I don’t want to admit it as an avid Harry Potter fan, but I almost disliked Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince the first time I saw it! Part of the reason for this was that I absolutely LOVED the book. I LOVED IT!! For me, the experience of reading [...]]]>

By Staingirl Kaye

I don’t want to admit it as an avid Harry Potter fan, but I almost disliked Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince the first time I saw it! Part of the reason for this was that I absolutely LOVED the book. I LOVED IT!! For me, the experience of reading each new book in the series seemed to get better and better, each more thrilling than the one before. Yet I hardly felt any suspense at all while viewing this movie compared to watching the other Potter movies.

For instance, the revelation of Snape as the Half-Blood Prince was so feeble. That was such a big part of the complexity of the book yet it seemed to get lost for me in the movie. Hermione’s reaction to Harry’s success with the Half-Blood Prince’s Advanced Potions book was so great in the book version. In the book she was true to character, ethical and righteous every chance she got it seems, as her character has been cast on all the previous movies. I did not think she was given enough airtime on this subject to be true to character when compared to the other movies.

And what about the revelation that Snape was the one who told Voldemort about the prophecy. That was a HUGE revelation to me! Again, I felt Harry’s pain and hatred for Snape like never before. Yet this didn’t even make it into the movie.

Harry’s frustration over Dumbledore not listening to his urgent concerns about Malfoy was also almost negligent in the movie.

And there are many other such missing parts. I think I would have been satisfied if the thrill and character fix I was seeking had been met in at least parts of the plot. There seemed to be so much content, richness, and complexity left out of the movie, so much so that it lost almost all of the thrill of the story. I know the book was long, and maybe it would have been better to make two movies out of it like they are doing for the last book.

Because of this first reaction, I went to see the movie again. I did enjoy it more the second time, perhaps getting over some of my disappointment. I thought that most of the scenes were done well and I did feel the weight of enormous sadness at the end when Dumbledore died. But my original impressions hold.

Being an ardent fan, it WAS good to see all the beloved characters in again, even though I wish I could have experienced them more as I have come to know and love them. And of course, I will buy the DVD.