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I am not a die hard Harry Potter fan, but I did read the Half Prince book and I saw the movie. I think the movie is rather weak....
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
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And they shouldn't be. They are two different art forms and why should a film be exactly like a book? A film cannot capture all that is in a book! It's totally impossible.
That's the problem with the first two films. They're boring as heck because there was nothing interesting in how they were adapted. I couldn't disagree more with Urban Sasquatch's post.
I still say the height of great adaptation was captured by Jackson for LOTR. Two distinct pieces of art that compliment each other.
The Potter films seem different than that -- for the most part, they just seem to exist to capitalize on the immense success of the books. That's not to say that all of them are poor (as I said above), but I don't think they can even compete with the books at all.
That's the problem with the first two films. They're boring as heck because there was nothing interesting in how they were adapted. I couldn't disagree more with Urban Sasquatch's post.
I still say the height of great adaptation was captured by Jackson for LOTR. Two distinct pieces of art that compliment each other.
The Potter films seem different than that -- for the most part, they just seem to exist to capitalize on the immense success of the books. That's not to say that all of them are poor (as I said above), but I don't think they can even compete with the books at all.
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Finally got a review typed up the second time:
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (David Yates, 2009)
Contains some spoilers throughout
Having seen the movie twice now, and reading the book last week, I think it’ll be a bit easier to do a review this time. I personally thought the book was really great, even if it didn’t seem to compare to the Deathly Hallows to me, but the movie wasn’t so. I guess as a movie alone, it was pretty good, but it’s weak as an adaption. Maybe 2009 just isn’t the year for book adaption’s, between this and Watchmen. Mentioning Watchmen actually, it reminds me a of similar gripe between the two movies, they both felt extremely rushed to me. This didn’t feel quite as rushed, except the ending, which I feel they pretty much completely butchered. I didn’t even really feel this was rushed the first time around seeing it, but I guess that it is what re-watches are for. My biggest complaint with the movie is not the fact that it was rushed though, rather than the fact that they focused entirely on the wrong thing. In the book, there is barely any focus on the relationships going on at Hogwarts. And frankly, there were just too many subtle changes from the book throughout the movie.
Before I get in too much about what I didn’t like about the movie, I may point out some of the things that I did like. The cinematography for one thing, which has just seems to be improving with each film that passes. The scene where Harry and Dumbledore are standing on the huge bolder before entering the cave with the Horocrux is a really amazing shot, probably the most stand-out of the movie for me. I particularly liked the score at that one shot, too, which I guess is saying something because the rest of the score was rather dull. I guess for a movie the story worked fine, but as I was saying before, it strays too far away from the source material. It was missing too many of my favorite scenes from the novel, most notably the ending. Okay, I can understand why they changed it, because it is very similar to the ending of Deathly Hallows. What happened to the other memory scenes that Dumbledore shows Harry from the book, though? Also, at least if they’re going to change the ending, there are still ways to make it good. The astronomy tower scene happens so fast that you’re left feeling unaffected by Dumbledore’s death. I would say the same thing about Snape’s betrayal, but after the ending of Deathly Hallows, you know that he didn’t really betray them.
Something other than the cinematography that has seemed to been improving throughout the series is the character. With each film the story just gets deeper into the characters, but still, that’s not saying there’s any acting Oscar-worthy. What I find very ironic though, is the fact that the best acting in the movie comes from an actor that doesn’t really show any emotion throughout the movie. Alan Rickman plays the character of Severus Snape perfectly, showing no emotion at all, yet still being comical at times. Not too comical to the fact that his character just gets ridiculous, though he’s still frightening at times. I won’t deny that he did much better in the previous installments of the Harry Potter series. I quite liked Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix as well; she’s truly psychotic and even if I didn’t like the ending that much, her acting really was shown in those particular moments. You could tell that she’s really messed up in the head and quite a bit crazy even.
As far as the other movies go, though, I’d probably rank this about tied with Goblet of Fire near the bottom half. Part of that blame I’m putting on Steve Kloves though, because he wrote all the films except Order of the Phoenix, and Order of the Phoenix just happens to be my favorite of the series. Though it’s been forever since I’ve read the book for Order of the Phoenix, so I have no idea how well of an adaption that is. Sadly he’s writing the final two movies, too, but I have more faith in him for those because they’re getting broke up into two different parts. Seeing as how long the book for Deathly Hallows is, I am completely behind the choice of them breaking it into two different parts. Yeah, maybe it is an attempt at more money, but at least fans of the book are benefitting from this decision as well. I guess if you haven’t seen it by now, you’re really not planning to, at least while it’s in theaters, but it’s still a surprisingly good summer blockbuster. I suspect that people that haven’t read the book will enjoy it a lot more than people have, especially people who have read it rather recently.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (David Yates, 2009)
Contains some spoilers throughout
Having seen the movie twice now, and reading the book last week, I think it’ll be a bit easier to do a review this time. I personally thought the book was really great, even if it didn’t seem to compare to the Deathly Hallows to me, but the movie wasn’t so. I guess as a movie alone, it was pretty good, but it’s weak as an adaption. Maybe 2009 just isn’t the year for book adaption’s, between this and Watchmen. Mentioning Watchmen actually, it reminds me a of similar gripe between the two movies, they both felt extremely rushed to me. This didn’t feel quite as rushed, except the ending, which I feel they pretty much completely butchered. I didn’t even really feel this was rushed the first time around seeing it, but I guess that it is what re-watches are for. My biggest complaint with the movie is not the fact that it was rushed though, rather than the fact that they focused entirely on the wrong thing. In the book, there is barely any focus on the relationships going on at Hogwarts. And frankly, there were just too many subtle changes from the book throughout the movie.
