The Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Film: In Review by: Tyler Smith The release of the sixth installment of the Harry Potter films was obviously the cause of much speculation, anticipation, and, for some, such as myself, anxiety. Because of my disappointment with the Order of the Phoenix film, I was worried that, because there were few changes to the members of the production team, I would feel the same way about Half-Blood Prince, but I did not. I enjoyed myself very much during the showing of the film, and found the small bits of comedy sprinkled throughout to be a fantastic piece of relief to those many tense moments in the film. Whether or not the viewers thought the various changes made in the transition from page to screen were necessary, most found them to be entertaining for the most part and not too derivative from the plot. In my opinion, Warner Brothers did a great job with this film and the delay was definitely worth it. For those fans of the series who go insane whenever their favorite scene is not included in the movie, I predict they will be the ones who will not care for this movie. Not to say that the changes Warner Brothers made in the film changed the outcome of the story whatsoever, but the changes they made were definitely noticeable to the dedicated fan. For example, at the beginning of the film, Dumbledore comes to retrieve Harry at a subway station rather than at the Dursley residence. While this change was definitely very different from the book, it did not affect the overall outcome. On the other hand, there were some changes from the book that didn’t make much sense at all. During the Astronomy Tower scene, while Harry is under the floor, Snape sees him and shushes him, which completely gives away the ambiguity of whether Snape is overtly good or evil. Overall, while the changes were arguably unnecessary, they should not upset fans too much and does not affect the plot very much. One aspect of the film that was highly stressed in television commercials and in exclusive clips sent to the many fan sites was comedy. In the reviews presented after the release, it was often found that the somewhat light feel of certain scenes either upset the film viewer or made the experience that much richer. During the period after the delay, Warner Brothers, it seemed, had a never-ending supply of clips to send to the fan sites, and, to the Harry Potter fan, the general feeling was not uncommon that the comedy seemed very corny. It was very clear after seeing the film that the fans could be considered hasty when having that opinion. I, during the showing, often found myself laughing hysterically at the jokes added during the absolute perfect moments. Overall, the comedy in the film only improved the film for film enthusiasts and fans alike. Though I enjoyed other aspects of the film immensely, I must admit that I share the common feeling that the acting really was what made the film fantastic. I’m sure that most fans will agree that the two break-through actors in this film were Tom Felton and Jim Broadbent. I, similar to many fans, was worried when the announcement came that Jim Broadbent had been cast as Professor Horace Slughorn, only because he did not match my perception of the character at all. It is clear to me that both Felton and Broadbent studied and understood their respective characters and the role they played in the film. Lastly, on the subject of great acting, I would like to compliment Michael Gambon on his accurate portrayal of Dumbledore; I believe he actually took interest in his job this time around. It’s naive for critics of the film to believe that this was not an accurate portrayal of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. One complaint about the film I’ve heard from someone very close to me, who hasn’t read the books, was: “There was no action in this movie.” What I tried to explain to this individual and those who have similar comments to offer is: this story’s main aspect was not action, unlike other movies. The reason why this story was my favorite book and, indeed, one of my favorite movies is it includes a variety of focuses including, but not limited to: romance, comedy, and for those who it’s important to, action. If I had to give this film a rating on a scale of one to ten, I would give it a nine, only because, I believe, the one big flaw was pacing. In closing, I highly recommend this movie to anyone and everyone who is interested.

Half-Blood Prince Review by Kelsi I thought the movie was truly excellent. It was a bit, for lack of a better word, sketchy at some points, but I really enjoyed it. Out of five stars? I give it a 9.8.

