Great Expectations: A Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Movie Review

At this point, I feel like most hardcore HP fans have already seen the movie but if you haven’t, there are spoilers in this review and you have been warned.

I’ve been a fan of HP since my apt-mate in college lent me the first 3 books and I polished it off in 3 days. I’ve gone to midnight releases and read all of the books multiple times since then. However, re-reading the book before a movie is not a good idea because you end up making point-by-point comparisons and this doesn’t help you enjoy the movie. I learned this after Goblet of Fire, but I forgot about that because it's been 2 whole years since Order of the Phoenix and even longer since I read HBP.

That being said, I know I’m biased because of my love of the books, but I’ve never been truly disappointed in a HP movie. I loved Prisoner of Azkaban and they did an amazing job on 4 and 5 by editing out extraneous things like S.P.E.W., tons of Quidditch (though I would’ve loved to see more Oliver Wood), and angsty Harry-Cho drama. I felt like the director, writers and studio were doing a bang up job until this last film. I don’t want to be longwinded, so here are my 4 main problems:

1) Background/Storyline: WTH happened to all the background info on Voldy? No information about his mother and Tom Riddle Sr., how he ended up in the orphanage, what the significance of the necklace is or what happened to Dumbledore’s hand. No flashback to older Voldy asking for job at Hogwarts or explanations about his behavior and his motivations behind his actions. No instructions from Dumbledore to tell NO ONE what they are looking for even if he dies - that's why he has to go it alone with Ron and Hermione in Deathly Hallows. These are all important for Harry to know in order to move forward and quite frankly, these were the most interesting parts of the book.

2) Ginny: OK so you want to focus on the romance instead of Horcruxes – fine, go ahead but do it right. In the book, Harry and Ginny come together in this climactic-celebratory moment in front of everyone – finally, admitting what they (and Hermione) already knew was brewing for the past few months. Instead they had creepy shoelace tying and one ridiculous kiss in the room of requirement. Him and Cho had more excitement happening. Harry and Ginny never actually become a couple – no snogging in the halls and confiding in each other. LAME.

3) Dumbledore: I hate Michael Gambon’s half-assed Dumbledore impersonation, but I thought he was getting a little better just in time for me to feel sad he died. I didn’t feel anything when he died. He never really has a deep connection with Harry even though they probably spend the most time together in this movie. No emotion and no connection to the students. Also the death scene was an abomination – he should’ve never fell to his death and the students shouldn’t have gathered around him afterwards. Hagrid was supposed to be inconsolable, people were in denial and Harry was an emotional wreck.

4) Ending: Why would you cut out one of the best fight scenes in the HP series? Dumbledore’s army was supposed to band together with the teachers and hold off the Death Eaters. Malfoy was supposed to slide past when everyone was distracted and Harry was supposed to be frozen before Dumbledore was disarmed. When Harry finally unfreezes himself and chases after Snape there’s supposed to be massive chaos – Lupin, Tonks, McGonagall fighting while Ginny and Neville and others were helping best they could. Harry’s confrontation with Snape should’ve been an all out screaming match with things exploding and people firing all around. What we got was lukewarm and the most anticlimactic ending I’ve ever seen. I didn’t even feel like there was impending danger coming after Dumbledore’s death – just a couple of friends chatting it up on the clock tower. Dumbledore’s powerful wand sits lamely on his desk.

Most Importantly: No Funeral = Massive FAIL.

Pros: The movie was amazingly beautiful and visually stunning. It started off wonderfully and didn’t have the generic Dursley scene thank god. Alan Rickman is a genius and stole more than one scene (his face during the hospital scene with Ron was brilliant). Jim Broadbent was perfect as Slughorn and Tom Felton was every bit as tortured as his character Draco ought to be. Daniel Radcliffe equally impressed me with his casual goofiness, newfound confidence and growing intensity – he really should’ve been allowed a bit more fight in the end. Ron and Hermione have a lot more depth and personality – Cormac, Luna, Lavender and supporting cast rocked.

Hopes: Maybe they’ll go over the Horcruxes in the next movie – they could reveal it in a series of flashbacks or Dumbledore’s stored memories. Maybe they’ll begin the movie with Harry and Ginny attending Dumbledore’s funeral. Maybe it won’t suck like HBP...