Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005)
J.K. Rowling
([LibraryThing] [Amazon])

Sixth book in the Harry Potter series. (Read just prior to watching the movie version, as has been my custom with the previous Harry Potter books.) Harry and his friends return to Hogwarts for their sixth year. However, things are becoming very dire as Voldemore continues to work behind the scenes to reestablish his power base. Dumbledore takes a direct role in Harry instruction this year, sharing with Harry what is known of the dark lord's past. These flashbacks via the the magical device of Dumbledore's called the Pensieve are a focal part of this novel. At the same time, Ron and Hermione experience another rather sizable "bump in the road" in their relationship, while Harry starts to develop feelings for Ron's sister, Ginny. The pace of the book can seem a bit slow at times, especially with all of the Pensieve flashbacks, but once Voldemort's biggest, darkest secret is discovered and it is revealed what Dumbledore and Harry must do to defeat him, things really pick up fast. From a dangerous mission of just the two of them away from the school and back to the school again where the forces of Voldemort have infiltrated the school's defenses and are on the attack. Significant things happen in this installment in the series (including the death of a major character), and present an almost irresistible lead-in to the final, seventh, volume in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. (Finished reading 7/19/09)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) (Movie) (Opened in the U.S. 7/15/09; seen 7/19/09).

As the Harry Potter movies continue to come out, the directors and other movie makers seem to take more and more liberties with the novels in adapting them to film. This statement is not intended as a criticism, necessarily. After all, Rowlings Harry Potter novels (starting with the fourth one, in particular) are very long and some material obviously has to be omitted and/or reconfigured in order to work it all into standard length movies. The cast is once again very good in their roles, and the key elements of the novel are all there. However, I couldn't help but wonder at a few of the changes. For instance, the director chose to omit an entire sequence where Dumbledore comes to Harry's uncle and aunt's house in the beginning of the novel and discusses with them just how disappointed he is in that they have not treated Harry well over the years since Harry was first left in their care as a baby. Instead, in the movie we discover that Harry has been hanging around subways for most of the summer break, taking the trains from place to place. It is here that Dumbledore finds him. The movie also omits a good portion of the climax of the novel (a battle at Hogwarts involving many of the characters besides Harry and Dumbledore which is almost entirely omitted in the movie), and the funeral scene from the end of the novel that is very moving (and in which Harry also makes a decision regarding his newly burgeoning relationship with Ginny). It is questionable as to just why the director decided to leave these scenes out. (Well, the battle and funeral scenes would have taken a good deal of time and additional money to shoot as each has a lot of characters in it, but the movie would have been stronger with those scenes than without, in my opinion. And the introductory scene with Harry's aunt and uncle wouldn't have been all that much additional time, I don't believe.) Still, a very enjoyable movie, overall. As with the novel, the movie really whets one's appetite for the remaining installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (which the movie makers have decided to split into two separate movies in order to cover the novel more completely, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One (due to be released in November 2010), and Part Two (July 2011).