WARNING!!! SPOILERS!!!! What did you think of the new Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince movie?

** THIS ANSWER IS FILLED WITH SPOILERS BTW **

I liked it. I felt it was much more grown up and had much better humour. Draco did well, Slughorn was great and as always Luna is fantastic. I thought it stuck to the book quite well, except for the diner at the train station or whatever, the scene at the burrow, the fight at Hogwarts and the absence of Bill and Fleur. I’m not sure what this is going to mean for the next movies… I suppose because there was no Bill and Fleur perhaps the scene at the burrow is to replace the attack at the wedding… but I wonder what they’re going to do about Shell Cottage and all that happens there? Another thing I did notice the absence of was Dumbledore’s explanation of Voldemort hiding his Horcruxes in fancy valuable objects that mean something to him… there was no instructions as to what he should look for next (Hufflepuff’s cup and Ravenclaw’s whatever it was) so yeah, have to see how that goes. I did notice that Ron took a backseat in the whole triangle friendship thing, Harry and Hermione were a lot closer and even in the last scene he stood behind them as they watched the Phoenix, I think this must be setting up what comes in the next book, when he leaves them.
But apart from those things, yeah I did really enjoy it. Enough to see it twice in one day, anyway. I laughed, gasped and yes cried. Everything was just so much more heartwrenching knowing what happens in the seventh book, especially the whole Snape back story.

edit :: I also think Daniel Radcliffe is a much better actor when he’s not trying to be so serious, i.e. after taking the felix felicius potion.

Small changes like Tonks discovering Harry on the train, the two ministers, the entire Dursley family stuff, Ron’s failings at Quiddich, and the final battle at Hogwarts I can understand. Harry not being invisible and stunned at Dumbledore’s death, and Luna making Harry visible were big plot conflicts with the book. The ommission of many of the Riddle memories make finding the Horcrux’s very difficult.
All that said, I enjoyed the movie very much, but I feel bad for people not being able to follow parts that aren’t explained.

Oh yeah, I remember thinking that some people might be confused, like about Dumbledore’s hand. There was hardly an explanation there either. Oh and yes about Tonks, in the book her finding Harry was to show her love for Lupin right? Well though at the Burrow scene she did call him sweetheart, I’m also a bit wary of how that’s going to turn out. What happens with the Dursley’s again? and when does Luna make Harry visible? I just re-read the books but you’re gonna have to remind me.
They don’t seem to like developing the older Weasly brothers- there was not much about Percy in the 5th one and like I said no Bill in this one.
Also, where was Scrimgeur? Wasn’t he supposed to be trying to recruit Harry?

But yes, when not analyzing the movie or comparing it to the book, I thought it was great. I just hope that even with the changes they’ve made that they are able to convey J.K. Rowling’s crucial message and the point of the whole series.

Amazing beginning. Terrible, awful, sickening end. How the hell could they edit out the fight at the end?! AND WHERE WAS FLEUR?!

@shrubbery Hahaha, oh my god, Harry on Felix… could not stop laughing.

@smack, pretty sure the pincers bit was my favourite in the whole movie :P

The lovely thing about Jo’s books are that they are wonderfully complex. Too complex for a 2 and a half hour movie. Not only are things cut out, but the things that aren’t cut out have to be boiled down and simplified even further.
I wrote a pretty long post on my blog about the movie here, my blog, but here a few points:
1) Tom Felton did an amazing job as Draco and portraying the complexities of the character in the book.
2) There were a lot of quotes pulled directly from the books.
3) The fact that Snape is a good guy is made exceedingly more obvious in the movie than in the book. For example, Snape and Dumbledore’s little argument is way more prominent in the movie.
4) I don’t really see Bonnie Wright as Ginny. She’s doesn’t have that awesome spunk.
5) Drugged Ron is fabulous. Rupert has got the comedy down.

I definitely agree with @shrubbery, less Riddle memories makes the horcrux stuff harder for Harry. I also think the movies can survive without introducing Scrimgeur, maybe, they can pull it off I think. Both Bill and Charlie really haven’t been in the book. So, it will be interesting how the trio find their way to Shell Cottage. They’ve already filmed at “Shell Cottage” for Dobby’s funeral. One last thing, @shrubbery, it isn’t Luna who makes Harry uninvisible in the books.

