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Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - my review
I went to the cinema today, eagerly anticipating the arrival of the new
Harry Potter film; The Half Blood Prince. Like hundreds of others, the fantastic
trailers advertising this movie had taken me in. For once, it seemed, they had decided
to focus on the plot, something no other Harry Potter movie had achieved. But alas, these
trailers, not unusually, had led me astray. This is with-out denial the single worst Harry
Potter film to-date. Sure, the acting talents of Mr.Radcliff have certainly increased, as
should be expected, the CGI wasn't bad, however, the deviation from the actual story was
almost farsical. This became obvious within the first five minutes of the film. As an avid
fan of the series, I was somewhat surprised to find Harry in a random train-station at the
beginning of the movie, instead of where he should be; at the Dursley's. These meanderings from
the plot were plentiful and frequent. Not only were there meanderings at unimportant times of the
story, but at the most significant point in the film; Dumbledore's death. Plus, we can thank the script
writer for the completely new scene near the middle of the film. Harry decides to spend his holidays
at the Burrow, where Belatrix Lestrange and Fenrir Greyback decide to attack the Weasley family, this
scene ends with the destruction of the Burrow and the Weasley family in tears. Sound familiar? It shouldn't.
To conclude, this is the second-worst ever adaptation from book to film I have ever seen, second only to
Eragon. This film should probably be re-named; Harry Potter and the Director Who Didn't Know When to Stop.
Harry Potter film; The Half Blood Prince. Like hundreds of others, the fantastic
trailers advertising this movie had taken me in. For once, it seemed, they had decided
to focus on the plot, something no other Harry Potter movie had achieved. But alas, these
trailers, not unusually, had led me astray. This is with-out denial the single worst Harry
Potter film to-date. Sure, the acting talents of Mr.Radcliff have certainly increased, as
should be expected, the CGI wasn't bad, however, the deviation from the actual story was
almost farsical. This became obvious within the first five minutes of the film. As an avid
fan of the series, I was somewhat surprised to find Harry in a random train-station at the
beginning of the movie, instead of where he should be; at the Dursley's. These meanderings from
the plot were plentiful and frequent. Not only were there meanderings at unimportant times of the
story, but at the most significant point in the film; Dumbledore's death. Plus, we can thank the script
writer for the completely new scene near the middle of the film. Harry decides to spend his holidays
at the Burrow, where Belatrix Lestrange and Fenrir Greyback decide to attack the Weasley family, this
scene ends with the destruction of the Burrow and the Weasley family in tears. Sound familiar? It shouldn't.
To conclude, this is the second-worst ever adaptation from book to film I have ever seen, second only to
Eragon. This film should probably be re-named; Harry Potter and the Director Who Didn't Know When to Stop.
Comments
Utterly disappointed!!!! I only hope they dont make such a pigs ear of the last film.
I have read all the books a few times and must admit I have become rather bais in my thinking to what is important as an inclusion to this film and it's story line. I cant understand why Yates and the script writer felt it important to add two new scenes which
LewisCFC had mentioned and to omit vital parts of the story. Some movie critics have noticed this as well. "The movie seems to assume people have read the book, but if one has not it would be rather difficult to follow the plot" (Stratin at el 2009).
Yates in my option has also made a mess of the Phoniex ,and I am afraid he will do the same to the "Deathly Hallows". I believe J.K.Rowlings had placed cues, teasers and important insights into the story line and it's chartacters but Yates and his script writer's had failed to notice this. A good example of this would be the Role of the "DA" and the final fight in the last chapters of the book (Half Blood Prince), the involvement of the Ministery Of Magic throughout the story and finaly the roles of Dobby and Kreacher. Still I enjoyed the movie and it has been mentioned in this forum already, the book is always going to be different to the movie.
And I add that anyone who judges these films on how different they are from the book doesn't have a serious opinion on the movie, because they are not judging the movie on it's qualities. You, for instance, are completely ignoring it's qualities (which you have actually said are good) to label this the worst HP movie and David Yates the worst director simply because they didn't do exactly as the book says. A director and a screen writer are supposed to focus on making a good film. Not appeasing purists like yourself.
You are certainly right about Eragon. That was just a bad film.
You have a point regarding the problems and issues that can arise when adapting a novel to the big screen. Throughout cinema history films had never done the novel any justice. You both are missing Lewis and my point of agruement, simply being, a story requires important pits of information to make the plot conjuant (sic). When one adapts a novel to film they risk omiting these vital bits of information, it is different when you screen write for a movie. A simple way of proving my point is to ask someone to watch the film who hasn't read or seen any of the other films or books, and see if they can follow and or understand the concept and the plot. As I have said before I enjoyed the film and the escapism I had for 153 minutes was fantastic.
