Worst Harry Potter Film Ever
If you thought Da Vinci Code the film was bad go and watch Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. You will think Ron Howard had created a celluloid classic! Yesterday had the bad luck to do just so. It's my favourite book of the series as it is a complex set of stories that unfold with Tom Riddle's memories, