7.18.2009

A Magical Date

I'm sure not many of you know this, but I am a Potter nerd. It's true, I will admit it. I love the Harry Potter series! I have read books 1-4 at least 3 or 4 times and 5-7 twice. And I plan to keep rereading them- I'm a big rereader, I don't know why.
Back to my point, if you are awake then you should have been aware that this past week the 6th movie of the series debuted, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince". Not going to lie, would of loved to see this opening night but with James it just wasn't in the cards. But a friend of ours from our ward has been wanting to baby-sit James for a while, so we set a time up for yesterday. We were going to go see a movie at the cheap theaters, but there was an absolute perfect time slot of Harry Potter showing that we both couldn't say no to... so we didn't. We never ever pay full price for movie tickets- I just can't digest it with our college budget. But we haven't been on a date in a long time so we both felt like we deserved this obsessive treat. So last night we saw Harry Potter... and I must say, we both loved it. And I might add right here, I was planning on taking pictures to document this momentous occasion but our camera has been on the fritz- different story, different post. It was a great date and enjoyed being out with Brad again. He's a good date :)
There were definite things missing from the book that really bugged me didn't end up in the movie, but to separate it from the book- just a plain awesome movie it was! The actors have come such a long way- Brad and I were just cracking up at some parts, I cried at others, intense moments where our sold out theater was dead silent... it just has it all! I am hoping to see it again, but next time I will hold back our spending for the cheap theaters :)
Now for some spoilers of what I liked or did not like - IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE OR READ THE BOOK DO NOT READ ON!!! SPOILERS!!!
- Jim Broadbent as Professor Slughorn was absolutely brilliant! So spot on and perfect! I love him as an actor and he really didn't disappoint.
- I watched abcfamily this last weekend before the release and they were showing the first four movies. The main actors have really improved, in my opinion. Ron being intoxicated from the love potion was hilarious. Harry being affected by Felix/Luck potion was super funny. Hermione crying over Ron got me crying (I'm a sap, I admit it- don't judge).
- Draco Malfoy had a much bigger part and really did well with it. But what bugged me was something so silly- every time he worked on the Vanishing Cabinet he had this big moment of sweeping off the cover every-single-time he did it! Got old. I was thinking, Oh like he could get it back up to that heighth and whilst typing this realized, Hey they have magic. They are cooler than us. Therefore can reach higher points. Sigh- would be awesome to do that.
- What they took from the book I thought they portrayed it really well. Like the bridge collapsing in London was so cool looking. Dumbledore and Harry going to the cave for the Horcrux was so intense.
- Should have made the romance between Harry and Ginny 1- more believable 2- more accurate 3- less cheesy.
- Fire at the Burrow- doesn't happen till the 7th book. It is when Ron, Hermione and Harry escape from the Burrow after the Death Eaters storm Bill and Fleur's wedding.
- Ok, the ending bugs me soooo bad!! They completely took out the HUGE fight scene from Hogwarts! That is a huge part and could of been so awesome in the movie!
- The whole scene in the Astronomy Tower and Dumbledore dying- COMPLETELY OFF!!!! Oh my gosh- they could have easily done it and the book does it way better.
- No funeral for Dumbledore- need I say more? Should of had it.
- They really needed to explain things better- why is Snape the Half-Blood Prince? Who is Fenrir Greyback? Why does Ginny and Dean break up? Why is Harry attracted to her all of a sudden? Why is Lavender into Ron? And much more...
- Brad and I both felt they added in unnecessary parts that were not in the book when they could have added things from the book. Like they left out the Fleur/Bill romance and therefore, Bill never got bitten by Fenrir Greyback. Kind of essential in my opinion. They tried to bypass the whole turmoil of Tonks/Lupin by just having a brief scene with them and her calling him, "Sweetheart". Um, no. No does not work. Redo it!
All in all, great movie. Just need to remember movies and books are two separate things and will therefore be awesome on their own terms. They just better make the 7th ones amazing and stick pretty well to the book since it's going to be two movies...

4 comments:

  1. I know what you mean with the whole re-reading thing. I've lost count with certain books...I love having a book I can turn to that I KNOW will be good.

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  2. Having seen the movie today I have to agree with you about certain parts... on the other hand having NOT reread the 6th book I couldn't really remember that much of the book! So, I simply enjoyed the movie! I especially thought the whole unveiling of the cupboard a bit much, my thought was, "Did they just use the same clip over and over?" So, I'm not going to nit-pick it, but I will agree with you about movie vs. book as far as I can recall! :)

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  3. heavens, the whole ginny/harry thing I am in total agreement with. It was just awkward, like she was trying to seduce him but was REALLY bad at it. but i was glad that they didn't have the same amount of face time (hahaha, get it, make out, face time. wow i'm funny.)that they did in the book. i wasn't rooting for them the same way i do in the book.

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  4. i agree with your review. they totally screwed up the end for me. such a disappointment!!!!!! but overall i thought it was good. i wonder how they are going to split the next book up into two movies. that will be interesting...

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