As a side note: Dan said in an interview that Harry on Felix is much more similar to himself.

@aiwendil, as in when Luna discovers him on the train? I just got confused because @filmfann said Tonks discovering him on the train was a small difference but Luna making him visible was a conflict with the plot.

And yeah, I’ve seen a few interviews with Daniel Radcliffe, he’s a really funny, down to earth kind of guy. I’m glad he got to be more himself on the screen for once.

Tonks discovering Harry on the train being changed to Luna is small.
Luna making Harry visible by a spell injures the ablities of the Cloak.

Losing the Dursleys isn’t pivotal, but you miss the moment where Dumbledore tell’s Harry’s Aunt to “Remember my Last!”, and the epiphony that she has always known more than she has been saying.

If the books never existed, and these movies were all we had to go on, it was fantastic. I can’t compare the books to the movies, because they are not the same things. The things that were left out, meh. I don’t think the plot was ruined. Seeing as how the 7th book is being split up in two movies, I think much will be explained. But summary: this movie was awesome.

@filmfann, oh yeah I understand what you are saying now, the cloak is supposed to be impervious to spells as is explained in the seventh book. Got it. And yes I had forgotten about that Dursley bit, I just hope they keep in the bit where Dudley says he doesn’t think Harry is worthless or whatever it is he says. Love that bit.

@Les, I do agree with you, I still love this movie but it just makes me wonder what is going to happen because though they are awesome movies on their own I just so hope that they keep the whole point of the series in them.

Scenes I was really looking forward to seeing that weren’t in the movie:
* Dumbledore telling off Vernon and Petunia
* Dumbledore’s funeral
* Voldemort’s mother/uncle/grandfather scenes
* Voldemort requesting the DaDA job, and subsequently cursing it.
* The reveal that it was Snape who overheard Trelawny’s prophecy and told it to Voldemort
* Dobby & Kreacher being sent to follow Malfoy around.
* The battle of Hogwarts.

I guess none of those were really important to the overall story, but I seriously have no idea what they were thining by not having Dumbledore tell Harry his theory as to the remaining 3 horcruxes. How is Harry supposed to know in the next movie(s) he should be looking for the cup, the snake, and something belonging to Ravenclaw or Gryffindor?

The lack of Harry’s “I can’t be with you” scene to Ginny will also create a bit of a contradiction for the next movie, as they seem to have just gotten together and it’ll be more or less dropped. Though I suppose they could have that scene at the beginning of the 7th movie, before the Horcrux Hunt starts for real.

All things considered, it was a good movie. I still think it would be hard for anyone who hasn’t read the books to follow along and figure out who’s doing what why, but for those of us who have, it was very good.

I think it was a great movie. Yes, they change a lot of plot and have to loose yet more, but what makes a good book and what makes a good movie are different, and I commend them for being able to adapt such a complex series without changing more than they do, not to mention adapting such a popular series without making all the fans completely irate! :)

I’m hoping Dumbledore’s funeral is at the beginning of the next movie, seeing as it only has to cover the first half of Book 7. I think that’s quite likely, in fact – because how else is Harry to know where to find Dumbledore’s wand?

I wanna see it sooo bad!!!! Is it good?

@fireinthepriory : Agreed, I was a bit surprised they didn’t have Dumbledore’s funeral in the movie and hope it is the start of the next one.

Agree with the general consensus that the movie was good – but missing details from the book that couldn’t be packed into the already 2hr 33 min. long movie.

Also agree with others who’ve pointed out that without having read the books you might be missing key details.. as I have a couple of family members who haven’t read the books (have only seen the movies)..

My husband (who hasn’t read the books) was actually confused by the Fawke’s flying away in the last bit and I had to explain it was Dumbledore’s phoenix.

My younger daughter (who still hasn’t progressed past Sorceror’s Stone reading HP yet) was fully convinced that Snape is a baddy and a loyal Death Eater despite the movie’s clear foreshadowing otherwise…so perhaps it’s not as obvious as I thought it was—but again, I have the benefit of knowing how the story ends.

