Difference from the book, but great nonetheless (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (DVD))

Member Name: ElChupacabra

Product:	Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (DVD)
Date:	29/07/09 (8 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great cinematic quality

Disadvantages: Hardcore fans will not like it

A Harry Potter film is never going to win Oscars. But that is not to say Rowling's material cannot be adapted into satisfying cinema. In my opinion that is what happened here.

I have lead a busy life in recent years and Half-Blood Prince was the first book in the series that I had not read before seeing the movie. As such I came to the movie with a fresh opinion, and great anticipation for the first of the Potter stories that I didn't know the plot for.

Now, die hard fans may be crying hell over the changes from the book to the film, but frankly what I am reading on here reminds me of Star Wars fan boys complaining about whether or not Han shot first. What many fans don't realise is that simply because a book is a rip-roaring roller-coaster of a tome, it doesn't mean that it will translate well onto the screen. Take the Da Vinci Code. A terribly cheesy, but fun book to read that is unquestionably a page turner. Once a movie it turned into a bit of stinker, despite its faithfulness to Brown's original book.

From what I understand from the changes between book and film, much of what is left is exposition, such as Tom Riddle flashbacks. As it is, watching the film the first hour is very "talky" and makes for a different type of Potter film from the others. I feel that had the movie included all of the scenes from the book note only would it have been nearly 4 hours long but it would have become, frankly, a little boring after a while. In contrast what we had was a well paced, dark and adequately emotional build up to Deathly Hallows.....and I left the cinema eagerly looking forward to the final installments, and even frustrated that I have to wait until 2011 for the finale. Rowling succeeded in writing a good book when she sat down to prepare Half-Blood Prince, but Yates hasn't brought us a good book on screen. He's brought us a good movie, and that has to be his only task as a movie director.

I very much enjoyed this movie and, if anything, it has prompted me to go and catch up with the books.

Summary: A good movie worthy seeing, but some of the fans of the book might not like it