Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince [Blu-ray]

The magical world finally stands united now that the Dark Lord has made his presence known. Now no one is safe except for those to choose his side. Be it a wizard or muggle Voldemort has his sights set one finally completing his mission, but he must eliminate the chosen one. Harry Potter, is about to enter his sixth year at Hogwarts. This time, besides being closely watched over by the watchful and caring Albus Dumbledore Harry must face a new challenge, being a normal teenaged boy with his thoughts fixated on girls. Friendships and dating is swimming all throughout the corridors at Hogwarts and it's much more complicated than any Quidditch match. Still, Harry must stay focused because he can sense that there is a plot afoot to penetrate the walls of Hogwarts and turn the haven of wizarding youth into a spawning ground for Death Eaters. The questions that need to be answered are who is plotting it, whom are they after and who is working with them on the inside. There are many secrets revealed about Voldemorts past in this chapter, but most importantly this is the point in time when Harry Potter finally makes the choice on what he must do to finally take down his nemesis. There were many mixed reviews about this film, but as a fan who read this book when it was first released this was my favorite installment (Meaning it surpases 'Chamber of Secrets'). What grabbed me the most was this book made things a little lighter after two extremely dark novels. It was a much more human story showing that while there is a classic story of good versus evil in an imaginative world these young witches and wizards are still just ordinary teenagers with ordinary problems. Bringing David Yates back to direct this film was the best choice because in 'Order Of The Phoenix' he brought realism to the characters and deep development within themselves and with one another. Tackling love and heartbreak is a very hard thing to do in a Sci-Fi fantasy film, but Yates nailed it. The story was also very funny as the book was. The characters show fears in the areas on popularity or just manning up to tell a girl how he felt. Tom Felton who has played Draco was finally given a chance to show his acting potential. While there was minimal dialogue until the very end his body language showed true emotional that really worked the crowd. The fact that a boy who has always boasted about being a proud dark wizard can shed tears when he faces his true self was made so believable by Felton. I sure hope that once these films have concluded he is given a chance for more work and many stellar performances. If you agree with this review then like me this will be a Harry Potter film you will enjoy. We now look forward to the final chapter going Hoarcrux on us to bring us the entire final book page by page. It looks as though they want to do the finale correctly so expect nothing less than a PG-13 rating.

Once I get over all the things left out between the book and the movie (always a wrench), I can enjoy this movie a great deal. It's darker, although perhaps not darker than the Order of the Phoenix. It's also more involved with the personal lives of our main characters. Oddly, though, the kids have grown up so much that I can't be sure which ones are or are not being played by different actors. Not the main characters, certainly: but is Lavender Brown the same? Neville and Luna may or may not be: they are seen so briefly. Anyway, the basic story is that the Death Eaters are causing a lot of trouble, even in the muggle world, and Dumbledore seems to have a plan to fight back, although the nature of the fight takes some time to develop. Even for him. He has asked Horace Slughorn to come out of retirement and be the Potions master, while Severus Snape finally gets the position he has wanted all along: Defense Against the Dark Arts. Why? It turns out Tom Riddle was a favorite of Slughorn's when he was at Hogwarts, and Dumbledore is convinced he has vital information about Riddle. You see, Slughorn is a sort of name-dropping groupie of famous witches and wizards and their children. As Dumbledore puts it, he likes to "collect" names for his Slug Club. Of course he wants to collect Harry, and Dumbledore asks Harry to get close to him in the hopes of getting the necessary information. Dumbledore has a bottled memory of Slughorn talking to Tom Riddle, but it has been altered. (You know about the bottled memories; they are put into the pensieve in order to be experienced.) It is Harry's mission to get the truth from Slughorn. Harry succeeds. It turns out Slughorn told Riddle about horcruxes, very dark magic that allows a magician to divide part of his soul and hide it in an object. So if he is killed, it's just that body that dies; he can still recover the hidden part of his soul from the horcrux. Making just one is bad enough, but apparently Voldemort made seven of them. Potter destroyed one, Riddle's diary, in the Chamber of Secrets. Dumbledore found and destroyed a ring which had been in the family of Riddle's mother for some time, and it blackened his hand in the process. Now he believes he knows where another is hidden: in a cave by the ocean where he takes Harry with him, first extracting a promise from Harry that he will do as Dumbledore asks, no matter what. Harry promises, but it turns out to be pretty horrible to live up to. And even more horrible is what they confront when they return to Hogwarts. I've told you too much already, especially if you haven't read the books. But believe me, there's a great deal more. For example, just what is Draco Malfoy up to?

