Ok, so it's been awhile since my last post, but this one will totally make up for it! This is much longer than a blog post should be...but deal with it ;)
I officially feel like I can give a good explanation of how I felt about Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince after seeing it twice. I went to the midnight premier, of course, but it was horrible. I hate when other people feel they have to ruin a film for everyone else that has paid good money to see it. The second time was much better and I was able to concentrate on the parts I knew were coming and really critique each area.
So in no order whatsoever, here are so of my likes, dislikes, and yeah-whatevers.
Dislikes:
Beginning: I had no idea what movie I was even watching when the film started (Ok, after the Death Eater scene…which I’ll get to later.) Harry wasn’t supposed to be in a subway! Checking out a Muggle girl…I was confused…and I didn’t like it either. I also didn’t like Dumbledore’s appearance. This beginning lost so much, as opposed to the one in the book. I really wanted to see Petunia, Dudley, and Vernon. They’re so incredibly pathetic. And Dumbledore is so…Dumbledore in those scenes. This beginning, with the few lines from the book thrown in, just seemed too contrived.
Gaunt Family: (or complete lack thereof…) Where did these important characters go!?!?! I completely and utterly missed these memories from the Pensieve in this film. AND I feel that they are completely necessary to understanding Voledmort as a person, which is Dumbledore’s whole, entire point in this book. SO frustrating. Without Merope and her little love affair with Tom Riddle Sr. and all that good stuff I feel like we’re missing a big part of Voldemort the person.
Memories: Where did they go? They’re missing just like the Guant family….The memories in the Pensive were they core of this book, that and their meaning to Voldemort, Dumbledore, and Harry. One of the main scenes I think they left out was when Tom goes to see Hepizbah and she shows him her trinkets of Slytherin and Hufflepuff. Without that scene it’s hard to really understand how concentrated Voldemort is on objects of great importance.
Burning of the Burrow: Where was that in the book? And why put it into the movie if all you’re going to do is show the burning, and then completely ignore what happens to the family afterwards.
Death Scene: I had MULTIPLE problems with this. This was the scene I was so apprehensive about and it just made me mad....Ok, for one: Dumbledore making Harry promise to obey him would NOT have stopped the Harry I know from defending the man he thinks of as a father. This was ridiculous and I DO NOT buy into the theory that Harry was showing loyalty to Dumbledore. Harry would have done something...so just stupify him and make him invisible like he was in the book and get it over with. Also, what was the point of having the Death Eaters there if we NEVER saw the Order of the Phoenix. I hated that too....it didn't flow from the 5th movie with no OofP. I just felt like the end was anticlimactic...and I could go on for days, but I won't.
Likes:
Harry, Ron, Hermione: All 3 = GREAT CHEMISTRY!!! I guess that’s what we get after having them work together for so many years. I just can’t say enough how much I loved their interactions. So natural.
Luna: What’s not to love about Luna. I wasn’t even upset that they put her in in places she wasn’t supposed to be….because she’s so darn cute and loveable. And silvery Christmas tree dress = complete WIN! So Luna. The only thing I wanted more from her was to hear to commentary during the Quidditch match…that would have been a double win.
Draco: I really loved Draco’s darkness. The movie added to Draco for me, instead of subtracting. Tom Felton did an amazing job portraying what Draco must have been feeling. The only “dislike” I have here is Draco brandishing the Dark Mark at the end. Never happened….and NO reason for it to happen. Defeats the purpose of Narcissa’s worry.
Bellatrix Lestrange: OMG SHE IS AMAZING! I don’t even care that she’s a bad witch. I want to be her. So bad. Nuff said.
But my friend, Audree, mentioned the changing of Narcissa’s hair…and I agree, bad choice. I think if they would have left it the way Rowling intended it would have emphasized more the juxtaposition between Bellatrix and Cissy…
Dumbledore: His character was so perfect in this film. It’s amazing to me how he can say everything with the same tone of voice, yet you know right away if he’s serious or light-hearted. And did anyone else get the feeling the falling-over-the-wall death scene was something akin to Gandalf on Saurmon's tower in the TT??
Harry on Felix. He should be “high” on luck more often!!!
Slughorn, “Harry!!”
Harry, “Sirr???
Bhahahah! Makes me laugh all over again.
Yeah-Whatevers:
Bill and Phlegm: This could have been great, but instead they took it out. After seeing how Fluer was presented in the 4th movie, I was really interested to see Fluer as Phelgm. Would have been hilarious. Plus, I think it would have developed Ginny more outside of her relationship with Harry.
Inferi: Looked like an army of Gollums. And Gollum gave me nightmares the first couple times I watched LotR. No lie.
Also would have liked to see more of the other classmates. What happened to Neville! Missed him and his toad…
Some people hated the ending-with just Harry, Ron, and Hermione standing around, but I really thought it was a great way to set up the 7th movies. Except I couldn't figure out why Ron was hanging back. That bugged me...he's just as much a part of Harry as Hermione. That was so...strange.
I probably left some stuff out. I’ve worked on this many times…stopping and starting depending on when I actually had time to sit down and think. Oh well…at least you’ll get an idea of what I thought!
