Deconstructing Harry

Four years after reading the book for the first (and last) time, WB has finally released Harry Potter and the Half- Blood Prince, or should I say Harry Potter and the Half-Good Movie?

Anyway, yesterday I finally managed to make it to the cinema together with my friend and favourite blogger (should I add owner of a pair of incredibly cool yet well priced Hermès sandals? -thanks for the pic!-) Agnes. The movie starts, we remain quiet, then laugh, then look at each other wondering "what the hell?", then scoff, and then... then it was over.

I have to admit I am never impressed by the HP movies. I am not a big fan of books made movies, except, and oddly enough, LOTR so I had prepared myself for the big disappointment, which wasn't that bad after all. Or was it?

Once the movie was over I thought it was OK, then I returned home and started screaming all the things that had gone wrong and realised I could not decide whether it is a good or bad version of the book. Frustrating, so frustrating... I decided to give it a thought overnight and start typing with a fresher mind and colder nerves just now.

As interesting as I find my own feelings toward the film, I guess what you want to read is a "yeah guys, I feel just as you do about certain scenes" so here it goes:

First and foremost WHY THE HELL DO THEY BURN THE BURROW DOWN?????????????? How? Where? When? Who thought it would be a good idea to add that to the script? Can anyone please fire that person? And are the Weasleys made of ice then? Someone burns your house down, you watch it burn and do nothing despite the fact that unlike us muggles you can actually do magic and then go back to school as if nothing had happened? That non existent reaction or longer discussion during the film only proves that it was totally unnecesary.

Second and not less important the films shows Harry Potter is a total coward. A kid who consistently breaks school rules in order to save the world is told by the headmaster to "go downstairs and do nothing" while five deadly deatheaters (actually three deatheaters, a most faithful spy and a very scared kid) attack said headmaster and he complies???????? In the book Harry is paralised and under the invisibility cloak, unable to move or help Dumbledore even if he aches to do so. Through that passage of the book you can feel his agony, his pain and desperation, in the movie you watch in disbelief how Harry turns into a helpless sissy. That is not my Harry Potter (nor the seventh book one either actually... My Harry Potter should have died at the end of the seventh book, but one can't have everything).

Third major mistake, Harry and Ginny's relationship. The book has a lot more passion and hormones into it that actually make the story somewhat brighter despite the gloomy air that J.K. conveys (most brilliantly) to the whole book. In the movie? In the movie Ginny ties Harry's shoelace (Whatever...).

And the Half-Blood Prince? How on Earth do you title a movie HP and the Half-Blood Prince and turn the HBP's story into a secondary and totally background plot? Oh well, they can't make both book fans and non fans happy at the same time, can they?

As for the missing bits...

1.- I wanted to see Fenrir Greyback bite Bill, who doesn't even have a part on the movie.
2.- Bill is suppossed to marry Fleur at the begining of the seventh book, why is no one planning the wedding?
3.- Where's the new Minister of Magic?

But even worse...

4.- WHERE IS THE BATTLE OF HOGWARTS????????????????????
5.- WHERE IS THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX? on holidays?
6.- WHERE IS DUMBLEDORE'S FUNERAL?

Of course there were some brilliant parts. I could feel my hair standing to end in the cave scene, just as I had imagined it, maybe even more spectacular specially when Dumbledore fills the cave with flames... just awesome, absolutelly legendary. They also manage to make a very fun Harry under the effects of Felix Felicis, and a really cute Ron in Quidditch practice. The first 45 minutes are great, the scene where they convince Slughorn to go back to Hogwarts is very nicely done, and the bits and pieces of memories that appear on the Pensieve too, still the ring scene was missing, and that would have explained a lot of Voldemort's ideas and actions.

Over all the movie is Half-Good, still it leaves a lot of missing bits that could have easily been included instead of the totally unnecesary scenes.

I can't help but wonder how are they going to manage to put the seventh book in two movies... Ahhg, I feel a lot less frustrated after this!

Thanks for reading, don't forget your comments! Such is Life