Customer Reviews

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Widescreen Edition)

5 star:		(332)
4 star:		(140)
3 star:		(97)
2 star:		(75)
1 star:		(97)

 

 

Since I had to look elsewhere for DVD details (to decide whether to buy the 2-disc or one-disc film), I thought I'd post here:

1-Disc Wide screen and Full Screen DVD

*Includes both a wide screen and full screen version of the film.
*No special features
*RRP $28.98
2-Disc Digital Copy Special Edition DVD

*Widescreen version only
*Additional scenes (6:31)
*Close-Up with the Cast and Crew of Harry Potter special. Matthew Lewis ("Neville Longbottom") and Alfred Enoch ("Dean Thomas") lead us on an entertaining look at the cast of Harry Potter as they explore their interests away from acting and spend a day on set with the production team (28:30)
*J.K. Rowling: A Year in the Life: A fascinating and intimate look into the life of J.K. Rowling over the last year of writing "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." (49:32)
*One Minute Drills: The cast has 60 seconds to describe their character's personality, history, relationships and other traits before time runs out (6:43)
*What's On Your Mind: Hosted by Tom Felton, the cast is put on the spot when asked a series of rapid-fire questions on their likes and dislikes. (6:41)
*Universal's "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter" Sneak Peek: Get an "inside look" at the amazing world of magic and excitement being created at Universal Orlando® Resort in Florida (11:38)
*Digital Copy of the theatrical film (2nd disc)
*RRP $34.99

I can't believe the negative reviews. I read the book and thought the filmmakers did a fantastic job with it. Anyone who wants a film to be an exact replica of any book should do themselves a favor and just read the book again. Am looking forward to enjoying it again (and again) on DVD.

One quick thing I love about it, the cover...I saw the DVD from the right side and I see Malfoy and Snape. Odd I thought, but cool. So I picked it up and from the left side, it looks like Harry and Dumbledore. I know it's trivial but its the little things I try to smile about.

If you've read the book you probably spent a good majority of the movie going "where did that scene go?" and yes there is a lot missing. The Half-Blood prince was simply too dense of a book to fit into a 2 hour movie. A lot of the book is building up to what happens and unfolds in the final book, I would have rather seen this film in two parts then leave out scenes (or add scenes like they did). I think for this movie to be fully enjoyed and understood, you would definitely need to read the book.

Spoilers Ahead (actually if you read the book these aren't spoilers, just things you might have noticed are missing): These are just some of the more important scenes that are left out: The final Hogwarts battle, Dumbledore's funeral, Sirius' property being stolen, Harry and Ginny's relationship and its ending, where are the older Weasley boys?. There are other parts that are gone, other reviewers have already touched on them.

I did give this movie four stars because I feel it did deserve it. One star because its a Harry Potter film, I enjoy the series. Another star for the chemistry between everyone. It was great, especially now since they are coming of age, hormones are running wild and love is blossoming, its a normal part of growing up. It also provided a great balance to the darkness that overtook the movie. Another star for the emotional conflict of Malfoy, it was excellent. He was able to get more screen time and we see his internal battle. And the last star for, the acting. I think everyone did a great job portraying the emotion or lack there of in the film. Except the ending, I felt more emotional reading the book than what came across on the screen. After a slight let down of this movie, now the wait begins for Nov 2010 for part 1 of the Deathly Hallows (or maybe not since it's the same director).

Warner Brothers is trying to fool us again - calling this an "Ultimate Edition" when it is NOT the extended version of the film. It comes with behind the scenes extras and commentaries, but the movie itself is the same! I expect this is because they decided after the first 2 Ultimate Editions that they would wait and re-release all 8 movies at once in another Ultimate Edition, but this time a Box Set with extended versions of all films - to entice everyone to buy all the movies yet again. Hold off for now and watch your DVD copies - next year we can all buy the REAL Ultimate Editions!

This is not a review of the movie, but rather of the poor job Warner Home Video has done with the Blu-ray video transfer. There are horizontal bands visible in various scenes throughout the movie. They are not constantly visible, but appear primarily in scenes where there are large areas of darkness - though of course that means they are visible in quite a few scenes of this very dark movie.
The bands are not being produced by my player - I can see them on all three of my Blu-ray players, including my PS3 and two computers with Blu-ray drives. The bands are part of the image and are visible when the movie is freeze-framed.
I recommend that those considering a purchase refrain from buying this disc until and unless a replacement is offered by Warner Home Video.
I own over 200 Blu-ray discs, and this is the first time I have seen this issue on any transfer. It is obvious to me that this disc was mastered incorrectly.

