Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
On Saturday, Ryan, Rachel, their mom and I went to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. First, a brief comment on the audience. I understand that the books are largely viewed as children’s books, but the books really grow with the characters and by the time the sixth book comes around, the students are fourteen and the general tone is pretty dark and depressing… cause that’s what fourteen-year-olds are like. They are. It’s true.
My problem, then, is not with the books or the movie, but with the parents who allow their VERY young children (like under the age of eight, as young as around two or three) to come to the movie theatre for the seven o’clock showing and sit through two and a half hours of gruesome and scary scenes. Let’s be honest – if I was really young and saw this movie, it would probably scar me for life (much like the movie It – that is terrifying and you know it). In fact, when the inferi come out of the water I jumped, as did most of the audience including the really old people who came to see it. I didn’t shriek like my sister (she is lame lol) but I definitely jumped. My point is, it’s not age appropriate for those kids. Hell, it’s barely age appropriate for me and I’m 25.
Moving on, I really enjoyed the film. As with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I thought it was about a half hour too long, but I understand that the books are really long and they wanted to put in as much as possible. Fine with me. However, some of the scenes seemed a little dullsville like just waiting around for something to happen, and I thought those could have been filled with some of the details that were left out. If I had never read the books and just watched the movie, I think I would have liked it more, and that kind of bums me out. I still like Order of the Phoenix better, but it was definitely good. The part where Harry drinks the luck potion is hysterical and Rupert Grint (Ron) did a fantastic job, as always. I even didn’t hate Helena Bonham Carter and I basically think she is the devil. There were a lot of things to like about the movie, especially how creepy the boy who played Tom Riddle was. Yikes. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE Jim Broadbent (Slughorn) – he played Bridget Jones’ dad in those movies and I love him and he was the standout performance for me, much like Gary Oldman (Sirius) in the other films. Luna is also fantastic and adorable!
What I didn’t like:
- Draco Malfoy. He truly has become both unattractive and a dreadful actor.
- Hermione Granger. I hope when Emma Watson goes to Columbia next year, she studies drama. She needs the help because it’s a huge distraction.
- Narcissa Black. That just wasn’t how I pictured her and that’s irritating.
- The burning of The Burrow. It was obvious that they added this scene because it lacked drama, good dialogue, and a point.
- The last scene. It was boring and unnecessary. Harry could have read the note whenever and it would have been a better ending if Dumbledore died and the movie was over.
I think that’s it. Or at least, that’s all I can think of. I generally don’t like the actor who plays Dumbledore and wish Richard Harris hadn’t died because he was amazing and exactly how I pictured Dumbledore. The new guy isn’t as mysterious or interesting as Dumbledore should be. Although the scene where Harry makes him drink the poison was very sad and almost made me cry. Of course, the scene in the book actually DID make me cry, so I guess that means they did a crappy job. I am also worried about the actress who plays Professor McGonigal (Maggie Smith). She looks really old and that is a little upsetting.
Overall, I really enjoyed it. I did not enjoy the small children crying in the theatre. But who does?
My problem, then, is not with the books or the movie, but with the parents who allow their VERY young children (like under the age of eight, as young as around two or three) to come to the movie theatre for the seven o’clock showing and sit through two and a half hours of gruesome and scary scenes. Let’s be honest – if I was really young and saw this movie, it would probably scar me for life (much like the movie It – that is terrifying and you know it). In fact, when the inferi come out of the water I jumped, as did most of the audience including the really old people who came to see it. I didn’t shriek like my sister (she is lame lol) but I definitely jumped. My point is, it’s not age appropriate for those kids. Hell, it’s barely age appropriate for me and I’m 25.
Moving on, I really enjoyed the film. As with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I thought it was about a half hour too long, but I understand that the books are really long and they wanted to put in as much as possible. Fine with me. However, some of the scenes seemed a little dullsville like just waiting around for something to happen, and I thought those could have been filled with some of the details that were left out. If I had never read the books and just watched the movie, I think I would have liked it more, and that kind of bums me out. I still like Order of the Phoenix better, but it was definitely good. The part where Harry drinks the luck potion is hysterical and Rupert Grint (Ron) did a fantastic job, as always. I even didn’t hate Helena Bonham Carter and I basically think she is the devil. There were a lot of things to like about the movie, especially how creepy the boy who played Tom Riddle was. Yikes. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE Jim Broadbent (Slughorn) – he played Bridget Jones’ dad in those movies and I love him and he was the standout performance for me, much like Gary Oldman (Sirius) in the other films. Luna is also fantastic and adorable!
What I didn’t like:
- Draco Malfoy. He truly has become both unattractive and a dreadful actor.
- Hermione Granger. I hope when Emma Watson goes to Columbia next year, she studies drama. She needs the help because it’s a huge distraction.
- Narcissa Black. That just wasn’t how I pictured her and that’s irritating.
- The burning of The Burrow. It was obvious that they added this scene because it lacked drama, good dialogue, and a point.
- The last scene. It was boring and unnecessary. Harry could have read the note whenever and it would have been a better ending if Dumbledore died and the movie was over.
I think that’s it. Or at least, that’s all I can think of. I generally don’t like the actor who plays Dumbledore and wish Richard Harris hadn’t died because he was amazing and exactly how I pictured Dumbledore. The new guy isn’t as mysterious or interesting as Dumbledore should be. Although the scene where Harry makes him drink the poison was very sad and almost made me cry. Of course, the scene in the book actually DID make me cry, so I guess that means they did a crappy job. I am also worried about the actress who plays Professor McGonigal (Maggie Smith). She looks really old and that is a little upsetting.
Overall, I really enjoyed it. I did not enjoy the small children crying in the theatre. But who does?
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