Saturday, July 18, 2009

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - 2009

We went to a morning show today (ain't they great!) and saw the latest Harry Potter movie. It was interesting in at least one way; neither of us remembered much of this particular book. I remembered the ending only, she thought it was the last one of the series. In our defense, we both read the final book just weeks before Relia came into our life and we've been busy since then. The bonus to this is that we didn't have a single complaint in how the movie compares to the book and can just judge it as a movie.
It was a fine movie, though nothing breathtaking. The plot was easy enough to follow. Characters that we didn't recognize were easy enough to categorize as good or bad. The story moves along although the movie is more than two and a half hours long. Much of it focuses on teen relationships and those parts worked well. Who is the 'half blood prince'? That's a bit of a mystery and the answer is...not important or explained.
Favorite part? Jim Broadbent plays a visiting professor and I loved him. This series has done a wonderful job of casting great British actors:

(Introduced in...)
Sorcerer's Stone - Richard Harris, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith
Chamber of Secrets - Kenneth Branagh
Prisoner of Azkaban - Emma Thompson, Gary Oldman
Goblet of Fire - Ralph Fiennes, David Tennant
Order of the Phoenix - Helena Bonham Carter
Half Blood Prince - Jim Broadbent

That means that 'Deathly Hallows' should somehow include Patrick Stewart and Dame Judi Dench. Other useless trivia? If you wanted to watch all six movies it would take you fifteen hours and two minutes.

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