*References to spoilers in book!*

It is difficult for me to give less than 5-stars for what I believe is a 6 out of 5 stars book. HBP, in my humble opinion, is one of the greatest of the Rowling series, as it gives a specific insight into the workings of the Dark Lord, and everything in Harry's life starts to make sense. I agree with previous reviewers that this is the darkest book yet, and I think that's one of the drawcards to reading this book. Dumbledore is Harry's protector, mentor, and in the end, the greatest sorcerer of all time; on the other hand, Snape's character is further developed and we are now finally forced to make the decision: is he, or isn't he??

-Good Things-
1) Jim Broadbent is an excellent selection for Slughorn, and his character is as jovial and unique as out of Rowling's novel.

2) I also believe this is the best performance by Michael Gambon as Dumbledore - he appeared too neurotic in the previous films, as Dumbledore is never supposed to be overly-nervous, as he always has an idea of what's going on. The scene in the cave is straight from the book, and we see Dumbledore exactly as Rowling had intended: a vulnerable person, just like everyone else. Plus, the setting was fantastic and very suspenseful.

3) Ron vs. Hermoine! Very enjoyable scenes between these two characters, adding extra humour to a very dark film.

4) Draco Malfoy's character is more prominent in this film, and viewers enjoy seeing a side of the younger Malfoy that perhaps is hinted in the previous films/books - overconfident on the outside, but different on the inside. This scene also shows a side of Harry's character that will further show in the final film.

-Bad Things-
1) For goodness sakes, WHY do they see it as their prerogative to change CRUCIAL sections of the book?? And then add other useless junk?? The waitress - completely unnecessary scene, as we get many glimpses of Harry's developing maturity in other scenes. It made no sense to add it. The fire at the Burrow - this is just plain ridiculous. The Burrow is the place of Harry's salvation, where the Order meet on countless occasions, etc. etc. I don't understand why they chose to burn the place up - where do they propose Ron's family live for the Dealthly Hallows dialogue??!

2) One thing I am really disappointed was removed from the films was the story of Neville's parents. They were NOT killed by Bellatrix Lestrange (as the previous film hinted) - and there was a key scene in this film that gives the background to Neville's determination to prove himself in the final book. Mr. Weasley's attack was removed completely. Moreover, there was what would have been a very funny revival of a glimpse of Lockhart connected with these events - I for one like these references back to earlier books, and am not happy with this exclusion.

3) They also seem to have removed the older Weasley boys from the movies, and this is not acceptible, as Bill, Fleur, and Charley play a key role in battle against the Dark Lord, and Bill's attack by the warewolf gives further credit to their parts to play. The upcoming wedding also sets the scene for the Deathly Hallows and I am sadly thinking perhaps this will be completely removed from the next film.

4) The pensieve scenes, including very interesting flashbacks, were also omitted. They were what makes the Dark Lord's story make sense, and the key flaw in his character. I think more time should have been invested into this story of Tom Riddle, rather than scenes that were not even in the book, and were silly to add.

5) Also, one word: SNAPE! WHY do they cut his role??! Alan Rickman is fantastic, and enjoyable to watch as Snape. They should retain his role, and stop putting his scenes on the cutting room floor.

So, why 4 stars?? Well, it is overall a good enough film, and it is enjoyable to watch. I am nit-picky as someone who has read the books several times, and has really enjoyed the intrigute story behind Harry Potter and Tom Riddle, so perhaps get a bit over-excited about scenes that are not specifically important. It is still a great film to watch, and it will certainly be interesting to see if they retain all the key parts of the final novel - since they're filming the final book in two films, let's hope they're doing this in order to keep all the important content and not simply for revenue raising.

I agree with Geoff. I love the Potter series and I love the movies... until this one. I was positively mortified and left hanging with a lifeless conclusion of an almost unrecognizable movie; butchered by Yates.