Half-Blood Prince Review by Christina Shock, which would be the way to describe how I still feel right now. This movie was one that I was waiting and waiting for and finally has arrived. Now, that it has I’m still not sure if I saw the same movie as everyone else. Everyone has been saying that the movie is awesome, amazing, or a great movie. I can’t say any of those can describe how I feel right now about the movie. If you were to ask my friends how I reacted after the movies they would have told you that I was having a panic attack. I was freaking out that I didn’t actually like the movie and how much it was different than what I was expecting. Overtime through being a fan of the series and the movies, I’ve felt that I’ve have learned to deal with disappointments in the movies and know that they can’t do everything like the book. Right now, all of that was thrown out the window. I have to mention first that this was my favorite book of all seven books. So that’s one of the many things I think possibly affected how I viewed the movie. Two other ones would be watching it late at night and working for Accio-Potter. I don’t think that working at the site exactly affected it but I’m sure I was more excited being around so many on staff that was excited and I was more curious to see previews and clips that could easily spoil the movie for me. I have this feeling I was really spoiled of the movie, on my own accord for my curiosity. I guess the first thing I have to mention about this movie would be how weird it felt for me. I knew some, a lot, of the clips already but it felt like it didn’t flow like it should. All the other movies had some kind of flow to them and this felt very choppy. Some of the scenes where really great but when they were put together it just didn’t seem to work. It’s hard to explain next to the feeling that they filmed all those scenes and last minute on their computers tried to put it all together and edit it. Also the movie was nothing like the book, okay maybe that’s a bit extreme but it’s almost there. It had the ideas of what the book was about but it was written in a way that some things weren’t right at all. Like some of the relationships, one of my favorite things from the book, weren’t the way that they should have been portrayed. Ron and Lavender’s relationship was the only one that felt really close to the book. Then maybe Ron and Hermione’s were kind of similar but not the same. Lastly would be Harry and Ginny, I liked their moments but they just didn’t work at all. Ginny isn’t shown to Harry as being stronger and more outgoing. I feel her development through out the series of movies wasn’t done and it didn’t help this movie at all. Her character wasn’t really developed that much in this movie. It was nice seeing both Harry and Ginny together in those sweet moments but they weren’t the same characters I had grown to love. Some of the great character portrayals were from the “bad guys.” For I think Draco, Snape, Bellatrix, and Narcissa did their best to portray their characters most like the book. The only one that wasn’t a bad guy that had a great portrayal would be Professor Dumbledore. For once he was exactly how I pictured him in the books. He had his funny quirky, sometimes serious, sweet professor that I grew to love in the series. I think the rest did well with what they had as a script, because it’s the script I believe that made me unhappy after seeing the movie. I think I kind of liked now Harry’s personality under the Felix Felicis potion because it brought a different side of Harry that never really gets shown which is exactly what the potion was suppose to do bring out his hidden confidence to help him reach his goal. I feel the length of the film was good and the new added scenes were okay to make the movie how they wanted to show it. I partly liked some of the added scenes and some not really. I think the attack at the Burrow was done quite well compared to the scene where Harry is at some coffee shop before he meets Dumbledore. I really enjoyed how the scenery and the sets were magnificent and had the feeling of the books. My favorite part of the movie, I think would be the end mostly because it felt as close as the book as it could have been. That was where I felt the best was done in the movie as well, acting, graphics and scenes. My least favorite part, sadly, was all the comedy in the beginning. It just didn’t feel right to me in those scenes. The romance though the first part of the movie I kind of liked it because it was similar to the book but it doesn’t hold up to my expectations. The action at the end and Harry and Dumbledore’s did hold up to my expectations. I think another last thing that was my favorite, was the soundtrack of the movie. I enjoyed soundtrack tremendously. I felt the soundtrack was more loyal to the book than the movie was which is kind of shocking to me. The music gave me the feeling of understanding of each scene in the movie. It added a bit of greatest to each scene it was being heard in. I just didn’t understand why they didn’t add ‘Wizard Wheezes’ during the scene of Fred and George’s joke shop. I think it would have been possible to add it with the ‘Fireworks’ theme from the last movie. We are able to notice, or at least I did, some similarities from the last soundtrack to this one. It was kind of nice having the same music composer because it gave a familiarity to the soundtrack. I think this soundtrack might actually be better than Order of the Phoenix. Nicholas Hooper did a great job on each song to have originality and the feeling of ‘Harry Potter’ flowing through it. Ginny’s Theme was quiet good and I enjoyed ‘Wizard Wheezes’ and the ‘Slug Club.’ Now I had listened to the soundtrack before I saw the movie which I feel made the movie a better experience because the music felt familiar to me but now as I rehear the soundtrack I remember all the scenes that where in the movie. There’s much more I could talk about the soundtrack but this is a movie review so I’ll keep it short. I had just been asked a while ago to rate the movie out of five and I had rated it three. It still holds true right now because it wasn’t really bad the movie but it didn’t hold up to my expectations. Could my expectations been too high? I’m not sure but I was expecting to get out of the movie excited and feeling like it was an awesome movie and I didn’t feel that way. Yet if I was rating the movie out of ten then it would be rated as a six which kind of makes me feel that would be middle, not really a bad movie but not really an awesome movie. Though maybe I just need to see the movie again, with more sleep and less candy, and see what I think about it the second time around.

