Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was the funniest Harry Potter movie yet. I have never laughed so hard at a Harry Potter movie, yet I have also never cried so much during one. If you have not seen the movie, don’t read on. There will be spoilers a-plenty in this post. Even if you’ve read the book, don’t continue reading this post until you’ve seen the movie. They are that different.
All in all, I loved it. It isn’t my favorite, that title belongs to Prisoner of Azkaban. However, it is possibly my second favorite. It’s definitely better than Order of the Phoenix.
My reasons? Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes was spectacular, except for that weird clown like object that was above the door. Other than that, it looked just like I would have expected Fred & George’s shop to look like. Next reason would be the witty lines. I was laughing every ten minutes or so. Slughorn’s line in the Three Broomsticks, ‘I remember when it was one broomstick!’ had me laughing hysterically for a while. It helped that he was partially drunk and had just sloshed his drink all over Hermione. Speaking of Slughorn, I think they made an excellent choice in an actor.
The scene at the Burrow, while I still do not understand why they added it in, was done really well. I loved how it was sort of focused on Remus and Tonks. It was just the right combination of darkness and sadness. I do not really see why WB felt the need to burn the Burrow to the ground, but I think it was a good scene. What really made me happy is that they finally got Remus looking like I imagined him. After three tries, they finally got it right.
Young Tom Riddle was absolutely brilliant. They couldn’t have picked a better actor for that role. As was the girl they cast for Lavender Brown. I absolutely loved all the issues with Ron’s love life, including the part where he accidentally takes the love potion. That was hilarious. As was the part when Harry took Felix Felicis.
Dumbledore’s death scene was also really well done. I cried. It was so sad. Then when all the students and teachers were holding their wands up in the air around Dumbledore’s body was another tearjerking moment. Although I wish they had put his funeral in, that part was really good.
However, there were parts in it I didn’t like. The first scene, where Harry’s flirting with the waitress, that did not fit at all. Quidditch was kind of just thrown in there and there was only one match. There needed to be more Quidditch. The students only had one lesson throughout the entire film. Nobody seemed shocked or worried that Snape was given the Defense Against the Dark Arts positon, a plot point that was quite important in the books. Nor did they actually have any classes with Snape in the movie. Snape did not give Harry detention after he used Sectumsempra on Malfoy. They cut most of the memories that Harry was supposed to see. They also cut out Ron’s line about Essence Of Insanity. That was a bit disappointing, but oh well.
Then there was Remus and Tonks’s relationship. They cut one of the ending scenes where Tonks was supposed to pronounce her love for Remus. I get the feeling WB wanted to cut that entire plot point from the movies, but then they read Deathly Hallows and realized that it actually was a big plot point and had to stick it back in somehow. I suppose that’s where the Burrow scene came in. There were a few lines between Remus and Tonks that let the audience know that they were together, but none of them gave the sense that their relationship was hard, like it was in the books.
Overall, WB completely mutilated the storyline from the book. Sure, they used it as an outline, but they changed a lot. However, I think they did a better job of it than they did in Order of the Phoenix. Both movies were completely different than the books, but Half-Blood Prince was so much better.
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