he was finding himself becoming rapidly obsessed with draco malfoy
I saw Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince with most of my Ancient Greek class today. It's the first time I haven't seen a Harry Potter movie on its premiere day since Prisoner of Azkaban, but oh well.
- I thought it was one of the better movie adaptations overall. It did have a few flaws, but nothing seriously major was left out (unlike in OotP when I felt like they were leaving out whole subplots). I guess I'll get into the specifics in my next few points.
- First of all, this movie could have easily be called Harry Potter and the Shipping Awkwardness because there was OH SO MUCH of that. Even from the beginning of the movie when Harry is randomly in some coffee shop and the waitress thinks he's trying to ask her out. The movie may even go further than the book does regarding all the shipping, and there was a lot of shipping in the book to begin with.
- They cut the Dursleys. Again. They also cut out Bill & Fleur (which makes me think that they probably won't have their wedding in DH, unless they kind of just make it come out of nowhere--but I don't think we've seen Bill in any movie so I'm guessing it won't happen), Kreacher & Dobby, Rufus Scrimgeour, and the Muggle Minister.
- Bellatrix Lestrange is still absolutely insane. I have a feeling they gave her more appearances in the movie, which I definitely don't mind because Helena Bonham Carter is absolutely perfect in that role. I'm pretty sure in the book she didn't show up at Hogwarts when Draco let all the Death Eaters in, but she's there in the movie.
- They left out the "U-No-Poo" display at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. But the brief scene in the joke shop was cool.
- So normally I'm not a huge Draco Malfoy fangirl, but in this movie he was such a Hot Mess that I couldn't resist. Especially in the scene when he's crying in the bathroom. (No, I am not engaging in Draco-in-Leather-Pants-ing. He does have a very suave all-black outfit, though, which I swear he never changes out of.)
- Speaking of fangirls, Lavender Brown was such a rabid fangirl. Even more so than in the books. It was kind of frightening at times.
- I'm sad that they didn't include more Voldemort flashbacks (there were no scenes with the Gaunts, and there was also no scenes of Voldemort expressing interest in old Hogwarts objects, i.e. that scene with Hepzibah Smith, and of him asking Dumbledore for the DADA job), but the scenes that were included were very good. During the scene at the orphanage, when Dumbledore was talking to the matron I was totally all "LOL IT'S SORCERESS EDEA!" and when Dumbledore was speaking to Tom about having a school for special people I was half-expecting him to start pulling out objects and asking Tom which item already belongs to him.
- I know there were a lot of ANVIL-SIZED hints about Ron/Hermione in the book, but they were made even more clearer in the movie. It's too bad that they won't actually get together until the second part of the DH movie.
- There was a certain hallway that they kept showing (I think it was outside of Slughorn's office) that I swear looks exactly like the hallway walking into Coit.
- I do think it was interesting how pretty early on we were shown what exactly Draco was doing in the Room of Requirement with the Vanishing Cabinet. Maybe it's because the previous movies have made no reference to the Vanishing Cabinets, whereas in the books there are several mentions so the attentive reader would have heard of them already (but they still wouldn't know why Draco would want to use them). It also made the OMG HARRY YOU'RE STANDING RIGHT NEXT TO THE PLOT POINT moment a lot more effective, whereas in the book you don't know at that point that the Vanishing Cabinet is a plot point when he sees it in the Room of Requirement. (The movie, however, didn't show Harry putting the diadem on the head of the ugly mannequin in the RoR, which is a part of HBP that I really enjoy because after reading DH you know that DAMMIT, HARRY, THAT'S ONE OF YOUR HORCRUXES RIGHT THERE.)
- There was a point when Draco was opening up the doors to the Vanishing Cabinet when something that looked like black smoke/darkness started flowing out, and I totally thought, "KINGDOM HEARTS! FILL ME WITH THE POWER OF DARKNESS!"
- There's this short little scene when you see three dementors (which look a lot more cloaked/black smoke-ish in this movie) flying toward Hogwarts, but then they get repelled by the invisible fortifications around the castle, and I was totally reminded of the scene in Lost when the smoke monster is deflected by the sonic weapon fence.
- All the scenes in which someone was under the influence of some kind of potion were brilliant, especially Harry and the Felix Felicis: "Sirrrr?"
- One of the best lines: "Don't forget the pincers! *click click click*"
- Another one of the best lines: "So, did you and Ginny do it?" (One of many double-entendres that were present.)
