^I agree with you.

But what cracks me up is Luna's glasses. That never even happened. It was someone else who found him lol.

Yeah. I like Luna and all, but that was kind of weird. Just seems a way for the movie to continue omitting the fact that there were members of the Order of the Phoenix on duty guarding Hogwarts in this story. Obviously, the movie didn't want that. Otherwise there would have been a big fight between the Order of the Phoenix and the Death Eaters who invaded Hogwarts castle at the end. You know, like what happens in the book. LOL. As it is, apparently a handful of Death Eaters invaded Hogwarts all to....collect Draco Malfoy? And they all strolled from the top of the Astronomy Tower all the way to the ground floor and out across the grounds with zero resistance from anyone, save one measly guard? This is what I am talking about re: leaps of logic.

Also, the movie made Harry look like a wuss by leaving him standing under the Astronomy Tower doing nothing as Dumbledore was confronted by Malfoy and then various Death Eaters. Seriously? Harry did nothing? Try to disarm Malfoy? Or better idea, RUN FOR HELP? Even if he ran for Snape and it all turned out the same way, that would have been better than doing nothing. I completely do not understand why the film left him standing there doing nothing. It makes him look so weak. Seriously, they are telling me Harry Potter did nothing to try to protect Dumbledore? Why didn't this scene go as it was in the book, again? It was such an awesome scene in the book. I am totally baffled by this scene in the movie.

And Alan Rickman was totally robbed. This material in the film climax only scratched the surface of the Snape material in the book. I was so sad to see a cool, in control Snape in this scene. Snape is definitely not cool and in control in this scene in the book. Alas.

Ah well. Just ramblings, really. This is why I love the books and only mildly like the movies. This movie was particularly frustrating because it looks so good for so long, and then completely derails at the end. Seriously, did we need all those teenage romance/Quidditch scenes? We couldn't do one more vital Tom Riddle memory that explained what those missing horcruxes could be, and then expanded out the climax scene? Sigh. So close.

quote:

Originally posted by LadyHathor25:
^Meh. Prisoner of Azkaban is actually my favorite book in the series. I think Alfonso Cuaron did a great job with it. However, that movie also had a somewhat gutted ending. What made the book so wonderful was the reveal about the previous generation. The scene in the Shrieking Shack was so wonderful for the glimpse it gave into the relationships between James, Sirius, Lupin, Pettigrew and even Snape. Almost none of this survived into the film. Neither did Snape's epic meltdown in those ending scenes. The movie actually makes Snape look *better* than he does in the book!

Yes, I know PoA seems to be a lot of people's favorite movie, and while I liked some of the details that Cuaron added except for that mysterious student who hogged up a lot of time who has never appeared in any of the other movies when an existing character already on the canvas who didn't get many lines at all like Neville or even Ron could have been given more time. More importantly, my friend who hadn't read the series was confused about some parts of it as I would have been if I hadn't read the books. This is why I don't think it's all that great since that's a big problem that's plagued all the other films, imo. I know they can't put everything in the films nor do I expect them too, but I do wish from the very beginning that they were better at including things that were important to the overall storyline for non-readers, and cutting things that aren't (cough, Quidditch, cough). That's the main reasons I think they should have waited until the whole series had been published to get a better idea of what should be included and what could have been cut. I'm sure JKR did give them some direction, but I don't think it was enough.

Also, I agree that I didn't like the ending of PoA that much. It wasn't as bad as the Hagrid you saved Hogwarts ending that made me want to vomit since Hagrid is probably my least favorite non-evil character or the Slytherins drool and Gryffindors rule ending, which I didn't like in the book because I could see why the Slytherins all turned to the dark side if Dumbledore kept favoring the Gryffindors all the time, but it was just so wtf?.

Basically, I felt that the Shrieking Shack scene in POA film was as rushed and chopped up as the Astronomy Tower/Death Eaters escape scenes were in Half Blood Prince.

I also think this film version of Half Blood Prince did almost nothing to set up the last story. In this film, Harry has no idea what these horcruxes could be. The movie cut out the Tom Riddle memories that gave Harry the clues he needed to solve the puzzles in book 7. In book 6 Harry even sees one of the horcruxes in the Room of Requirement, which enables him to remember its location in book 7. This scene was also cut out of Movie 6. Also, the films haven't really done enough for Harry to understand who R.A.B. is, and how this person could have found and stolen the horcrux from the cave. Though, that is mainly a flaw from the Order of the Phoenix film, since that is the story in which this information is originally divulged.

Whew, if I thought Harry's task in finding those horcruxes in book 7 was tough, imagine how tough it will be when he doesn't even know a few crucial bits of information thanks to the cuts in movie 6. LOL.

I also wonder if film 7 is going to explain what happens to Dumbledore's body and possesions. Namely, what happens to his wand??? The location of that wand, and who possesses it, become a bit crucial to the plotline of book 7.

Oh, and like Hybrid, I was a bit mystified that Harry's Invisibility Cloak can hide someone from Death, but not Luna's x-ray glasses. LOL.

Okay. Thus ends my Harry Potter obsessed nitpicking. Truly, though, I don't see how anyone could really understand these films if they haven't read the books. There is so much plot detail left out that the films are left with these gaping plot holes and leaps of logic. I swear, I am dying of curiosity now to find out how Harry is going to be able to identify the remaining horcruxes with absolutely zero knowledge of what they could be. As Dumbledore states in the movie, they could be *anything*![/QUOTE]

So I wanted to pose this question to all of you.

Was releasing this latest entry of the Harry Potter saga during this summer a mistake? I pose this question only because in observing its box office take, I'm disappointed (as well may be WB) with how little it has gotten at the box office thus far.

Should Harry Potter: The Half-Blood Prince have rather been released during its traditional holiday season instead? Especially to keep fresh in The Academy thoughts and minds when marking their ballots.

The film has done fine - maybe a bit below WB's high end hopes, but just fine.

And releasing it in the summer has a huge bonus - Xmas gift DVD sales. Had it come out in November, it would have benefited from the not so great St Patrick's Day sales rush.

Can I suggest not putting editorial commentary in the subject titles? By all accounts, it's going to make as much, if not more, than most other Harry Potter movies. It has already made $400 million overseas, faster than any other Potter installment. Since when is that a mistake?

The only reason it may appear to be a mistake is because it was so heavily front-loaded on opening weekend. Which means it hit its saturation point sooner than usual. That gives the APPEARANCE of a mistake, but the numbers don't show the reality. It's the sort of misleading question that I'd expect a competing film company to put out there. A dishonest competing film company, I might add.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: stevie,

I liked this article about Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince encouraging under age drinking! LOL. Very funny.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07...alth/28well.html?hpw

This film is doing fine at the box office. It is going to make in the same range as all the other Harry Potter movies. When WB pushed back the release date they created a lot of pent up demand for the film. Therefore, the opening weekend grosses are going to look inflated as compared to the rest of the films. But, in the end, it will end up the same as all the rest of the Harry Potter films.

I am pretty sure WB could release Harry Potter at any point in the year and still make $260-$290 million on the movie.

The movie did not include what I thought were the best parts of the book -mainly all the Tom Riddle stuff- but what was on screen was good. Dumbledore's mission for Harry in trying to get to the memories of Slughorn was clear and interesting and provided for some humor and funny character moments but also some drama. The look of the film was impressive. Helena Bonham Carter stole some scenes like the Unbreakable vow with Snape and Narcissa and Jim Broadbent was excellent.