'Half-Blood Prince' Changes the Book -- for the Better

I didn't want to sign up for an AOL account, so I'll comment here!

I'm a huge fan of the books and I have to say, I loved this rendition of the scene. You're right, it leaves Potter in control and it evokes so much more emotion out of Potter than the original version!

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I have yet to see the movie but on scifi squad a commenter pointed out that during the scene Snape sees Harry hiding and signals him to keep quiet. If this is true it would serve to undermine the whole effect that these final scenes are meant to have. The sixth Harry Potter book (the ending, specifically) more than any other makes the reader honestly feel just as astonished, bewildered, and possibly as scared as the characters in the story. Dumbledore dies at the hands of Snape the most questionable character of the series, right in front of Harry's eyes. If the audience is shown beforehand that Snape did this under orders from Dumbledore than the emotion of the whole scene is torn out from underneath and their is no invigoration and hatred in the audience like there is assuredly in the characters on screen or page.

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dumbledore didn't stupefy him in the book, he used the spell Petrificus Totalus which petrifies you.

just thought you might wanna correct that. or not. hahaha.

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Actually I'd whole-heartedly disagree with this. Harry wasn't stupified in the book, Dumbledore used Petrificus Totalus on Harry to immobilize him. This is important because Dumbledore sacrificed his chance to defend against Draco to stop Harry. Along w/ listening in on Snape and Dumbledore's conversation before retrieving the Horcrux, and this change with Snape, his ambiguity, which is the crux of the 7th book, is diminished along w/ the emotional impact.

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spoiler for anyone who hasn't seen the movie...


i'm fine with the way the movie did it... its not a real big departure from the book and i like the reasoning from that sci-fi place. what disappointed me was that they cut the battle scene between the deatheaters and the order of phoenix. that would have been an awesome way to end an already awesome movie up to that point. this easily would have been my favorite potter movie had they included that battle scene. not having it was anti-climactic and it made me wonder where the other characters were.

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I totally disagree. That was not Harry's character. Harry would have still intervened. He wouldn't just let Snape use the Avada Kedavra and just sit there. That's why in the book Dumbledore stupefied him. Dumbledore knew he would get invlved even if he had promised.

In this same movie they added an extra useless scene, with Harry running after Bellatrix. That's his real character, disegarding anything else and just running after her.

Apart from that, the pin and sorrow after Dumbledore's death was not really felt at the end. It's like a dog had just died or something. Even the panic of the death eaters in Hoggwarts was not felt.

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I have to disagree with this article 100% and I think you should have went back and read the book before you wrote this article. I agree with most of the comments here that that wasn't Harry's character. The scene with Bellatrix and the Tower scene totally contradicted themselves. Hes going to run after the woman who killed his god father but hes not going to go after the same person who is trying to kill his dear friend? Come on now. With showing Dumbledore's body and not having the funeral it took away all theories you had about him going into the 7th book. The same goes for snape. To me they weren't worried about actually making a great movie based off the book, only a filler movie to set them up to make another billion dollars off us.

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I'm cool with this

word

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The ending ruined the whole movie for me. Cutting out the battle was a big mistake. Really anticlimatic, contradictory and stupid.

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They didn't "[fail] to exactly duplicate every single word of J.K. Rowling's sacred text", they ripped the pages from the book, put them through a paper shredder up, burned half the shredds, and put it back together with help from an Alzheimer's patient.

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What about the fact that they left out The cup of Hufflepuff. They are going to have a hard time explaining that one in the next movie.

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This movie was the worst. Harry would've never have trusted Snape and sat quietly by while he killed Dumbledore. Also leaving out the battle scene and the funeral at the end is ridiculous. I am sorry to say that this movie was a waste of time and money. Whomever added or changed things needs to be replaced. It ruins the book and there were a lot of things happening in the movie that if you didn't read the book would have no clue what was going on. No character development with Fenir Greyback or anything! I was extremely disappointed.

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I understand why they changed the scene to Harry hiding as non-verbal spells don't transfer well to the screen, and when Snape signals to Harry, it is as a member of the Order of the Phoenix, and with so much happening Harry thinks he may be there to help. When Snape then kills Dumbledore (quickly, before Harry can intervene) it seems to stun Harry for a brief moment for the bad guys to get a head start.

I have no problem with this rewrite of the scene. It still worked.

The rewrites/omissions that bothered me are:

1) In the book, during the climactic scene of Harry chasing Snape, he calls Snape a coward. This is the ultimate insult from the son of James Potter to a man who had just performed his most courageous act and he reacts vehemently to the word. This is the most powerful scene in the book and can be read so many different ways and would have been perfect even in this rewrite.

2) Leaving out the battle in Hogwarts which gives no way to show the growth in Neville and Ginny. More mention of the D.A. and to show the pivotal role that Neville will play.

3) The pushing of Fenrir Greyback into this story including an attack (and ludicrous burning) on the Burrow that was not in the book. They are setting him up for major screen time in the 7th movie and I can see some studio exec saying "We need some action before the end of the movie, lets attack them at the burrow!"

4) The omission of the funeral scene. I did not get the same emotional weight of Dumbledore being gone.

5) The omission of Scrimgeour scenes, and cutting out the entire ministry as well as Percy Weasley is too bad. Percy's reuniting with the Weasley's prior to the final battle is a storyline that I will miss.

6) The complete omission of Dobby and Kreacher who play pivotal roles in the next movie. Guess their characters are well enough established?

I can see plenty of ways for the scriptwriters to work in the things they changed to make the 7th story work, so most of the details don't bother me. I must assume that they have already figured out how the 7th book will be rewritten based on some of the liberties they took.

Maybe in the 7th movie, they'll rewrite it so no good guys die. But at least the 7th book has enough action that they should not feel compelled to invent more.

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I don’t know why, but the movie only shows invisibility cloak once, while in the book Harry used it so many times, especially when Dumbledore was killed. The movie made Harry so coward and useless – just hiding in the downstairs while the death eaters confront Dumbledore.From my opinion about Harry’s character in the book, He’d do anything to help Dumbledore if he could move - even Dumbledore has ordered him..If I quote Snape, Harry is truely a rulebreaker like her father. I like the book better than the movie..The scene from the pensieve which is the background of everything and will be an introduction for the deathly hallows was removed from the movie,kinda upset..T.T

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