Though the books have ended, Potter fans can still get together in celebration for the movies. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince just came out in theaters, and will be out in IMAX 3-D later this month. But how does the movie compare to the book?
Many people are against making any changes when adapting a book into a movie, but something has to be cut when you try to make a 600-page book into a 2-and-a-half hour movie. I think the book was shortened pretty well- and, most importantly, the movie still makes sense to people who haven't read the book. Two of my friends did not read the book before seeing the movie, and they followed the plot of the movie without much trouble. The movie focuses mostly on the romances found in the book, and I was surprised with how much they kept in. The main plot seems to take a backseat- in the book, we see a lot about Voldemort's past by looking at other people's memories, and Harry and Dumbledore try to learn as much as they can about their enemy. In the movie, we only see two of these memories. Still, the movie didn't drag anything out- everything that was left in the movie was at the very least entertaining.
The movie itself has very good special effects. Harry's first trip into the memories looks very cool, with mist and shadowy shapes surrounding the main memory. There's a scene in the beginning of the movie where a broken room is fixed around Harry, with books and broken glass flying around him. The scene in the cave towards the end is as scary as it sounds in the book. During one particularly emotional scene, the sound is muted and everything is slowed down, as if Harry is not sure if the events are real or a dream.
The movie is both funny and exciting, funnier than I thought it would be. There were some differences between the book and the movie- many scenes were left out, a few new scenes were added in, some plots are simplified- but I think the changes make the movie shorter and easier to follow. Personally, I think this was one of the better Harry Potter adaptations, but either way, we greatly look foreward to the next movie.
Mural Painting of Harry Potter by Michael Rex
