HPHBP Loves and Hates (Beware of Spoilers)

Well, I took a break from Harry Potter to add a few other fun things to the blog, but I did want to make one final post about Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.  In essence, this will be what I really liked about the film, and what kind of drove me crazy.  The opening with Harry at the Underground, is a give and take for me. In some ways, I really enjoyed this creative twist, but I also really missed Dumbledore at the Dursley's.  I really wanted to see those clanking glasses of mead on the Dursleys' heads!  I'm also glad they kept the introduction of Slughorn relatively the same.  I love when they do fun magical things like put the house back together!

I also really liked how they handled Ron and his girl problems.  It was hilarious to watch his interaction with Lavender Brown, and fun to watch Hermione's reactions.  I thought it was a great portrayal and I'm glad they included it; though not vital to the plot of book 7, it's still important.  As for Harry and Ginny---well, I enjoyed the first part where Harry is flustered around Ginny; the scene at Slughorn's dinner party was entertaining, but the Christmas scene at the burrow and then the scene in the Room of Requirement, not my favorite!  It was so strange and not well explained.  It was after the room of requirement that they even mentioned that Ginny had broken up with Dean.  So strange.  Plus, she's such a strong willed character and I feel as if the movie has portrayed her as weak.  :(  So, not happy with that at all!  

The scene in the cave was pretty intense, and I did like this.  I thought it remained true to the book (other than Harry falling in the water), and was pretty good.  However, when they returned to Hogwarts, I was pretty upset that Dumbledore did not freeze Harry.  The fact that he could move during the entire scene on the tower frustrated me.  If Harry could have moved, it wouldn't have gone down like that; the fact that he was immobilized is vital to that scene.  This I suppose was the end of it for me. Really from that point on I was just frustrated at the movie.  The lack of a fight, the death scene, and the weird scene with Harry, Hermione, and Ron at the end just didn't do it for me.  Sometimes I wish I could better understand why writers and producers choose to do certain things when creating a movie from a book, and the end of Half-Blood Prince was definitely one of those times I didn't understand.  

Having only seen the movie once, I look forward to the next time to "love and hate" it more!