WARNING SPOLIER ALERT.  THIS REVIEW CONTIANS SEVERAL SPOLIER ALERTS!!! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!

In the 6 days ‘Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince’ has been in theaters, I’ve seen it twice, and both times I still loved it!!!.

The movie as a whole was well done, a much needed improvement over Order of the Phoenix. I was also happy that Steve Knowles returned as the screenwriter for this movie, I definitely missed his touch from OtP (for those of you who don’t know Steve Knowles has been the only screenwriter for the HP films till OtP).

I was very excited to see how everything would play out on screen for this adaptation; HBP is my 2nd favorite of all the books.  There is so much in that book between setting up the love stories for the next book, bringing Draco Malfoy from annoying bully on the sidelines to full on supposed villain, and to the finale 10 minutes (last 200 or so pages in the book).  Plus all the little things in between all that made this movie so good.

First the love stories:

I was pleasantly happy with the Ron/Hermione love story setup, Emma & Rupert played it very well.  You just wanted to slap Ron and be like “Wake Up, she’s in love with you”, the seen in 3 Broomsticks where Hermione is staring longley at Ron, you kind of felt your heart tug for her!!!

The Harry/Ginny Storyline on the other hand was downplayed a little too much.  All the great Harry/Ginny scenes from the book with the exception of one were missing from movie.  Yes, there were little moments like the tying of Harry’s shoes, feeding him a pie, or following after Harry while he’s chasing down Bellatrix (I’ll get to that scene later), but the part I was looking forward to was Harry & Ginny kissing in front of Ron in the common room wasn’t there, all we got as a little peck type kiss in the Room of Requirement.

Tom Felton’s performance as Draco Malfoy:

Yes, Tom Felton has been playing Draco since 2001, but till this moment he has pretty much just been a spoiled brat bully content on making Harry’s life hell.  In this film, he has been chosen for something much bigger, and something that in fact he is just not capable of doing.  Draco is not “evil” in the way Voldemort or even Bellatrix (his aunt) are, he is just corrupted by the opinions of his parents.  His own mother knows that Draco has no chance of following through on what was asked of him.  “He is only a Boy” is what she tells Snape in his house.  In fact, in the book she makes the statement that Draco was chosen for this task as punishment for her Husband failing.

Felton’s performance of this Draco was exceptional, he play Draco as more drawn back, trying not to bring attention to himself.  The scene in the bathroom where he breaks down after seeing Katie Bell back in school, that was a great scene, seeing Draco so lonely and scared about failing his task.

Dumbledore’s Death:

Between the setup and execution of this in the book, it took about 200 pages.  In the movie it was about 10-15mins.  I was expecting maybe a little more setup from the movie, but at the end of the day, I thought that scene was done very well.  The slow of Dumbledore falling to the courtyard to when all the school holds up wands with lighted tips to drive away the Dark Mark, all done well.  In fact, it was when all the students banded together that the tears really came to my eyes.  Yes, I cried (both times), it was sad, and I’ll cry at the end of Deathly Hallows Part II as well.

I was a little disappointed that the big fight between the students and the Death Eaters wasn’t included, one can then only guess that since Bill Weasley wasn’t even in the film to get attached by the werewolf, his face will be fine in the next two movies!!!

Now the part I was most confused about was the burning down of the Burrow.  That was not in the book, and I have trouble understanding what the point of that was.  Was it just so we can see Harry still trying to avenge his Godfather’s death, or so we can see just how much Ginny is in love with Harry, after she does chasing after him with Death Eaters on their trail?  Like I said, that part just doesn’t make sense to me.

I think one of the best performances comes from Dan Radcliffe during which Harry is under the influence of the Felix Felicis (or liquid luck).  His facial expressions, the way he spoke, and the lines delivered were brilliance.

I also have to give it up to the 2 young Tom Riddle’s Hero Fiennes-Tiffin (TR age 11) and Frank Dillane (TR age 16) both delivered fantastic creepy performances. Also, yes Hero Fiennes-Tiffin is related to Ralph Fiennes (Voldemort), Hero is his nephew.

Overall, I would give this movie a solid A-, the good greatly out weighed the bad.  I’m sure I’ll see this several more times in the theaters!!!

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