MC Reviews of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince!

[NeverNeverland]

Well, I started a new thread because the old one was already at 3 pages of chat before anyone had seen the movie This might get merged - but I thought a more review only post or post that has reviews right away was good idea...

Anyway, my general overview... LOVED IT!!!! it was funny and so sad and exciting and the look was gorgeous! I had read about how they did the pensieve scenes a certain way and thought it really worked. When I first saw Slughorn, I was diappointed, because he doesn't look right - but he was GREAT!! Tom Riddle was SO GOOD!!! McLaggin was good too.

Spoiler

I loved ho all Draco did was look angsty lol

They left out A LOT - apparition lessons, no mentions of the ministers, they cut out some of the pensieve scenes. There is another big one I'm forgetting. They brush through the OWLS.

The love parts were so sweet! Very well acted!

The cave was an ice cavern and instead of Harry fighting off the inferi, Dumbledore did the whole fire thing. Bad change IMO, it was like D. saving him AGAIN instead of showing Harry figuring it out.

This time they added some strange room at the top of the school, with these spinny things. Another change is that the Weasley's house catches on fire - Greyback and Bellatrix do it.

The BIGGEST change is NO FIGHT SCENE AT THE END Harry isn't paralyzed, but D tells him not to move. It takes place in that round room, and it is horribly sad A question is why the aurors wouldn't realize something was up? The death eaters get one guy but then they just run away and no aurors seem to be around at all. I was bummed about that.

I know I am forgetting stuff but that is all I can remember off the top of my head

[twinmom]

How did you already get to see it?? I'm jealous!

[NeverNeverland]

We won a screening from the newspaper - 3 radio stations were part of it too! Very lucky

[sir clinksalot]

Added a poll. Can't wait to see it, probably going on Friday.

We had thought about taking the kids to their first ever midnight show, but our daughter won't be back from Grandmas until Wednesday.

[Barbaraann]

I can't wait to see it. It was my favorite of the books. My grandson and I are going tomorrow afternoon.

[krystledm]

I'll let you know what I think at about 3 am!. I'm just so darn excited!!!!! I'm attempting to resist the temptation of wearing my house colors to the movie....

[sediment]

Hmm, sounds good. I'll have a review Thursday. Maybe tomorrow from home.

[snorkeld]

Saw it at 12:01, loved it but now at work after 2 hours of sleep and regreting it.

[SusieP.]

LOVED IT!

I thought this was so well done, that I don't even care that it didn't exactly match the book. I'm amazed that we were able to see inside all of these different characters' heads, and you end up feeling sympathetic to all of them (Except Bella and her crew- she's just nuts!)

Spoiler

The whole Snape/Dumbledore/Harry/Draco thing was made just transparent enough to show that it is way more than it seems.

It was really well set up to lead into the final parts of the whole story, building on each person's motivations.

Spoiler

I mean, really, attack Molly Weasley's family in their own home?? I can't wait to see her in the final battle for Hogwarts! It sets her up perfectly, so her part doesn't seem out of character later. Genius!

Our theater had another showing at 3:20 am, and I so wish I could have stayed to see it again.

Spoiler

I cried. As soon as they apparated back to Hogwarts, I wanted to throw up, I was so nervous about the impending scene. But I cry everytime I read the book, too, so that was no surprise at all. The worst part was watching Dumbledore have to drink the poison. And I love that they put strength behind his "Please" on the tower, because I know people felt like he was begging in the book. I'm okay with skipping the funeral- but I predict that is where the next movie will start.

[Zorro825]

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Spoiler

I loved ho all Draco did was look angsty lol

The cave was an ice cavern and instead of Harry fighting off the inferi, Dumbledore did the whole fire thing. Bad change IMO, it was like D. saving him AGAIN instead of showing Harry figuring it out.

This time they added some strange room at the top of the school, with these spinny things. Another change is that the Weasley's house catches on fire - Greyback and Bellatrix do it.

Spoiler

In the book Dumbledore saves Harry as well. Harry forgets that inferi are repelled by fire and instead tries every spell he knows to fend them off until Dumbeldore snaps out of it and unleashes his fire spell on them

[Zorro825]

OK I was loving this movie so much all the way through. I knew that the 6th book would probably be the hardest to adadpt because so much of it takes place via flashbacks/pensieve memories. However I was really enjoying this movie and wasnt really having an issue with what had been changed. However...

OK, here comes the rant:

Spoiler

I hated the last 10-15 minutes of the movie. I cant believe they omitted the battle at Hogwarts!!! I mean really, this was the first time Death Eaters have ever breached the castle and they were able to just stroll through like nothing?! Did not like that at all!! I've now read that the reason the battle at Hogwars was cut was because they wanted to avoid "repetition" from this movie to the next. I'm sorry but I dont agree with that at all. Both battles are very different and serve different purposes. Also by not having Dumbledore 'freeze' Harry before being confronted by Malfoy it made Harry seem weak in my opinion. In the book he doesnt help Dumbledore because he is physically unable to and hates himself for it afterwards. In the movie it comes across more as Harry COULDVE helped him but chose not to. And where was Dumbledore's funeral??! I understand that not everything will make it from book to screen, but that I felt was a huge mistake on their part to not include it.

[Maverick]

Spoiler

I liked when Harry drank the liquid luck, it was like he was on drugs!

[aimster]

I'm planning on seeing it at some point this weekend. Looking forward to it. I did read that this movie strays from the book a bit and some things were cut out.

Spoiler

Example: The battle at Hogwarts was cut because there's another in the last book and the director thought it would be overkill to have it happen two movies in a row.

They also cut out Dumbledore's funeral, but they're saying that will probably be included at the beginning of the next movie, "Deathly Hallows: Part 1".

[JL Skellington]

I have a lot to say about this movie, which is beautiful and well done and fun to watch... however I will only say one thing, which completely summarizes my disappointment in it:

This movie made very little concessions to those who hadn't read the books, most likely confusing them with many parts of it. SO if you're going to make a movie almost exclusively for the fans of the books, WHY NOT BE FAITHFUL TO THE BOOKS??? I understand leaving things out due to time/pacing/etc but a lot of little things were changed or left out that made me wonder if the director had even read the book. Seriously.

[Maverick]

Addressing most peoples concerns about how much they left out... I'm not really sure you can complain about that really. Ever since books have been adapted into movies things have been left out that were from the book. You really can't get everything in. Half Blood Prince was over 2 and a half hours. Filmakers have to constantly remember how long people are going to be able to sit tight in their seats and focus on what they are seeing.