Best Regards Apaulo.
Yes, the special effects kicked ass and certain scenes were spot on. And yes, it is true, Wilbo421 and Mirco, certain changes need to be made from the source material in order to successfully adapt a novel to the screen. However, this does NOT mean you have to rewrite the majority of the dialogue, add new scenes, change the characters around (both in terms of what scenes they are in and HOW they are) or exclude important, pivotal moments! The book was an international best seller, why not stay loyal to it? Rowling is a good writer! USE THE BOOK TO WRITE THE SCREENPLAY, DON'T JUST REWRITE THE WHOLE DAMN STORY!!!
To me, the best part of the book was the development of Dumbledore/Harry's relationship while the two of them gained insight together into all of the Horcruxes/Voldemort's past, and this part was almost COMPLETELY GLOSSED OVER! A tragic, tragic shame. This movie was a farce of an adaptation, if you ask me, which nobody is. ;-)
You want to see a good screenplay adapted from original material, see the Lord of the Rings series. They made certain, necessary changes, but didn't redo almost every scene/plot detail!!
Another potentially great film ruined by the powers that be in Hollywood...sigh.
Absolutely wrong. If you are a purist, you will hate the movie. Purists aren't bigger Harry Potter fans, they just have an incapability of being reasonable or having the slightest clue what must happen when a book is adapted to the big screen.
And I'm sorry, but anyone who says the Lord of the Rings films are closer to the LotR books than the Hp films are to their books are absolutely deluding themselves.
The point is, this is a GOOD film. It has a very well written screenplay, very good acting, very good cinematography, very good special effects and visuals, a very good score and certainly not least of all, fantastic direction. Just because it changes things from the book, doesn't stop it from being a good film, it literally ONLY stops it from being completely accurate to the book. Something purists can't (or won't) get their heads around.
Regards Apaulo.
because i heard it wasnt close to the book and some vitally important things were missed out
when i watched it i didnt want to be biased and so i pushed the book 'purist' out of me and just watched - point blank
now, i was enjoying every minute of it - until the dumbledore scene - and that turned my smile upside down
dumbledore is such an amazing character - he cannot die like that!
anyway, moving swiftly on, harry/ginny ron/hermione - she is NOT supposed to bloody CONFESS to harry that she loves ron! wth?! she's not even supposed to know herself yet!
h/g was - as u no by my name - an important part i was looking out for, movie or book lover, and as it stands i was, quite frankly, dissapointed - so let's hope there is more of that in DH
now, draco - bad boy... i loved all his scenes and all dark scenes because they were actually close to the book - but they were mixed in, making the plot unrecognisable to an outsider
the ron love potion scene was OK - and i liked, not loved - i must confess, like i did in the book - slughorn
but overall, it didnt do the book much justice - no plot, and it just seemed like another hollywood fantasy light and dark with not much of a plot ---
o yer, another thing....the train station??? wth???
i'll leave that to anyone's imagination...
o - and it was very funny - for anyone looking for a bit of cheering up, looking at these hormonal teens falling in and out of love with each other is sure to get a few smiles :) except if ur looking for lots of h/g snogging stuff - it aint guna happen - 1 kiss, and then nothing??? until a little ginny comforting harry in the end???
book lover - not purist - in me was xtrememly dissapointed
movie lover - which i had to struggle to pull out of me, i admit, because book lover was saying stuff - in me was jumping up and down for joy, she was ecstatic
btw ron lovers - he is BUFF - even I had trouble concentrating on harry loll
That's because it's ridiculous. Maybe important points DO get left out. But for some reason, purists automatically think when something they deem important is left out that there is no other way they can get to the same ending the books got to. There are other ways of making the movies work without those important points.
And I'm sorry, I'm not missing the point. You guys are saying the film is bull cause it misses so called "important" plot points and changes things. That is not the film, that is YOUR incapability to either let those things go or understand that not everything works exactly how it did in the books. The important things they apparently missed out will more than likely still be there. Just not introduced at the point of time they are in the books.
And yes cobftw, absolutely wrong. THAT is MY opinion. And only an idiot would deny yours is immature. "I'm a bigger fan cause I get upset at changes" No your not. Same goes for the "I'm a bigger fan, cause I know more about the books". Again, no your not. To claim yourself so is downright arrogant AND ignorant.
And without reason? You need to read up on things, mate. There WAS reason, otherwise they wouldn't have changed anything. Somethings maybe your purist mind can't comprehend:
- Go into the memories = Going back in time, pretty much. It stops dealing with the here and now, for the moments it is on screen. It would disrupt the flow of ANY film. Needless to say, the other memories that contain important information will be re-inserted somewhere into the storyline of Deathly Hallows.