What surprised me most of all was that I cried when Dumbledore was killed in the film – even though I knew it was coming. Thought I got that out of my system back when I read the HBP years back…but still embarrassed myself sniffling and crying in a packed theater with the kids & hubs there to tease me about it afterwards. <sigh>

The part where the creatures in the lake where the Horcrux was hidden scared the crap out of me. And I knew it was coming!! I kept telling myself: “OK, music getting low, Harry’s going to get grabbed, be ready be ready…. OH SHIT!”

@MrItty To add to your list, I wished there was Crabbe/Goyle as girls.

@Les I know! I think most of the people in the theatre knew the inferi was coming, yet everyone jumped. Maybe because it was so loud?

@aiwendil the whole bit with Malfoy kinda disturbed me, actually. In the book, we don’t have a clue what he’s doing in the RoR until the very end. In fact, Harry spent a significant amount of time trying to get into it, or trying to make it become what it became for Malfoy. In the movie, we know from the outset what he’s trying to do. I like the “all from Harry’s perspective” point of view of the books more than the movie’s third-person omniscient. <shrug>

@MrItty Yeah, that’s the one thing about the movies, it’s not strictly from Harry’s perspective like in the book. And, that doesn’t make things less mysterious and fun, but, in my opinion, it makes the movies sort of hectic. In the book everything’s told from Harry’s point of view and in a way that makes the book more organized and simpler because you’re only getting one story. But with the movie, you’re just everywhere. My mom didn’t like that the Draco bits were given away so early either.

Thanks to everyone for posting thoughts so far—I’m taking my daughter to see the movie this weekend and have been trying to work myself up for NOT getting annoyed with the book/movie differences. Now that I know what they are, I won’t be sitting in the theater noticing every little thing. Who am I kidding, I’ll do it anyway. I just read all these answers because I can’t wait to see the movie!

Malfoy and Jim Broadbent (Slughorn) were both terrific! Malfoy actually became 3 dimensional!

There’s also a bit of a contradiction that I didn’t realize until after the fact. Malfoy tells Dumbledore that he used “That old Vanishing Cabinet in the Room of Requirement”. He had to say this instead of “That old Vanishing Cabinet that Crabbe got trapped in last year”, because in the movie, that didn’t happen. Regardless, Dumbledore seemed to know exactly what he was talking about. In the books, one of the horcruxes is hidden in the Room of Requirement, and the only reason Dumbledore never found it, having searched the school top to bottom, is that he didn’t know about the Room of Requirement. Now in the movies, it seems like Dumbledore did know about the Room of Requirement, but never bothered to look there for a Horcrux. In my mind, that makes Dumbledore a bit on the foolish side….

Dumbledore did know about the room.
In the second book, I think, he mentioned convieniently finding a room full of chamberpots at a critical moment. Obviously, it was the room.
And in the movie, you do get a look at said hidden horcrux sitting on top of the cabinet! Obviously it is there for those who read the book.

@filmfann yes, but he didn’t know what the room was. All he knew is that a bathroom was there when he needed it and never again. Harry figured out he was talking about the room 3 years later, but Dumbledore never knew that it was anything more than a disappearing bathroom.

I didn’t notice the diadem in the movie, and I was looking for it. I’ll have to look harder next viewing…

@MrItty- Dumbledore definitely knew about the room of requirement. It is in the 4th book that Dumbledore mentions it when he is speaking to Igor. He tells Igor that he wouldn’t assume to know all of Hogwarts’ secrets. But, I think Dumbledore is playing dumb, he knows what it is! He wouldn’t tell Igor what the room really was.

Also, it isn’t Crabbe who is trapped in the vanishing cabinet. I can’t remember for sure who it was, but I think it may have been Montague (Slytherin Chaser).

Well to tell you the truth…the whole Hermione and Ron thing just ruined it…I want Hermione Granger and Harry to be together! The proffesor was funny though. :)
And I like the whole Harry getting high with that potion….it was hilarious. i certaintly didn’t waste my $9.50… :)
oh and I forgot to mention that my huge crush was sitting two seats in front of me…he kept on looking my way…can’t wait for school to start! So…IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH GOING!
:)

@cyndihugs they don’t end up together in the books… Hermione/Ron and Harry/Ginny are the couples by the end of the series.