Before I get in too much about what I didn’t like about the movie, I may point out some of the things that I did like. The cinematography for one thing, which has just seems to be improving with each film that passes. The scene where Harry and Dumbledore are standing on the huge bolder before entering the cave with the Horocrux is a really amazing shot, probably the most stand-out of the movie for me. I particularly liked the score at that one shot, too, which I guess is saying something because the rest of the score was rather dull. I guess for a movie the story worked fine, but as I was saying before, it strays too far away from the source material. It was missing too many of my favorite scenes from the novel, most notably the ending. Okay, I can understand why they changed it, because it is very similar to the ending of Deathly Hallows. What happened to the other memory scenes that Dumbledore shows Harry from the book, though? Also, at least if they’re going to change the ending, there are still ways to make it good. The astronomy tower scene happens so fast that you’re left feeling unaffected by Dumbledore’s death. I would say the same thing about Snape’s betrayal, but after the ending of Deathly Hallows, you know that he didn’t really betray them.
Something other than the cinematography that has seemed to been improving throughout the series is the character. With each film the story just gets deeper into the characters, but still, that’s not saying there’s any acting Oscar-worthy. What I find very ironic though, is the fact that the best acting in the movie comes from an actor that doesn’t really show any emotion throughout the movie. Alan Rickman plays the character of Severus Snape perfectly, showing no emotion at all, yet still being comical at times. Not too comical to the fact that his character just gets ridiculous, though he’s still frightening at times. I won’t deny that he did much better in the previous installments of the Harry Potter series. I quite liked Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix as well; she’s truly psychotic and even if I didn’t like the ending that much, her acting really was shown in those particular moments. You could tell that she’s really messed up in the head and quite a bit crazy even.
As far as the other movies go, though, I’d probably rank this about tied with Goblet of Fire near the bottom half. Part of that blame I’m putting on Steve Kloves though, because he wrote all the films except Order of the Phoenix, and Order of the Phoenix just happens to be my favorite of the series. Though it’s been forever since I’ve read the book for Order of the Phoenix, so I have no idea how well of an adaption that is. Sadly he’s writing the final two movies, too, but I have more faith in him for those because they’re getting broke up into two different parts. Seeing as how long the book for Deathly Hallows is, I am completely behind the choice of them breaking it into two different parts. Yeah, maybe it is an attempt at more money, but at least fans of the book are benefitting from this decision as well. I guess if you haven’t seen it by now, you’re really not planning to, at least while it’s in theaters, but it’s still a surprisingly good summer blockbuster. I suspect that people that haven’t read the book will enjoy it a lot more than people have, especially people who have read it rather recently.
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Best Harry Potter yet.
Only problem is... are they really getting better? or am I just forgetting more and more each movie how much they left out from the books...
I suppose ignorance is bliss, eh? lol
Only problem is... are they really getting better? or am I just forgetting more and more each movie how much they left out from the books...
I suppose ignorance is bliss, eh? lol
My opinion on the latest Harry Potter film is generally positive. There were some incredible visuals that were just pleasing to the eyes especially in IMAX. I would put this in the middle of the Potter films, and they definitely tried adding a bit more humor in this movie which I was kind of nervous about and didn't know how this would work in a Potter film. It seemed alright, and the parts that were irritating to me were the whole love circle spiel. A few of the scenes were fine but it just kept dragging on when I was more interested in the other developing plots. The ending was not expected, for some reason, I thought there would be a lot more action in store for the audience. Though, I finally think Michael Gambon did a nice job as Dumbledore and we got to see a standing relationship between he and Harry. My absolute favorite scene was in the isolated cave, I think most of us can agree that was pretty spectacular effects especially the fire spell or whatever it is called.
For me, it is a step up from the previous two movies, but to be fair all of these movies are pretty good. I look forward to the next two movies, seems like the action is building for the final two.
I give this a grade of a B/B+ .
For me, it is a step up from the previous two movies, but to be fair all of these movies are pretty good. I look forward to the next two movies, seems like the action is building for the final two.
I give this a grade of a B/B+ .
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I just caught this and I have to admit... I was pretty impressed. Is the same guy doing the next two films? I hope so.
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You have to read the book to understand the film. Out of all six, Prisoner of Azkaban is by far the best. Order of the Phoenix is the worst. Half-Blood Prince was okay. It was good to a certain level but mostly disappointing esp. on the latter part. Some bits were taken off while some were added. The deed is done. All we can do is wait and hope for a BLAST in the final two films.
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I am one of the few who have yet to see the film yet but have the book read a few times. From the reviews of others offline and online. I am kind of mixed for knowing whether or not to know if it is good or bad. When I read the book the first and second time; I told myself that when the movie came out, there would be a definite change of Harry's power to the book. I found that in the books and as the books went on Harry's power increased as he taught himself not as the book just became Book # 4 or Book # 5 and so on, it moved as a story and a life. But as I saw the movies, it started to become just movies and as if the books didn't matter anymore. I think I am going to see the movie today but am I ready for it? Not in a lifetime, because I have a hardship feeling, I will know the tiny little changes and the way that the book was wrote and the book wasn't fully taken into consideration for producing it.
Will my kids like this one?
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