Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Note: This review assumes you've either read the book or seen the movie; contains spoilers.

Harry Potter is all grown up and the girls like him for it. Half-Blood Prince, the sixth movie/book of the series, focuses on a more mature Harry and friends Ron (who looks like he's been lifting weights) and Hermione (charmingly attractive). The petulant teenager from Order of the Phoenix is gone, and a more goal-oriented Harry is in his place, listening to his mentor Albus Dumbledore with increasing clarity.

The book focuses thoroughly on the sixth year of school - potions classes, Quidditch matches, and most importantly, hormones. Teenagers are goopily in love throughout the entire book, and the movie has seen fit to milk this for all its worth. Hermione fends off the arrogant Cormac MacLeggen and moons at Ron with far more ardor than is ever displayed in the book; Ron snogs Lavender Brown with just as much enthusiasm as in the pages. Also clear to us is Harry's crush on Ginny, Ron's kid sister, again touted much more heavily in the film than the book, sometimes to awkward effect. This probably pleases the teen audience, but when they finally do kiss it lacks the surprise and emotion of the printed moment, as well as Ron's reaction, which I was looking forward to.

The movie does make significant changes from the book in ways that didn't make a lot of sense. I get that it doesn't work to have Harry running around under the invisibility cloak much in the film - because obviously you can't see him - but his inaction in the final action sequence (you know the one) comes across as much more cowardly than had he been frozen with the Petrificus Totalus spell under his cloak, unseen to anyone and unable to move.

Voldemort is a menacing background presence but it's the Death Eaters who are front and center - Severus Snape, Bellatrix LeStrange, Fenrir Greyback, who is never fully introduced in the movie. You have to know who he is to understand his role. We are also denied the final battle at the base of the astronomy tower. Bill and LeFleur don't make any appearances, but we are treated to a scene or two not in the book, including at the Burrow - a move I'm not quite sure I understand the need for. We don't get the funeral, which I was also looking forward to, nor Harry's speech to Ginny at the end, which I think is an important one. It shows where Harry has chosen to go in the seventh book and why he's chosen the path that aims to spare her and the other people he loves from harm. I would have included that speech, however heartbreaking, because of its impact. He gives a small snippet of something similar to Hermione.

One thing the movie does is make sure the same students come back to play familiar roles. I was pleased to see Neville, Seamus, Crabbe and Goyle among the familiar faces, Neville especially having grown exceedingly tall and looking quite grown up. It's too bad they couldn't give these guys more lines but it's nice to see them all the same. Nice, too, to see in limited roles Tonks and Lupin; however, some of Tonks' scenes are given to Luna Lovegood (ditzy as usual) which made very little sense. Even though I rather like that dipsy Luna and her spectrespecs, I would have preferred sticking to the book.

That's not to say this is a bad movie, only that I made what could be considered a mistake for reading the book just before seeing the movie. In fact, many lines, especially early on, come straight from the book, which is refreshingly fun. I also think that not having read the books leaves you at a bit of a disadvantage. You're missing the supporting characters (for example, you don't know what a full prat Cormac is, you only get a hint of it) and some of the subtext (Ron threatening to kill for snogging his sister, unaware his best friend wants to do exactly that but would choose his best mate anyday). You miss the real struggle Harry underwent to get the memory from Slughorn or how he continued to excel at potions thanks to his potions book. Still, they can't do everything. Even at 2 1/2 hours or so the movie moves quickly and there's barely a still moment, especially if you know what's coming up. And as usual the visuals are stunning - a ring of fire has never looked so incredibly grand and powerful and awe-inspiring. And I still nurse a strong crush on Hogwarts itself - its Gothic arches, its dark passageways, and the touches of magic that make it so alive and unique.

Jim Broadbent does an admirable job at Horace Slughorn, who I had pictured as fatter and with a large blonde mustache - but the crystallized pineapple, which sounds delicious, does make an appearance. Then again, when does Jim Broadbent give a bad performance? Alan Rickman continues to bite off the ends of his words with a crisp relish, and Tom Felton as Malfoy (again, all grown up) gets a lot to do in this film. Knowing how his arc turns out enriches this movie, I think and his performance in it. I hope after this he gets to do some roles where he smiles instead of sneers. He'll have the girls falling all over him too, not just Pansy Parkinson.

Animals: A small bird dies.

Overall: I freely admit I need to see this one again, not immediately after having read the book. I was waiting for what I knew was coming, not settling down to enjoy it as it ran. I give it an initial 3/12 roses out of five for what it cut from the book. A second viewing will likely improve that rating.