@aiwendil Read my response to @filmfann, and then go re-read the 7th book to find out why Dumbledore never found the diadem himself. Dumbldore definitely did NOT know all of Hogwarts’ secrets. In addition to the room of requirement, he also didn’t know about the Chamber of Secrets – the castle was searched several times, top to bottom, and no one but Tom Riddle and Harry were ever able to find it.

You are correct, however, about Montague.

Haha, after seeing it for the 3rd time in 3 days, I noticed that Crabbe only appeared in a couple of shots, and Goyle was completely absent. I remember hearing that the actor who played Goyle got arrested for dealing drugs or something along those lines, so I suppose that would be why!

It really wouldn’t be why, since his arrest happened recently, and the movie was completed about 2 years ago.

Well gee I’m sorry.

No need to apologize. Just informing you of the facts.

No need to be so rude about it.

He wasn’t rude. No need to be so sensitive about it.

@shrubbery What part of my post do you believe was rude? The part where I contradicted you? Well, gee, I’m sorry, but when someone says “2 + 2 = 5”, I don’t know how else to respond but “Actually, it equals four”.

Could you please re-write my answer in a way that you believe would be non-rude? I’m seriously very curious.

@MrItty- I read your response. I think maybe I’m reading too much into Dumbledore’s actions/words and all that. Even though Dumbledore says it was a bathroom and that he looked for it afterwards and couldn’t find it, I don’t necessarily think that it meant he didn’t know what it truly was. Think about book 5 and Dumbledore’s army. How could Dumbledore not know of its existence after the events of that book. Plus, I can’t imagine that the house elves would all know something about the castle that Dumbledore wouldn’t. I dunno, I’ve always just assumed Dumbledore knew…

On a side note, I just came home from watching the movie a second time with the rest of my family. Both Josh Herdman and Jamie Waylett are in the movie (that’s Goyle and Crabbe). I made sure to look especially for Goyle. I saw him at least 3 times, but the easiest part to spot him in is on the train. Both he and Crabbe are seated across the aisle from Draco and Pansy.

Ralph Finnes’ nephew played the child Tom Riddle. He was excellent in the brief time he had onscreen. The rest of the movie had its funny moments, Malfoy was great and the girl playing Lavender Brown was a scream, but overall, meh. Not as good as Prisoner of Azkaban.

@aiwendil And I can’t imagine Dumbledore would have set off on this massive quest to find the Horcruxes without bothering to search every room in Hogwarts, especially since he specifically said that he did. He didn’t know about the Chamber of Secrets. He didn’t know about the Room of Requirement.

I saw it this afternoon—laughed out loud quite a bit, got a little teary-eyed over Dumbledore, and enjoyed seeing my daughter’s reactions to the movies. As always, I was disappointed at many of the things left out. The other memories, for example, seem like an important thing to drop. Bill and Fluer’s engagement, a bit of information about Greyback (who was in the movie with no explanation of who he was), etc. I heard a couple of people leaving the theater say that the movie was boring. If I hadn’t read the book, I probably would have agreed with them. There wasn’t much action, but a lot of talking.

My daughter liked it, but since it’s been two years since she read the book (I re-read it recently), she didn’t seem to miss all the stuff that was, well, missing. We had a nice long talk on the ride home where I filled her in on the details. She said she is going to read the book again once the image of those inferi dragging Harry underwater has faded from her mind. :)

@MrItty: The house elves know about the RoR, so I’m pretty sure Ddore did, too.

@MacBean The books are absurdly explicit that House Elves are not simply “less than” wizards. House Elves have plenty of Magic that Wizards don’t (the ability to apparate into or out of Hogwarts, for example).

Regardless of that fact, you still need to explain my central point: If Dumbledore knew about the RoR, then WHY DIDN’T HE SEARCH IT FOR A HORCRUX?

@MrItty- Dumbledore was kind to the house elves he didn’t think himself superior to them. Most people didn’t know about the room, but Dumbledore is Dumbledore, he’s not most people.

Dumbledore really wasn’t certain about the horcruxes until sometime between the 5th and 6th books. So, it’s not like he had half his life to look frantically for the diadem, it was only a year. Plus, the RoR becomes many rooms. Would Dumbledore know which room to look for?

It’s like we all have selective hearing. @MacBean and I think that Dumbledore is too great a wizard to not have known about the room. @MrItty thinks Dumbledore is too great a wizard not to have searched the room. Oh dear. I think I’m going to try to see if I can submit this question to PotterCast for discussion.

