of view: As a movie, and as an adaptation of an excellent book, because Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is most certainly both.

I loved the overall feel of this film. It was dark, exciting, and at some points, genuinely hilarious! It matched the mood that JKR created in the original book, and the movie seemed to flow on effortlessly from the ending of OOtP.

In my opinion, I think that David Yates and the screen-writers did a really good job of capturing the essence of the book while they didn’t stick to it word for word. It would be nearly impossible to compress a 652 page book into a reasonably watchable movie without making some changes. This was one of those make-or-break factors of this movie. Fans either accepted the changes or avoided it like the plague:

What happened to the Dursleys? Cut for times’ sake. I do really like Richard Griffiths (Vernon) though, and I was sad to see that he wasn’t in this one.

What was up with the massive romance scenes between Ron and Hermione??? That’s not supposed to happen until book 7! And that is quite true my friends, but I really loved the little additions. I actually thought that there weren’t enough subtle romance moments in the actual book! (heh and i was a ron-hermione shipper from the beginning)

HELLO?! What was with the dialogue?! Though the lines in the movie didn’t match exactly to what was in the book, they got the job done. Though I was really disappointed that Snape screaming “DON’T CALL ME A COWARD!” was cut! Seriously. That would have been epic.

Where was the end battle atop the Astronomy tower? Initially I was really disappointed that there was no epic battle after Dumbledore died; But, I did a little researching, and David Heyman said that they wanted to avoid repetition because there will be plenty of fighting in Deathly Hallows.

And Dumbledore’s funeral?!? I’m really sad that the ’White Tomb’ chapter had been left out  because I liked seeing a lot of the older characters making appearances, like Firenze and Umbridge; however, I do understand that that scene alone probably would have lasted at least another 5-10 minutes. But seriously, they could have done a montage or something! I did like what they did when everyone raised their wands.

And the most pressing question of all: THE WEASLEY’S HOUSE BURNING DOWN?? WTF?! I didn’t really get or like that addition much, but it did show that they weren’t even safe at home. I could have done without it, but it didn’t really bug me.  

And we could go on and on: Luna found Harry and not Tonks! Continuity. We didn’t see Snape’s Patronus! Sad but for the sake of time. Where were all of the memories? It was sad that they had to cut out a bunch of them, but at least they got the key ones right! And what about the Half-Blood Prince storyline? Well, it wasn’t totally necessary to know why Snape called himself the Half-Blood Prince. If anything, it made some non-fans read the book to find out which is a GOOD thing! And etc…

But, I will admit the the cave scene was pretty kickass. Attention to detail was great (exept anyone else think that the inferi kinda resembled Gollum from LOTR? I’ve never even seen those movies and I thought that!)

Though I didn’t care for some of the changes, I felt all of the performances were really well-done! The trio as always were near-perfection. I especially thought Daniel Radcliffe under the influence of Felix Felicis was hilarious! The depressing scene when Ron breaks Hermione’s heart (the Canary/Oppugno scene) was seriously heart-breaking and well-acted! “How does it feel…?” “It feels like this.”  

As for the supporting young cast, I thought they did a great job all around. Tom Felton (Draco) did well fleshing out his character a bit, because in this movie he had to be a little bit more than just mean all of the time. Though I will say his nasally delivery of “I have to do this” was a little odd. I really missed Matthew Lewis (Neville)! He’s such a sweetie and an adorable actor and he got like 3 lines! I guess I’ll just have to wait until Deathly Hallows to see the new and improved, totally badass, snake-head cutting, rebellious Neville. And where were the Phelps Twins (Fred/George)? They did not get enough screen time, sadly. But I loved the shots of Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes! They were so colorful and whimsical, just like I imagined! I have said this before, but Evanna Lynch’s (Luna) casting was spot-on! She is such a big fan of the series, and I just think that she does a great job of being Luna. It seems like she’s really into her character! I heard that she made her own lion hat for the Quidditch game! It was a little odd that they got a new actress for Katie Bell but oh well…  I have never liked the character of Lavender Brown but I have to admit that Jessie Cave was ah-mazing! She and Ron actually had this goofy chemistry, and she was hilarious as the obsessed girlfriend! I especially loved when she was in the hospital wing, “See? He senses my presence! It’s okay won-won, I’m here! I’m here!” Bonnie Wright was pretty good as Ginny Weasley as well. I was surprised that the chemistry between her and Harry (Dan Rad) worked out so well!