- The Burrow scene is needed to pick up the pace in the middle, otherwise the movie WOULD have started dragging. It added a sense of urgency, danger and also very plainly illustrated how nowhere is safe. Not for Harry, not for anyone. Especially not for Molly. Remember? At the start of the film, Ron mentions Molly's unwillingness to let the kids go back to Hogwarts, thinking the Burrow is safer. You wouldn't have thought of that stark realisation for Molly because "Oh no! That's not in the book!" And in fact, JK Rowling WROTE the Burrow attack. She left it out of the book in the end, but it was there originally.
- The fight is easy. Do you even remember reading the book? It was Harry running through the entrance hall where people were fighting, running straight through and out. THAT was it. The rest was relayed to Harry afterwards. Things can work the other way as well, opposite to "There's no point in leaving it out". That also quite often means "There's no point in putting it in". Remember Deathly Hallows? Remember that big ol' fight in Hogwarts at the end? The culmination and peak of the entire series? You wouldn't, of course, have considered that maybe another full-blown fight in Hogwarts might distinctly lessen the impact of the final battle.
The funeral? They already had the wandlit tribute, and the funeral would have served as overkill because of one too many endings for Dumbledore's character.
Changes are ALWAYS made for a reason. Whether you like the reason or not is neither here nor there, but the point is these changes were made to make the film a better film. Who gives a shit how the purists feel. These are films, first and foremost.
remember guys, we are all harry potter fans and that is what is tying us together ok? we all have different views, and maybe that is a good thing - we can share our ideas and having someone else's view on something helps you see it in - perhaps - a different light, though you may still think of it in your way ok?
o and now u mention it, i think if they make the fight scene in DH really excellent and long, putting most the little things in DH part 1, then it could be worth the wait, instead of having the other HBP big fight scene
true true good point !
phwoar lol cant wait, rons gorgeous!
I'm sorry if you don't like that, but that's the way I am with everything.
For instance, there is a band I am almost obsessed with. I listen to them so much that my sister gets completely sick of it. I know all the lyrics to all the songs, I can play a few of them, but I would not, for one single second, even suggest I am a bigger fan of that band than anyone else out there. It's boasting, it's a way of trying to say you are better than someone else. Even if it's not worded like that, that IS the mentality of those who say it. It is childish and immature.
Regards Apaulo.
Cant wait to see it on tuesday!
Regards Apaulo. [/quote]
Actually, apaulo, I usually am incredibly respectful of other peoples opinions. Things will get out of hand, however, when someone suggests they are in any way better or bigger than anyone else. And funnily enough, as a film student, I also get a tad pissed when people ignore the actual qualities that a film has and ignore all the incredibly hard work that has gone into just because it is different from the book. So yes, my opinion is that you are wrong to not judge a film as a film.
You generalise. Too much. The general consensus is not disappointment. You've been living in a world of purist Harry Potter fans. You should check out actual movie forums, places and people who have an unbiased opinion. Check rotten tomatoes, an 84% rating doesn't indicate disappointment. Those judging the film as a film seem to love it. Those judging the film as a book don't like it. And I'm sorry, but the former makes more sense to me.
And yes, fine, if I'm narrow minded because I think someone saying they are a bigger harry potter fan because they got pissed off at the film is damn immature and childish, then I'm the most narrow minded person in the world.
I would also like to put forward though, that you purists are narrow minded. THAT'S why I am the "loudest minority", because you won't accept anything that's not what you expect..
And one more thing. I haven't once stated anything I've said as fact. I'm fully aware it is my own opinion, but if I want to call someone elses opinion immature, I will.
That means nothing. I went with my sisters boyfriend who always thought HP was a bit shit and for little kids. And he actually loved HBP.
And I completely disagree. I think the emotion in this movie was immense and the acting was absolutely at it's best. And I think it flowed perfectly (there were one or two moments where the editing was admittedly a little jarring).
And everyone saying they rewrote the story is completely over-exaggerating. Fuck, I'm sick of purists.
i would never personally say it myself but...
Well I'm not exactly stopping them am I. I can't. I'm just calling them out on it, is all.
well the movie wasn't as good as the book they never are but the movie was a great movie and all those people who think that they should have all the book are idiots .the movie would end up bein like 6 hours long.so if u think that i'm wrong plz comment below :)
I've yet to see the movie....... 2mro i cant wait!!!
But all the other films i thought were good, obviously they leave stuff out and add stuff in it, show me a book made to film that does excactly as the book says? doubt it you'd find one!
Thanks for that back handed compliment, rofl.
I do seriously suggest to everyone that they see it a second time. I enjoyed it a hell of a lot more the second time, and that's saying something cause I loved it the first time. It just gives you the opportunity to actually look at the film a tad more objectively, cause you already know what you're getting. It gives you more of a chance to actually, you know, get a feel for how good the film actually is.