@aiwendil He knew about the Horcruxes from at LEAST the 2nd year, when Harry brought him the diary. You’re thinking of the movies. And he SPECIFICALLY SAID he searched the whole castle, and couldn’t find any horcruxes there.

Personally, I’d love to hear a Cannon Conundrums on this. :-)

Yeah, he knew, well he suspected. If he knew for certain about everything he wouldn’t need Slughorn’s full memory. He didn’t begin actively searching until he looked for the ring.
I don’t remember the bit about searching the whole castle. Is that in the 6th book? I haven’t actually read the text in a while (just been listening to the audiobooks :D)
Do you know how I can submit questions to PC? They don’t really do a mailbag segment anymore.

@aiwendil No idea. I was hoping you did. I only listen to the podcast, I think I’ve only visited the site once or twice. :)

@MrItty- I’ll send some messages via Skype and maybe an email or 2. Hm, maybe YouTube. There are just too many places to find them now!

Um, I wasn’t trying to say that Ddore would’ve known about the RoR because he was better than the elves. The elves are awesome, and all up in everyone’s business, and I can’t imagine Ddore not asking them for a little help, in which case they would have TOLD him about it.

@MacBean… and yet, apparently, he didn’t. Because, one more time, he searched the castle but DID NOT SEARCH THE ROOM OF REQUIREMENT. I don’t know how much more clear I can make that.

A few clarifications: Dumbledore ACCIDENTLY stumbled across the Room of requirement late one night while searching for the bathroom, he was talking about it at the Yule Ball dinner in the 4th book. He also said the room vanished after that, but he would be on the look out for it. He didn’t know what it really was. He admitted himself that he didn’t know all the secrets of Hogwarts.
Tonks finds Harry under the invisibility cloak on the train, Luna isn’t involved at all. And I think that her finding him with her glasses does conflict with what we know about the cloak.
I also think that Dumbledore’s funeral will be at the begining of the next movie, or at least I really hope it is. There are crucial plot points that will be missed if they leave it out.
Overall it was a great movie. If you try not to compare it so much to the book. Yes, they took some liberties with the film, and took out some crucial parts (Dumbledore telling Harry is suspicions of what the other Horcruxes are) I think it will all come together in the end. There was humor, action, romance, and grief. It was very entertaining, and I think it was one of my favorite films so far.

@MrItty—If YOU had a room you thought only you and your house staff knew about, would YOU search it if you were trying to find something, or would you assume that would be a waste of time?

@macbean I wouldn’t underestimate the most powerful dark wizard of all time. You think Dumbledore would?

@MrItty: Yes.

@MacBean then we are most definitely at an impasse. :)

@MrItty: Then we shall agree to disagree. :) <tips hat to you>

Taking this in a slightly different direction. A couple of the casting decisions for the Harry Potter movies bother me. The girl who plays Hermione is a bit too pretty, IMO. On the other hand, the girl who plays Ginny Weasley is too plain and kind of boring. In the books, Ginny is supposed to be very pretty and popular with the boys. She’s spunky, holds her own against her brothers, and catches Slughorn’s attention with her ability to hex people. In the movie, she’s quiet and rather uninteresting. Harry’s interest in her seems to have no real base. We don’t get to see them becoming friends over the summer. After seeing the movie, I thought that anyone who hasn’t read the books would wonder why on Earth Harry suddenly has this thing for Ginny. The movie version of Ginny is just….boring!

@MissAusten While I agree with you that the movies omitted a lot of the build-up to Harry/Ginny, I think the movie-version of the attraction can be pretty easily explained by “He’s 16. Hormones are not logical.”

@MissAusten- It’s hard to judge the actor’s physical appearances, especially the ones who have been in the films from the start. Who knew Emma Watson would be such a beauty? She is very pretty though.
I agree with the Ginny bits though. In my first post I said Bonnie doesn’t “have that awesome spunk.” And I think part of it is the way the script it written. They try to give the proper personality to her (She has a wicked reducto, she got everyone to “shut it” at the quidditich tryouts, and her seductive little kiss in the RoR), but it just doesn’t come off right.

It also makes me laugh that Ginny is now taller than Harry.
Lurve out to everyone. Thanks.