There are now just four months until all of us Harry Potter fans will finally get to see The Half-Blood Prince at the cinema. Having been delayed for nine months in order to avoid scheduling problems, you’d think the movie would be top notch. But that may not be the case.
According to The Sun, some lucky HP fans were treated to a test screening of the movie in order to gage opinions. After the screening, the general consensus seemed to be negative. Key characters and plot lines have supposedly been removed from the film, while new scenes have been added which don’t add anything to the story.
One fans also complained that the whole thing was too soppy, with romance being the main focus of the movie. While romance was rife in the book, the main focus of the J.K. Rowling-penned novel was the Half-Blood Prince of the title, and a series of memories shown to him by Professor Dumbledore.
This is also the book where a major character dies, and the fans at the screening reckon even that was fudged. One of the fans at the U.S. test screening complained:
“The last third of this movie is so incredibly mishandled the death feels more like an unfortunate accident than genuine tragedy.”
I think the big problem is the length of the book and how to condense that into a movie short enough to keep the attention of youngsters. Some scenes were obviously going to have to be cut, with others then a necessity to explain the plot holes.
This is exactly why the last book is being split into two movies, a decision which looks sensible judging by these early reviews of Harry Potter and Th Half-Blood Prince.