While I realize things have to be omitted and trimmed for reasons of time and expense, there was no excuse for the butchering this Director Yates did to this movie. He didn't trim... he decided to rewrite the entire book to his own version... as if he thought he could do a better job than a billionaire author? It had nothing to do with saving money either. Did it not occur to him that hundreds of millions of fans had already read the book and were expecting some semblance of similarity between the movie and the book? Did they think they would win brownie points with ANY of us by butchering our story? We don't go to the Potter movies to see something different. We go to see a video version of the books we read because we enjoyed the books... not a hack job by some hack director trying to rewrite the series. Where the heck were the executive controls at WB who should have been watching what Yates was doing? And who did Yates blackmail to get the last 2 movies after what he did to this one? It certainly was not a case of talent on his part.

I had to reread the book to make sure I didn't miss something. The things this director did to butcher this movie did nothing to improve the story or save money and were completely unnecessary. We have to wonder if Yates ever bothered to read the books. I shudder to think what this poor excuse for a director will do to the final two movies. We'll watch it because we have no choice... but I can guarantee, after the Potter films, I will never, ever watch another movie directed by Yates... ever again. I hope everyone else boycotts his future ambitions as well.

Burning down the Weasley's home... what purpose did that serve except to upset all of the fans? It was disrespectful like having someone spit on your family heirlooms. It did nothing to improve the movie or "move along" the progress of the movie. It had no useful purpose whatsoever and certainly did not please any of the movie fans and wasted the original Christmas scene... which would not have required as many expensive CGI's as this distorted Yates version used.

Same with the exclusion of the interaction with the Dursely's and Dumbledore... so instead this terrible director has Harry hanging out in the underground metro diner hitting on some waitress while reading the daily profit out in the open... while Dumbledore appears outside the metro station dressed in his usual Wizard robes for all the muggles to see.... Not only was this totally in contradiction with the book, it served no useful purpose except to leave the entire audience wondering if they were watching the right movie. A dud of an opener.

The exclusion of Kreacher and Harry's inheriting Sirius's home made no sense whatsoever. Kreacher is a big part of the final book.
There is no semblance of a relationship between Harry and Ginny. That entire endeavor has fallen flat and nothing they can do will spark that part of the storyline now. There is zero magic between them. In fact, there is much more magic between Neville and Ginny than there is with Harry. Every relationship they have tried with Harry has been a dud. Hermione would have been the only one which might have worked.
The relationship with Lavender and Ron was just terrible. Talk about "over acting!" They could have cut that part out and none of us would have missed it.
Neville was almost nonexistent in the movie and that's a shame. He adds a lot to the stories.
Cutting out all of the storyline about Riddle's family was cutting out the heart of why Voldemort is so obsessed about hating muggles and the hypocrisy of it.

Then there was this ridiculous Yates version of the potions book. Like others have commented... Snape didn't even react to Harry nearly killing Malfoy. He didn't even act upset as he calmly healed Malfoy's wounds... and unlike the book, Harry wasn't even punished. Part of that punishment would have given Harry an insight as to how cruel his own father had been toward Snape.

Yet, Yates completely changed the story where Harry put the book in the room of requirement with the Tiara on top of it... which is critical for the ending of the final book. It is substituted with some ridiculous scene with Ginny hiding the book... ending with a flat moment of meaningless intimacy.

The worst moment of the movie by Yates is where Harry remained quietly below, watching while Dumbledore was being accosted and killed... where in the book, he had been paralyzed by Dumbledore and covered with his cloak so he could not interfere. I can't see where changing this scene saved a single penny or a single moment of time. What it did was to be completely out of character for Harry to just stand there gaping while his mentor was killed. This was totally unpalatable for fans.

Then, out of the blue, Snape declares himself to be the Half Blood Prince... when there wasn't any reason given in the movie as to why Snape would even be aware that Harry was familiar with that name or the book... other than the fact that he had used one of his own spells on him... but there was no connecting storyline in the film that made his statement make any sense. It was just blurted totally out of context.

The big let down was the ending. There was no ending. It just faded away without any climax or closure. It ended with a dud.

I don't know what WB is thinking... but they are allowing Yates to make enemies out of millions... hundreds of millions of fans. That is a huge fan base to upset just to protect some hack director who is butchering the most popular series of books ever published. I cannot imagine where their heads are... certainly not anywhere we can describe in public... Just like the idiots who cancelled Star Trek... a billion dollar franchise. Shallow thinking pitbulls who can't leave a good thing alone... and then blame everyone but themselves when they shoot themselves in the foot.