Half-Blood Prince Review by Shannon I just have to say that hands down... I ONLY CRIED ONCE. And (if you listened to TAPP) the scene that I wanted to be my favorite scene, totally was my favorite scene! I mean obviously, the movie was no where NEAR perfect. Because let's face it... WB made it, but it was the closest a Potter film has come to perfect. The comedy in this film was, for the first time, actually funny. Seriously, who DIDN'T laugh when Ron was lovesick for Romilda and got into bed with Harry? Who didn't crack a smile when Ron kept muttering 'Hermione' in his sleep. Who didn't burst into laughter when Ron asked Harry if he did it with Ginny. Sidenote: note that all those scenes have Ron in them, which is another huge improvement from previous movies. Ron isn't like the awkward kid who's annoyingly hanging around Harry. It's like he's apart of Harry's life. And the dark parts were so scary! Draco's blood all over the bathroom floor. And Katie Bell was so NOT overdone like I hear some people saying. You get touched by that necklace and see how you feel!

Half-Blood Prince Review by Rob This film takes a break from the overwhelming darkness of Order of the Phoenix and focuses more on humor and romance. This may sound wrong to fans of the books, who think the movie needs to get darker. However, the movie does display a good balance of dark and light, just like the book. Let’s begin with the darkness. One great example of the tone getting darker is the Sectumsempra scene. The scene is done with great justice, not hesitating to display the effects of Sectumsempra. There is lots of blood, so much that you wonder how it got the PG rating. Also, the scene where Katie Bell is cursed is just as, if not more, more darkly done in the book. Though it isn’t in the book, the scene where the Burrow is attacked is done extremely well. The romance is all in there. We see Hermione’s jealousy of Ron and Lavender. We also see Harry and Ginny slowly being drawn to each other. The romance makes the movie genuinely funny, not like the other Potter films. Overall, I would say this is definitely the best film of the series so far. I think it was the extra 9 month wait and am looking forward to seeing it again and again.

"A Roller Coaster of Emotions" by AJ Barnett "A Roller Coaster of Emotions" is my one line review of the Half Blood Prince film, which released this morning (July 15th, 2009). I think it may even be possible to leave it at that, and simply say, "See the film with your own eyes!" While I do indeed think all people, from the insane Potter fanatic to the casual person taking a trip to the movies should see this movie, I also think that some should be left to the imagination. That being said, I do not intend to include any blatant spoilers. I will of course, warn readers who have yet to see the movie, before I delve into my pensive and recall specific moments in the film. If you do not intend to read on in fear of picking up unwanted information, I respect your decision, but urge you to come back and read on once your eyes have had the pleasure of seeing, what I am considering the best Harry Potter movie yet created. This film, like stated above, was an emotional roller coaster. It contained more comic moments (at least actual comical ones) that I can recall from any other Potter film yet. Then at the same time, it brought on other emotions such as fear (there were legitimately scary portions of this movie, which makes me question the PG rating even more), heartbreak and true sadness. The insertion of comic relief was done in the perfect places, and my respect goes out to David Yates (director) for the effort he put into doing so. The suspense begins from the very start of the movie, and, although there are sub-plot points and truly hysterical moments, never let up. For the first time in a Potter film, we are left hanging at the conclusion. Now, this next paragraph includes several spoilers, so I suggest not reading it if you haven't seen the film for yourself. Even if you have read the books, I advise you that Warner Bros. took some serious liberties with this one. My personal favorite part of the entire film was when Harry obtains the memory from Slughorn. While the process he took to get to that point was rather hilarious as well, the actual memory was, intriguing to say the least. First off, might I just say, I was amazed by the performance of Frank Dillane (16 year old Tom Riddle). He played the part of deceptive criminal mastermind perfectly. I was nearly chilled by the performance he gave. To get back to the scene, I very much enjoyed the conversation in general. It was a little scary to watch, but at the same time compelling. To move on to my second favorite scene in the movie, and defiantly the most tear jerking, the death of Albus Dumbledore. It wasn't even the death itself that hit me so hard to deal with; it was the sound of tears from the people around me that made it so sad. While it is not an easy thing to say, the death of Dumbledore made the movie. Don't get me wrong, it would have been terrific with or without it, but that really hit home and to me, kept the "dying fans" in with us til the end. To quote one of the most amazing songs in wizard rock history, I was strongly reminded by this film that the line, "Soon it will meet a close, the final chapter exposed. It's an, end of an era that I'm seeing clearer. Nothing will ever be, the, same..." is true in only one sense. Yes the final chapter and the books have closed, but the era will never end. The books will live on through us and generations to come. If you have seen the film, I am glad you can share your joy of it's awesomeness (not a word, I know) with the rest of us. If you have yet to see it, I strongly urge you to see it very soon.