Thoughts on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Okay, so I finally watched it last Saturday at the Shangrila Plaza Mall. Our bosses at work very kindly treated the team to dinner and to a movie afterwards. Good food, good company but can I also say good movie? Spoilers abound. You can skip this post if you haven't watched it yet and don't want to be spoiled.

Well, I'd say it's a good movie. I really liked the first and middle parts even if as usual they deviated from the story in the book. But after watching the past 5 films, I'd say I'm already used to not seeing the scenes that I like and then exchanged by other scenes so not in the book. That's why when I saw the Hermione-Ron-Lavender love triangle, I was so giddy because that has always been my favorite seeing as I am a Ron-Hermione shipper. I'm afraid to say that was just the redeeming factor of the movie, at least for me. How come they didn't show the burial for Dumbledore? I think that was very important and by doing that, it's like they didn't give him respect that he very much deserved. Also, I think Harry looked lame just standing there while Snape cursed Dumbledore. I know they were trying to portray Harry as someone very obedient but I just think it's so not him. He just stood there watching things as they unfold. Maybe if they followed the book where Harry was covered by the invisibility cloak and he was immobilised, I would have bought the story.

Another scene I missed was the battle between the death eaters and the Order of the Phoenix with Dumbledore's Army. Sigh. How I wish they included that as it is an integral part of the story. Oh well, I guess I can't have them all. The last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be divided in two parts for the movie slated for release on 2010 and 2011. I hope this time they will really, really give justice to the book as it is the finale to a great saga that is Harry Potter. I read that the final battle will be 30 minutes long.

Even if I'm a bit disappointed with how the movie ended, my love for Harry Potter and the gang will not waiver. I know I can just read JKR's books over and over again and be transported to the wizarding world; just me and my imagination.