Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

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Going to see the latest HP movie has become a tradition for us. We waited for a week, though, and the Saturday afternoon showing at the Strand Theatre was sparsely attended. If you want to see it, you might want to brush up on what's gone previously. I'd forgotten some points, like exactly who/what the death-eaters are. (And even now that I know who the "Half-Blood Prince" is, I'm not sure why he's called that, or why it's important.)

It's Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts, there's a new professor (Slughorn, played amusingly by Jim Broadbent), Snape is still moody and dark, and Dumbledore assigns Harry to find out what's going on. This seems to be a task that for which Harry is woefully inadequate, but (as in previous entries in the series), he always seems to do an adequate job and survive until the end of the film.

Also, there's an amusing subplot about raging teenage hormones; prospective wizards have those too. Much talk about "snogging"; I wonder if they considered releasing the movie with American subtitles?

But if you've read the books, you know that the ending of this, the penultimate one in the series, is not a happy one. The final book is being made into two final movies, which only shows that the filmmakers know people like us too well.


Last Modified 2024-01-31 5:22 AM EDT