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Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince movie review

Romance, long kissing and disappointment among teenagers? You wouldn’t think you’d find much of this in a Harry Potter movie but …

The romantic aspects were notably approached and elegantly mixed in the adaptation of the sixth book of the series created by J. K. Rowlings. The previous movie, Harry Potter and the order of the Phoenix, already had presented us with grown up characters, and this time, their adolescence is consolidated thanks to the romantic interactions and to a good part of the movie being very dramatic.

A new character we get to know now is professor Horace Slughorn, who is introduced in a funny, creative and entertaining way, near the beginning of the movie. He lives in a house that is a complete disaster, and when Dumbeldorf offers himself to fix it, the opportunity comes to show off some visual effects. Professor Slughorn says that because of the death eaters trying to recruit him, he cannot live in the same house for more than a week, nevertheless, you’ll be able to see that he manages to keep handy all kinds of personal articles, such as… a framed photo of the mother of Harry, right in the living room. Looks like you never know when will be your turn to appear in the life of Harry Potter.

The young heroes get back together at the Weasley’s house, where we see the first indication of what is coming between Ginny and Harry.

Fred and George seem to be the only ones that moved on with their lives. They own a trick shop, the only store that remains open thanks to the attacks of the death eaters.

A lot of good visual effects can pass unnoticed due to how well achieved they are. For example, when the protagonists travel to Hogwart’s by train, the camera, in what seems to be a single take, goes from Ginny and Luna in one of the cars, through the glass, floating two cars behind, and back inside to a cabin with Harry and his friends. Other times the effects are more obvious, but equally spectacular, like the scene where Dumbeldorf provides Harry with the memories of Tom Riddle, and these are visualized.

All the funny stuff is on the first half of the movie, then the plot becomes dark and continues like this to the end. The scene that changes the tone is the one where Katy Bell gets coursed upon touching a necklace that she supposedly found and that she was going to deliver to Dumbeldorf.

Except for the outdoors scenes (not too many by the way), the lighting is dark, sometimes too dark.

The quiddtch game is short mainly because that moment in the movie is centered in Ron Weasley.

Hermione Granger seems to be there only to help with the romance/jealousy situations. Although Ginny makes fewer appearances, her character has more weight in the plot.

Voldemort appears for just a fraction of a second, so we can only wait for the Deathly Hollows to see the great Ralph Fiennes in action.

A book for small ones made into a movie for grown ups, very enjoyable and highly recommended.

Cheers!

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