- One line that was noticeably missing, however, was "There's no need to call me 'sir,' professor," which was sad because that's one of the best lines in the book. Also, sadly there was no way to incorporate the taken-out-of-context Ho Yay moments from the narrative, including "He was finding himself becoming rapidly obsessed with Draco Malfoy" and "The battle raged in his mind: Ginny or Ron?"
- There was almost no mention of the Remus/Tonks relationship, which makes me sad. However, there was one moment when I'm pretty sure she calls him "sweetheart," which was probably just thrown in so it's not completely random when they end up married in DH.
- Snape continues to be awesome. I've realized that he kind of sounds like OrgLIX Marluxia, which results in some really funny images. Oh, Marluxia.
- The whole theater collectively jumped when the Inferi's hand came out of the lake. Those things were really creepy.
- Actually seeing Harry force-feeding the potion to Dumbledore was much more intense than reading it was. Along the same lines, Hermione attacking Ron with the birds after she sees him with Lavender was a lot more emotional than it was in the book--in fact, in the book it came off as a lot funnier in my opinion. (Random Fact: the spell that Hermione uses on the birds to make them attack him, Oppugno, is Latin for "I attack.")
- Everyone using the lights of their wands to put out the Dark Mark at the end was very sad/poignant.
- And because I feel like I have to end this on kind of a downer note because the movie ends on a downer note, I'm going to save my Big Giant Criticism for last. I am referring to the random battle scene that they added in the middle of the movie that basically serves no purpose whatsoever. It's as if they wanted to throw in an extra fight scene or something, but it's not as much as a fight as it is Harry and Ginny running through a meadow chasing Bellatrix Lestrange. I mean, I might have been able to accept it if it actually had a purpose. And it should have had a purpose. The Death Eaters came to Burrow and LIT THEIR HOUSE ON FIRE. I'm kind of thinking that the fact that this happened would have a bigger influence on the plot, because HELLO? THE DEATH EATERS ATTACKED YOU! THIS IS NOT TO BE TAKEN LIGHTLY, ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY SET YOUR HOUSE ON FIRE. So that's by far the biggest Wall Banger moment of the movie, mainly because I feel like it's unnecessary drama that serves no overall purpose.
I think that should just about cover things for now. I'll be seeing it again with my mum after ASP is over, so I'll probably notice even more things then.
- I thought it was one of the better movie adaptations overall. It did have a few flaws, but nothing seriously major was left out (unlike in OotP when I felt like they were leaving out whole subplots). I guess I'll get into the specifics in my next few points.
- First of all, this movie could have easily be called Harry Potter and the Shipping Awkwardness because there was OH SO MUCH of that. Even from the beginning of the movie when Harry is randomly in some coffee shop and the waitress thinks he's trying to ask her out. The movie may even go further than the book does regarding all the shipping, and there was a lot of shipping in the book to begin with.
- They cut the Dursleys. Again. They also cut out Bill & Fleur (which makes me think that they probably won't have their wedding in DH, unless they kind of just make it come out of nowhere--but I don't think we've seen Bill in any movie so I'm guessing it won't happen), Kreacher & Dobby, Rufus Scrimgeour, and the Muggle Minister.
- Bellatrix Lestrange is still absolutely insane. I have a feeling they gave her more appearances in the movie, which I definitely don't mind because Helena Bonham Carter is absolutely perfect in that role. I'm pretty sure in the book she didn't show up at Hogwarts when Draco let all the Death Eaters in, but she's there in the movie.
- They left out the "U-No-Poo" display at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. But the brief scene in the joke shop was cool.
- So normally I'm not a huge Draco Malfoy fangirl, but in this movie he was such a Hot Mess that I couldn't resist. Especially in the scene when he's crying in the bathroom. (No, I am not engaging in Draco-in-Leather-Pants-ing. He does have a very suave all-black outfit, though, which I swear he never changes out of.)
- Speaking of fangirls, Lavender Brown was such a rabid fangirl. Even more so than in the books. It was kind of frightening at times.
- I'm sad that they didn't include more Voldemort flashbacks (there were no scenes with the Gaunts, and there was also no scenes of Voldemort expressing interest in old Hogwarts objects, i.e. that scene with Hepzibah Smith, and of him asking Dumbledore for the DADA job), but the scenes that were included were very good. During the scene at the orphanage, when Dumbledore was talking to the matron I was totally all "LOL IT'S SORCERESS EDEA!" and when Dumbledore was speaking to Tom about having a school for special people I was half-expecting him to start pulling out objects and asking Tom which item already belongs to him.
