Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

I went to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince yesterday and it was good. Not major epic good, but a decent build up to the next installment.

This time, the story goes on to explore how Voldemort came to be and how he is able to come back to life. A new character in the form of Horace Slughorn, a former Hogwarts professor, is introduced. Harry must find out about Professor Slughorn's secret in order to find a way to destroy Voldemort once and for all. Also, a group of Death Eaters had appeared with sinister intentions and they have selected Draco Malfoy to execute an important task all in the name of the dark lord.

I haven't read the book myself but from what I've heard, a lot of contents were cut but I thought that would be understandable as it is the case of any movie adaptations. Though it would be better if the climactic battle at the end of the book was utilized in the movie, since the movie might be a bit on the quaint side.

The kids are growing older and we're wondering why are they still in school. Love is
one of the main plotline in this installment. It seems like everyone wants a piece of the Weasleys, which is odd; as cute as they were as child actors, not everyone grew up a hunk and Rupert Glint who plays Ron Weasley is far from it. I'm also dismayed that while Tom Felton who plays Draco Malfoy was quite a cute kid, he didn't grew up looking as hunky as I'd thought. Harry Potter himself is quite hormone driven himself, while he has a romantic link to Cho Chang, tries to pick up a waitress, a fellow student at the library, now he's pursuing his best friend's sister, completely breaking the Bro Code. Not cool.

The existence of Dumbledore's disease is not quite well explained. One of the Death Eaters, Bellatrix Lestrange, played by the ever so scene-stealing Helena Bonham Carter reminds me of her Sweeney Todd character. I really wanted her to have more lines, I really wanted to get to know her character better and same goes to her fellow Death Eater Fenrir Greyback.

I'm sure I won't be able to wait for a year for the final installment. Guess I'll have to read the books. B