Good movie

Ahhhhh

When our grandkids started reading the Harry Potter books I became concerned but put it off and off. I had found the Hobbit to be dumb until I reread it two more times and finally understood where that author was coming from....that only a Hobbit could turn away from temptation. Then I endured the entire violent Rings thing. Well. Okay. Then I read about this woman who has hard times and writes this stuff about this ordinary boy. Boy. Ordinary. So any kid can identify with him. Hmmm. Then I read the books. Then my husband read the books. Then we read the books aloud to each other...AGAIN! and AGAIN. How could anyone create this stuff, even if it did seem as though we had read most of the things in someone else's writing first. And tears "leaking from his eyes" repeatedly used....not artful But, oh, my gosh, how exquisite, how gripping. And then out come the movies with these precious kids and these superb adult actors that we often later see in something like Stephen Sondheim's later version of Sweeney Todd: The Demon of Fleet Street. What talent. What direction. The only criticism would be that the later movies do not have directors insisting on slowing down the kids' dialogues as well as the first two did. The color, the creativity, the story, the acting, the people. UNFORGETTABLE. Everyone ought to get past the "witch and wizard" thing and thinks about platform nine and three-auarters! What a marvel. And we woulda missed it if we had been stuffy old people. Shame, it would have been. Thank you, all involved and especially Jo Ann Rowling. You deserve every shilling you got! nancy and john morse

Good movie

I got this as a replacement for a DVD copy I loaned and didn't get back. I love the whole series, but this one is my favorite. I got the blu ray version this time and I can tell a subtle difference. I do have to turn the sound up more than is usual, but otherwise I'm happy with it.

great movie for kids entertainment

Está genial y tiene acontecimientos muy importantes sobre los personaje, y la muerte de alguien muy importante

Girls, Quidditch and a mysterious potion book distract Harry Potter (Radcliffe) from the dangerous events outside Hogwarts whilst Dumbledore sets him a difficult task. After the controversial switch from last November to this Summer the sixth instalment to the best selling book series of all time is finally here and, you may have heard this before, it is bigger and better than its predecessor. At the end of book 5 the Ministry had come to terms with Voldermort's return and so the beginning of The Half Blood Prince, the novel, showed a meeting between the Prime minister and The Minister for Magic. Oddly left out here and so we are treated to a dramatic collapsing bridge and Death Eaters destroying everything in sight. But this has the best opening of them all with a slowly played flashback of Dumbledore taking Harry's arm after the previous events at the Ministry. It sets the perfect tone for the mood of the picture. An underline sense of sadness but with hope. As with all Potter films, there are plenty of elements missing and new parts included. The beginning is equally fun to observe as a waitress chats Harry up but there are no Dursleys again. The Christmas period has a new element of a Burrow attack but no Minister Potter argument. The ending showdown with Malfoy and the Headmaster is changed quite dramatically also. When reading these fantastic books we dive into our own imagination and inevitably the film impairs that vision and we can agree or disagree. So when the final dramatic changes in the Astronomy Tower take place, I personally felt a minor twinge of annoyance. The big structure in the middle hinders the showdown quality, with the crucial spell not as quick as the book played. But it is tricky to really fault this film on anything else because it is blissful enjoyment. The book is darker but this is oddly funny. There are funny relationship scenarios with Rupert Grint on perfect comedy form and finally getting some limelight off Radcliffe. The central star has some equal comic influence, particularly the scene with the lucky potion. The star of this film is probably Grint as it is so grateful to see him more frequently than any other film. But plaudits must surely go to Jim Broadbent who has made Slughorn his own with a stumbling and curious personality that generates comedy and tension at the same time. The plot is well adapted with all crucial elements added. The whole memory/pensive subplot takes a back seat as we learn little of Riddle's true past but the book, the Malfoy scenario and the teenage social aspects get a full thorough working. The teen stars have never been better and this, like we seem to say every year, is the best Potter so far. 9/10

I do wish people would stop comparing films with books. When you read a book it is your own imagination that constructs the scenes. Obviously a film is one person's (or a relatively small group of people) interpretation, so it is never going to match what you may have constructed in your own mind. I think you should take the film separately from the book. Yes it is the same story but ever since books have been made into films people have made these comparisons. Utterly pointless. Filmakers have to compile the story into a fixed timeframe, something the book does not need to do. They therefore may have to omit things that are not crucial to following the story. I think in the case of this film series, they have done a good job. It is a brilliant entertaining film, as have all the others been. Well cast, well acted, well produced and well directed. Of course everyone is entitled to an opinion, but to call a film of this caliber 'embarrassing or awful' says more about the reviewers lack of intelligence and adaptability than the film itself. Of course you're welcome to prove to me and the rest of the world that you can do it better.... A book is a book and a film is a film. Like comparing cars & motorcyles, both do the same thing but in totaly different ways.

