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Title: Harry Potter and the Half-Blooded Prince
Release Date: July 15, 2009
Company: Warner Bros.
Rating: “PG”
Length: 153 min (2 hours, 33 minutes)
Pros: All of the actors provide wonderful portrayals of their respective characters. The music is fantastic. The environments look beautiful. It does a decent job of condensing a 650+ novel into a two and a half hour movie. There’s some interesting symbolism if you look for it.
Cons: Scenes that aren’t supposed to be funny, are. The Half-Blooded Prince plot takes a backseat to Harry’s talks with Slughorn, Harry’s adventures with Dumbledore and even Ron’s romance with Lavender. Quite a few plot elements are eliminated due to time constraints.
Overall Score: Two thumbs up, 95/100, A, * * * * 1/2

This has been a big week for Harry Potter fans. The sixth movie in the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blooded Prince has just been released in theaters. Once again, Steve Kloves is responsible for the screenplay, and the director is David Yates, who also directed Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and is directing both parts of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. While the movie doesn’t capture all of the moments of the Harry Potter and the Half-Blooded Prince novel, it does a adequate job conveying the overall spirit and crucial portions.

Harry Potter enters his sixth year at Hogwarts.

It’s a dark time in the wizarding world. Everyone now knows that Voldemort has been resurrected, the Death Eaters are starting to wage terrorist-like attacks and a war is finally beginning. No place seems safe anymore, though Dumbledore and the staff of Hogwarts are doing their best to provide a safe learning environment.

Harry’s role in this latest movie isn’t so much a student, though he does still attend classes, play Quidditch and even fall in love. Instead, he’s an agent for Dumbledore. He no longer gets accidentally pulled into situations involving the Dark Lord. He’s now an active participant, looking to do what he can to help stop Voldemort and his minions and aid the Order of the Phoenix.

That doesn’t mean the whole movie has a dark and morbid tone though. The young wizards’ hormones are raging and their first experiences with romance are portrayed with endearing and humorous results.

Elements of the Half-Blooded Prince book you won’t find in the movie

• Severus Snape’s past.
• The very important closing funeral.
• Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour’s storyline.
• Harry and Cho’s brief relationship.
• The appearance of the Order of the Phoenix and DA at the end.
• Buckbeak, Kreacher and Dobby don’t appear.
• Rufus Scrimgeour, the new Minister of Magic, doesn’t appear.
• There’s no mention of Harry inheriting Sirius Black’s possessions.
• No mention of Ron and Hermoine becoming Prefects.
• Order of the Phoenix members aren’t at Hogwarts.
• Ron, Harry and Hermoine never attend apparation classes.
• Harry never has detention with Snape.

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Prepare to see only the most pertinent moments brought to life

There’s one thing that bothered me about the movie interpretation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blooded Prince, and that’s the fact that the search for the Half-Blooded Prince aspect seems somewhat tacked on. A better name for the movie would have been Harry Potter and the Slimey Slughorn or The Adventures of Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore. True, those are important parts of the novel and movie, but there is very little mention of the part for which the book and movie are actually named.
Aside from that, there’s little to find fault with in the movie. The backgrounds, characterizations, lighting and music are near perfect. Daniel Radcliffe, Helena Bonham Carter and Alan Rickman all deliver the wonderful performances we’ve come to expect from them. Michael Gambon also shines in this entry, delivering what may be his best performance as Albus Dumbledore yet. Newcomers Jim Broadbent and Jessie Cave as Professor Horace Slughorn and Lavender Brown also provide wonderful portrayals.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blooded Prince also offers another first for the movie adaptations, a series of brief vignettes showing Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) as he goes about a mysterious mission for Voldemort. These scenes typically have little or no dialogue, but do a wonderful job of conveying his emotions and motivations.

Overall, fans of the series will be pleased with Harry Potter and the Half-Blooded Prince

The movie adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blooded Prince may not be perfect, but it’s a decent portrayal of the events of the sixth book in the series. After all, as the series goes on and the books get longer and longer, certain cuts and alterations will have to be made. Everything may not be there, but the basic story and message does shine through. That’s the important thing. Personally, I think that Bill and Fleur’s brief storyline could have been at least hinted at or briefly mentioned and that the exclusion of the final funeral was a mistake, but overall I was satisfied with the film.

There are two things worth noting. First, this is not a movie for young children. Please do not bring babies or kids under the age of five to the theater to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blooded Prince. It won’t end well. One scene in particular caused two children in that age group (both of whom were sitting directly behind me) to let out blood curdling screams. Second, don’t take the endeavor too seriously. There are a number of moments which, while designed to be mature/realistic/serious business, end up being unintentionally funny.

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