Apaulo.
And I would like to point out I have read 80% of all the reviews that are on Rotten Tomatoes, and what you're saying is completely bogus and sounds like it has been said with the knowledge of probably about ten reviews. I have listened, agreed and disagreed respectfully with complaints that have come from people who looked at the film objectively (which includes on movie websites and in the real world). THEY don't complain about changes from the book. They might say "Oh, there was too much exposition here" or "the music didn't work well here" or the "the editing was shoddy here" or "So and so can't act". Those opinions (only examples, they're not real) are constructive and respectful. I'm only getting pissed off at you lot because you ARE purists on here, and you do not EVER give any form of CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. I'm not saying everyone who hated the film is a purist, so STOP assuming that I am. I'm saying most purists hate the film, and you guys fall it that category I'm afraid, because you're only complaints are difference from the book.
Label me whatever you want Apaulo, but you are making some big fucking assumptions. I AM listening to what you are saying. All you have said is that you didn't like the film because it left out important parts from the book. NOBODY on here, when they say the script was bad, has actually meant that, or if they have, they wouldn't know what a bad script was if it hit them in the face. I say that not about anybody who didn't like the script, but as I already said a million and one times, PURSISTS. Again, they are only saying differences from the book make the script crap. I do not find that opinion respectable, I'm afraid. THAT is narrow minded.
And I don't expect I'd give a shit about your area of employment in the media if they're hiring people who can't give a constructive argument on reasons why a film is apparently "bad".
I'm done with this argument and your quick ill judgements.
It was so much more than what i expected, i have said in another thread what my fave things were!
Obv the leave stuff out the film would have gone on for ages! But i do think they covered the important bits the bits that needed to go in there
My rating 10/ 10 the best film so far in my opinion!
Definitely I loved it and I'm going to see this movie a lot of times!!
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read it here:
http://thedaily-blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/harry-potter-and-half-blood-prince.html
in short, it was disappointing. i expected much more from the team. they left out a whole lot from what was written in the books. especially the fight for Hogwarts!
though david yates did a splendid job, it was disappointing nonetheless
guess i`ll just stick to the books for now...
7/10 my arse .half blood prince was 12/10
and also it was like the best one yet.
To be honest, that's probably the best idea for purists anyway.
I'm sorry that you didn't like the acting. I myself thought it was easily the best of the series, and everyone became good. Even Emma Watson, who was, prior to Prince, pretty damn...not good.
I am glad though, that you were still able to give the film a 7. Horcrux98, that means he did at least give notice and credit where it's due for screenplay and direction and the technical things that would make a film a film.
However I do agree with horcrux a bit, because I don't think changes from the books should be part of a review on a film.
e.g Burning down the Burrow...huh? Yates OBV hasnt realised the importance of it in DH.
PLUS it's a waste of time, why put scenes in that really really shouldn't happen and then claim
you could't fit al the details of the book in? That's a bit of crap really isn't it. Quite silly.
I thought the actors did an amazing job, and the actions scenes there was (even the burrow one yes!) WHERE exellently directed, especially the cave scene I loved that! and the movie made me laugh...but I just don't understand how it can be 10/10 when it clearly missed the point alot of times.
I KNOW THE MOVIES ARE SEPERATE FROM THE BOOKS (before anyone points that out) but they're going to have their work cut out on DH, as there's a hell of a lot in there that follows on from HBP. Thought there "wasn't enoguh time" to include everything in this one? Yates is going to have to do some seeerious backtracking!
The Burrow attack was there for a purpose. It was there to pick up the pace a little bit in the middle of the film which, otherwise, would have started dragging. It is there to serve as a stark reminder that absolutely no where is safe for Harry, and exactly how dangerous and what it means to be a friend of Harry's. The sweetest price, they'll have to pay. And, yeah, it's not like they can do magic or anything? It's not like they can just rebuild the Burrow, right? Wrong.
Better to put something in the film that wasn't in the book yet serves a purpose than to put something in the film that wasn't in the book and serves no purpose, or a purpose which has already been covered. That is how they can add things in and still say they didn't have enough time.
And there was a LOT of hard work put into this movie, clearly. The acting was top notch. As was set design, CGI, cinematography, screenplay and, on your own admission, the direction. I absolutely disagree that HBP was in anyway bland. It is very much a character story, and characters are more important than fights and explosions.
HBP was easily the best yet.
I LOVED the film and agree with wilbo that alot of hard work has gone into the film, and i think it paid off
But then if you think about it, you're going to enjoy and be more impressed with the final battle in Deathly Hallows aren't you.