- I know there were a lot of ANVIL-SIZED hints about Ron/Hermione in the book, but they were made even more clearer in the movie. It's too bad that they won't actually get together until the second part of the DH movie.
- There was a certain hallway that they kept showing (I think it was outside of Slughorn's office) that I swear looks exactly like the hallway walking into Coit.
- I do think it was interesting how pretty early on we were shown what exactly Draco was doing in the Room of Requirement with the Vanishing Cabinet. Maybe it's because the previous movies have made no reference to the Vanishing Cabinets, whereas in the books there are several mentions so the attentive reader would have heard of them already (but they still wouldn't know why Draco would want to use them). It also made the OMG HARRY YOU'RE STANDING RIGHT NEXT TO THE PLOT POINT moment a lot more effective, whereas in the book you don't know at that point that the Vanishing Cabinet is a plot point when he sees it in the Room of Requirement. (The movie, however, didn't show Harry putting the diadem on the head of the ugly mannequin in the RoR, which is a part of HBP that I really enjoy because after reading DH you know that DAMMIT, HARRY, THAT'S ONE OF YOUR HORCRUXES RIGHT THERE.)
- There was a point when Draco was opening up the doors to the Vanishing Cabinet when something that looked like black smoke/darkness started flowing out, and I totally thought, "KINGDOM HEARTS! FILL ME WITH THE POWER OF DARKNESS!"
- There's this short little scene when you see three dementors (which look a lot more cloaked/black smoke-ish in this movie) flying toward Hogwarts, but then they get repelled by the invisible fortifications around the castle, and I was totally reminded of the scene in Lost when the smoke monster is deflected by the sonic weapon fence.
- All the scenes in which someone was under the influence of some kind of potion were brilliant, especially Harry and the Felix Felicis: "Sirrrr?"
- One of the best lines: "Don't forget the pincers! *click click click*"
- Another one of the best lines: "So, did you and Ginny do it?" (One of many double-entendres that were present.)
- One line that was noticeably missing, however, was "There's no need to call me 'sir,' professor," which was sad because that's one of the best lines in the book. Also, sadly there was no way to incorporate the taken-out-of-context Ho Yay moments from the narrative, including "He was finding himself becoming rapidly obsessed with Draco Malfoy" and "The battle raged in his mind: Ginny or Ron?"
- There was almost no mention of the Remus/Tonks relationship, which makes me sad. However, there was one moment when I'm pretty sure she calls him "sweetheart," which was probably just thrown in so it's not completely random when they end up married in DH.
- Snape continues to be awesome. I've realized that he kind of sounds like OrgLIX Marluxia, which results in some really funny images. Oh, Marluxia.
- The whole theater collectively jumped when the Inferi's hand came out of the lake. Those things were really creepy.
- Actually seeing Harry force-feeding the potion to Dumbledore was much more intense than reading it was. Along the same lines, Hermione attacking Ron with the birds after she sees him with Lavender was a lot more emotional than it was in the book--in fact, in the book it came off as a lot funnier in my opinion. (Random Fact: the spell that Hermione uses on the birds to make them attack him, Oppugno, is Latin for "I attack.")
- Everyone using the lights of their wands to put out the Dark Mark at the end was very sad/poignant.
- And because I feel like I have to end this on kind of a downer note because the movie ends on a downer note, I'm going to save my Big Giant Criticism for last. I am referring to the random battle scene that they added in the middle of the movie that basically serves no purpose whatsoever. It's as if they wanted to throw in an extra fight scene or something, but it's not as much as a fight as it is Harry and Ginny running through a meadow chasing Bellatrix Lestrange. I mean, I might have been able to accept it if it actually had a purpose. And it should have had a purpose. The Death Eaters came to Burrow and LIT THEIR HOUSE ON FIRE. I'm kind of thinking that the fact that this happened would have a bigger influence on the plot, because HELLO? THE DEATH EATERS ATTACKED YOU! THIS IS NOT TO BE TAKEN LIGHTLY, ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY SET YOUR HOUSE ON FIRE. So that's by far the biggest Wall Banger moment of the movie, mainly because I feel like it's unnecessary drama that serves no overall purpose.
I think that should just about cover things for now. I'll be seeing it again with my mum after ASP is over, so I'll probably notice even more things then.