Once again the team behind the Potter series has pulled out all the stops to make a corking film. Everyone has matured into their roles and there is an easy-going feel to relationships and friendships. Which is no more than you'd expect after all this time. The burgeoning romance between Harry and Ginny is subtly directed and looks promising. Though a much darker film than the others it is not without humour and warmth. It is a film that is paving the way for a big finale and makes you keen for the next episode. The most interesting character is always Snape. You may not see a lot of him but he is always there in the background and you are never sure whose side he is playing for; or maybe he is playing for both. Malfoy too comes into his own and from being a sort of cowardly school bully he has turned into a tormented soul that you end up feeling quite sorry for. I was a little worried, having read some of the reviews, that the film would not be up to its usual standards but there proves to be no concerns on that score. It may help that I have only read a few of the books so I don't need to worry about certain bits being 'put in' or 'missed out'. I feel the books should be judged as one part and the films should be judged as another. Accordingly I think they are all moving along nicely and I can't wait for the final outcome.

I am reviewing this film after seeing it at the cinema on Friday and not after seeing the DVD (which is obviously not out yet!). I think that if you saw the film without reading the book you would probably enjoy it more, although I think it would have been important to have seen the five previous films to understand the plot. First to the negatives points, which were few. I hate to critisize anything Potteresque but I do think that if you are going to adapt such a great book for the screen, you should only omit scenes/characters that are not important to the plot. Also, any changes to the plot should be for the better. Personally, I did not much like the scene with Harry and the girl in the station cafe. It meant omitting the wonderful scene at the Dursleys where Dumbledore appears and tells them exactly what he thinks of them. I wanted to see the goblet of mead tapping Uncle Vernon on the head while he tries unsuccesfully to ignore it! I also thought it strange that, immediately after the Burrow burns down, the next scene show Ron smooching and laughing with Lavender Brown as if nothing had happened. I know time was restricted but I felt there should have been more 'memories' of Voldemort. The one where we met his grandfather and his bedraggled and put-upon mother should have been included and especially the one where the Dark Lord approaches Dumbledore for the Post of DADA professor. His appearance has alredy altered, leading Dumbledore to suspect that his dabbling in the Dark Arts has already gone further than any wizard before him. However, now to what WAS included in the film. I thought the acting by all the principal characters was excellent, especially the now very suspicious and troubled Harry. The scenes with Ginny which showed their growing awareness and understanding of each other were very subtle and touching. Rupert Grint gave an excellent comic performance of the love-sick Ron Weasly and Emma Watson as Hermione, usually so composed and sure of herself was fabulous as the jealous 'gooseberry'. Newcommer Jim Broadbent made a wonderful Slughorn, showing us his conflicted emotions. On the one hand, he wants to live in peace and comfort but struggles with the guilt of once giving out too much information. He wants to make amends but believes he is a coward. I must also give a mention to Hero Tiffin Fiennes whose young Tom Riddle was chilling. How a boy, so sweet and appealing could convey so much menace was quite incredible. I loved the opening slow-motion sequence of the film, the immediate aftermath of the battle at the Ministry of Magic, where Dumbledore puts an arm around Harry and tries to shield him from the flashbulbs of the press and the publicity as this sets the tone for the film. Having ignored Harry in year Five for fear that Voldemort was controlling him, Dumbledore knows Harry has earned his right to be more involved. And involved he is. The scene in the Cave is stunning and was truly frightening. Harry shows strength of character and Dumbledore again shows why he is thought to be such a great wizard and the only one Voldemort truely fears. Overall, despite some minor reservations, I can thoroughly recommend this film. It kept my family enthralled for the 2 hours+ that it ran and it also sets the scene perfectly for the penultimate and last films in the saga. I can hardly wait!!!