There was more humor in this movie, and I feel it was a welcome addition! The humor in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was well-placed, not overdone, and downright delightful. The best part? Not all of the humor came from Ron! In the past, all of the humor in the movies was delivered by Rupert Grint either in the form of physical humor or jokes in dialogue. (But I will admit that while reacting to Romilda Vane’s love potion he was hilarious!)

“Well, did you and Ginny do it?” “What?!” “You know, hide the thing.” “Oh. oh yeah.”

 And though the movie does still rely on Ron-related comedy, it’s not entirely dependent on it. One of my favorite scenes was when Cormac puked on Snapes shoes, and Rickman seethes:

 “You’ve just bought yourself a month’s detention MclaggenNOT so fast Potter.” And then Harry goes “Oh well I should be going … my date” and Snape finishes snidely “Can surely survive without you for another minute.”

Well anyway, as far as casting goes, let me just say that I have always LOVED Alan Rickman as Snape! He IS Snape. He just totally embodies the essence of that greasy-haired, batlike, tortured soul. It definitely has to do with the qulity of his voice ; I mean, did you HEAR how he said, “Its. Over.” I will admit, I totally had a fangirl moment when I heard it in the trailer. Hopefully I’m not alone in this opinion, I always thought that Rickman was under-used in the previous films which was a shame. (If they leave out ‘The Prince’s Tale’ in one of the next 2 movies I will go after the person responsible with a Ginny-Weasley-worthy bat-bogey hex!)It’s nice to see Snape become more of a major character because then Rickman gets more screen-time, and people like me can drink in the performance. Plus the quality of his wig has gotten soooooo much better!

Shhhh! Let the audience see how amazing I am

 While on that note, all of the adult actors in Harry Potter (or at least the majority of them) are superb actors/actresses. I happen to be a big fan of both Julie Walters (Molly Weasley) and Maggie Smith (McGonagle). David Thewlis as Lupin and Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid have their moments of brilliance as well. Ohmigod the drinking song with Hagrid and Slughorn was hilarious: “Which was saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.”And I have a soft-spot for the DADA teachers. Imelda Staunton was horribly amazing as Umbridge and OH and dear LORD Kenneth Branaugh as Gilderoy Lockheart was perfectly hilarious! Sheer perfection!Wow, sidetracked! Back to the new movie! Jim Broadbent (recognize him from Moulin Rouge, anyone?) as Slughorn was a great add to an already stellar cast.

Ah, but the biggest shock to me in this movie was how much more likeable Dumbledore was! I am still stunned that Michael Gambon was able to portray a remotely ‘huggable’ Dumbledore! In the books, Dumbledore was a force to be reckoned with but was whimsical and loving, kind of like an eccentric old grandpa who used to be in the CIA. I mean, ‘Dumbledore’ is an old devon word that means ‘bumblebee’! JKR named him so because she pictured him walking about the castle humming (buzzing) to himself. I absolutely loved the late Richard Harris’ portrayal of dear Albus in the first two movies, because he captured the loving, gentle man that he was in the first two books. After his untimely death, we (the fans) were stuck with Michael Gambon. I think I had a prejudice against him from the beginning because he said he never read the books and didn’t plan to! I couldn’t believe that he wouldn’t actually read the books so he could decode the inner workings of a complex character like Dumbledore! And so, in the fourth movie, we ended up with hippie dumbledore -complete with beard-tie -screaming “DIDYOUPUTYOURNAMEINTHEGOBLETOFFFIYAH?!” *sigh* ~KellyWormtongue of DeviantArt puts it best:

Anyway, so when in the film version of HP6 he was actually personable and all ‘Being me has its advantages’ I was floored. It looked as if Gambon actually studied his character for the first time. I applaud his performance in this film. I do think, thought that maybe if he had portrayed Dumbledore like this throughout his run in the series that I would have been at least a little sad when he died (didn’t shed a tear at the theatre).

In conclusion, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was entertaining, funny, and dark with wonderful performances all around. I missed certain details but it got the right point across. Yates deserves a hearty pat on the back too! So….

4.5/5 stars

**I just had to review this film(and this took forever)! And how fitting is it that Friday was JKR’s/Harry’s birthday?

Mindless Musings of the Masses: So what did YOU think of the film?