Topic: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

[Dragonfire]

Yes, I am a Harry Potter fan.  I have all the books and have read them several times.  I am ready to start book 7 again tonight after starting the series again last Thursday night.  I have the first five movies on DVD and have watched them several times.  I remember all sorts of trivia type stuff from the books and movies and I'm still sad that the series has ended.  So ...I guess you could say I am a tiny bit..obsessed.   
So anyway, I decided to go see the new Harry Potter movie today.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth movie in the series.  In it, Harry Potter and Professor Dumbledore start trying to figure out a few things connected to Lord Voldemort.  The new teacher for Hogwarts, Professor Slughorn, actually taught at the school before and may know something about Voldemort that will be helpful.  Draco Malfoy seems to be up to something while Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione also try to deal with love. 

Overall, the movie is entertaining, though I think it has some issues.  It is a decent adaptation but it could have been better.  The order of some events is changed around a bit at times.  That mostly didn't bother me and I wasn't too bothered by some of the changes.  What bothers me the most, is that time is taken to add in a sequence that is probably 5 to 10 minutes long that was not in the book that ultimately adds nothing to the movie while some important information is omitted.  Certain things do seem to be working well, but I am wondering how other things will end up working in the final movies - the last book is being made into 2 movies.  The more I think about it, the more that additional sequence bugs me.  I still enjoyed the movie overall, but it could have been so much better.  I'm almost positive that I would have liked the movie more if I hadn't read the book first since I wouldn't have know about the things that were left out.  Some people who are fans of the book are not going to be that happy with the movie.

There is a little bit of mystery connected to what Draco is doing, but because of the way those scenes are presented, it ends up being rather obvious what is going on.  There is a decent amount of action that is done well without making the movie action packed.  There is also a good amount of humor, some of which gets a bit silly at times.  The movie isn't as violent, though one sequence has the potential to be upsetting to younger children. 

The cast is all wonderful and I'm glad that Alan Rickman finally gets a bit more to do as Snape.  He's perfect in the part. 

Overall, the movie is good and entertaining, though I think it could have been better. 

 

I did get a review posted on Epinions if anyone wants to take a look.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

[Achim]

Yes, I am a Harry Potter fan.  I have all the books and have read them several times.  I am ready to start book 7 again tonight after starting the series again last Thursday night.  I have the first five movies on DVD and have watched them several times.  I remember all sorts of trivia type stuff from the books and movies and I'm still sad that the series has ended.  So ...I guess you could say I am a tiny bit..obsessed.   
So anyway, I decided to go see the new Harry Potter movie today.

´
You are not alone here. I too have all books (read them too), own the five films on DVD (almost ordered the Gold Box offer for the Blu-ray today, but decided to wait for the Ultimate versions later on) and enjoyed both a lot. But I am nowhere near as hardcore as you are.

IIRC Karsten is a big fan too, I am not sure if how he competes with you though.

I'll read your review next week, after I have seen the film (in the IMAX!). Wasn't this supposed to be in 3D, I believe the IMAX I will go to will screen the 3D version... I hope the 6 additional months of production were used well.

[DJ Doena]

I've read the first 4 books in german before I switched to english. Except for the last one, I've read every book several times, the lower the number, the more often I have read it.

I have all 7 books as hard covers in german and english, the first six books as audio books, the first 5 movies on DVD (with Chamber in the swiss uncut edition [in Germany it was cut for getting a lower rating]).

And I have quite a collection of Stone


from left to right:
US hard cover, british adult hard cover, german children hard cover, german adult hard cover, british children hard cover
british adult paperback, german children paperback, british children paperback

Obsessed? No, thorough.


And of course I'll go into the sixth movie (Tuesday after next)

[Dragonfire]

Nice collection.

I've read the first 3 books the most.  I think about 6 times now.  I did start reading Deathly Hallows again ..this will be the 3rd or 4th time I've read it.  I read it the second time about a week after it came out. lol

I have the first 3 books in paperback and the rest in hardback.  I still want the first three in hardback too.  I've heard the audiobook for several of them and I want those too. 
I have a few other Potter related things including a Harry Potter Clue game and Harry Potter Scene It? Movie trivia game.  I really like the movie trivia game.  I also have hundreds of cards from the trading card game that was made for a while.  They stopped making that after Chamber of Secrets came out I think...other wise I'd have thousands of the cards probably.. :lol

I was tempted by the set on Blu-Ray too, but I also decided to wait.  I'm guessing there is going to be some sort of deluxe set or something once all the movies are out. 
I noticed over the weekend when I saw some of Prisoner of of Azkaban on television that there was a scene not on my DVD.  So either I have lost my mind, or there is a different version of the movie that plays on tv...and if that is the case, I want the version with the extra scene too. lol

I know it is supposed to be in IMAX and I think I heard it will be in 3D IMAX too.  I'd like to see it that way, but there is no IMAX theater close here.

I already read a few stories last night that the midnight showings for the movie set a new record..22 million I think.  If it keeps up that pace, it will make more than Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen did on it's opening weekend.

[lovemunkey187]

25/08/09.

Watched this and quite enjoyed it, I still think that the amount of material that has been missed out has been a shame but the ommitting of some subplots has been for the better(GRAWP).



Jessie Cave who played Lavender really reminded me of Lucy Punch's character(Holly Ellenbogen) in The Class.

[Dragonfire]

That is what bothers me the  most about the movie..the information left out that is so important to setting up the last movies.  As it is now, many things that Harry knows by this point in the books have been left out, so things really haven't been set up properly.

I agree that some of the omissions make things work better...like I'm glad that all of Hermione's going on and on about SPEW was left out...though I do think Doby should have at least been mentioned again in the movies since he continues to help in various ways in the books.  Things with Doby just have not been handled properly, and I don't think his....story arc will have the same impact in the last movies because of that.

[lovemunkey187]

That is what bothers me the  most about the movie..the information left out that is so important to setting up the last movies.  As it is now, many things that Harry knows by this point in the books have been left out, so things really haven't been set up properly.

I agree that some of the omissions make things work better...like I'm glad that all of Hermione's going on and on about SPEW was left out...though I do think Doby should have at least been mentioned again in the movies since he continues to help in various ways in the books.  Things with Doby just have not been handled properly, and I don't think his....story arc will have the same impact in the last movies because of that.

Just thought of something else on reading your post;

The films have made some of the other characters with very little to do and quite one dimensional, especially Neville(he is the one who was being raised by his Grandmother, wasn't he?)

[DJ Doena]

They also changed the character "jobs". In the books Ron has always been Harry's tour guide through the magical world. In the movies Hermione got that part, too, leaving Ron as the comic relief without much else to do.

[Dragonfire]

That is true about the characters not all acting the same..I think Neville hasn't been dealt with properly in the movies at all.  If his part gets messed up in the last movies, I'll really be irked. 
And I agree that Ron's part has been somewhat diminished to one of just comic relief in the movies too.  There is more to the character in the books.

[Achim]

Maybe it's already too long since I read the books (considering to re-read before the last movies arrive), but I thought Neville was sufficiently dealt with. We get some comments about his parents which is what was needed. His role in the last book is based on his parents, not his grandmother.

Sure, they could have done more for some characters, but that could have easily become rather disjointed. I think staying focused on our main characters is what made this film as cohesive as it was.

[Dragonfire]

The whole part with Neville's connection to the prophecy wasn't brought up in the 5th movie.  For the 6th, he has like one line.  He didn't a lot to do the 6th book either, but it was more than that.