Yes... we go to the Harry Potter movies expecting to see what we read in the book with the understanding that they don't have time to include everything. We do not go to the Harry Potter movies to see the story changed or rewritten.

There is only one thing that all the fans would agree on having rewritten.... and that would be to use the resurrection stone to bring back Sirius, Dumbledore and everyone else who was killed in the series... including Harry's parents and Snape. If WB and Yates want to change something... then change that! That is the one change we would welcome... and it might be enough to salvage WB's reputation from this hack job they allowed to be perpetrated on our movie series.

My main gripe with the previous Harry Potter movie "Order of the Phoenix" was that for some strange reason they took the longest of the books and turned it into the shortest Harry Potter movie to date. The result was that I felt like I was watching the movie fly by on a speeding train, as it rushed from one key event to another without really taking the time to explore anything in detail.

Now we follow up with "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" and....what a difference. There are plenty of cuts of course, no Harry Potter movie can be free of cuts without being waaaay too long. But the movie's length was at least comparable to some of the others. The 3 lead characters were as spot on as ever. Michael Gambon finally brings a bit more warmth to his portrayal of Albus Dumbledor than he brought to the last few movies. Tom Felton played Draco Malfoy with all the depth one would hope for in his most important role in the series. Alan Rickman isn't seen too much as Severus Snape, but when he is he's as wonderful as ever.

I really think this may be the best Harry Potter film yet, and I was really starting to think after the last film that the story had gotten to big for them to manage in film. Good work guys.

I've loved Rowling's books, and the first three films, but I confess I found this last one disappointing. There are so many key scenes left out and strange ones put in that make no sense, I wondered at times if the film was of the book I'd read. "Based on a novel by..." is only too true. And don't get me started on the 17 minutes of game ads, trailers and other rubbish that are impossible to fast forward over before you are finally allowed to see what you paid for. I wonder what the author makes of it all.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised. As you know, Warner Brothers has officially announced the Ultimate Editions of years 5 and 6. The product descriptions are quite wordy. There's a lot of talk about how fans should be excited about these new releases. But there are two words missing from the descriptions of both these products: Extended. Cut.

These are the words that sold me in the beginning. The promise of seeing extended cuts of the HP films was enough for me (and many, MANY other fans) to double dip and get the Ultimate SS and CoS Blu-rays. And you know what? There were worth it. Not because of the endless array of worthless swag packed into over-size boxes. I mean, seriously... Anybody out there framing their lenticular cards and hanging them over their mantles? I didn't think so. But I digress...

What sold me and so many other fans was the extended cuts. And so I began collecting the Ultimate Editions. And what excited me even more was the idea of more extended cuts to come, especially for The Order of the Phoenix.

Then PoA and GoF Ultimate Editions came out, and of course, there were no extended cuts. And Warner Bros. spun us a tale of directors and their creative preferences. And so, we all said "fair enough" (although I, for one, never quite bought that explanation). Still, I had hopes for OotP and HBP. Director David Yates is on record talking about having to cut 45 minutes from The Order of the Phoenix. And yet, here we are again with no extended cut to speak of. I'm sure the studio will spin us a tale of how busy Yates has been with the final installment of the franchise, thus making it impossible to return to these previous films and give the fans what they want: An official ultimate collector's replica of a square of Hogwart's Toilet Paper.

Oh, I meant AN EXTENDED CUT.

Now, I understand Warner Bros. desire to get these editions on the shelves before the final film hits theaters. As for me, I would gladly wait a year for these editions if it meant getting to see extended cuts of the films. But this is not about the fans. This is about the bottom line. If the WB can get a half-@$$ product onto the shelves sooner, and therefore presumably make more money in the final season of Potter movie mania, then who cares what the fans want? We will buy anything with the word Ultimate in front of it. Or maybe not.

This is my second favorite of the Harry Potter books, but my absolute least favorite of the movies, by far.
Acting was stilted. Too many story changes. No "magic" at all felt during the movie. I know it should be dark because of the story line, but the director and whoever wrote the screenplay totally ruined it for me.

At the end of the book, when Severus yells at Harry... "don't call me coward!" That is a climactic moment and it was completely left out of the movie!
The whole backstory of Voldemorts mother and childhood are left out.

If it was too much movie for one book, then pick up the pace. It totally dragged. I will not watch it again.

If this same director is doing the next two movies, I won't bother seeing them. I would give the movie ZERO stars if I could.