Harry Potter and the Half Blood Who?

Like most adaptations of books, I found this film lacking. The plot had been tapered with almost to the point of none existence, and the key themes ( in my opinion) of the book were missed. For instance the 'half blood prince' was hardly adressed, simply thrown in casually at the end of the film.This could be for many reasons, either the ‘darker’ scenes were not acceptable for the films target audience of children; the film is a 12A rating. Or they are waiting for the next films to fully explain the layers of action happening within the grand scheme of the Harry Potter books. However, these possible reasons do not account for the dialogue being unconvincing; I felt that the characters did not possess the same qualities that the written word instils in them. This is of course only my opinion, one of the great problems when visualising a novel; every reader sees something different. It seems an impossible task to delve into millions of peoples imaginations and pull out that single common thread.

However it cannot be denied that the set and costume design was amazing, the most convincing film in terms of visuals so far. The teenagers were dressed like teenagers, and the wizards exactly as described, down the stripped sofa the character Horace Slughorn transforms into. This is particually true in the 'cave scene' generated in its entirity by CGI. These sets captivated the imagination and created a world that extended far beyond the 157 minutes of the film.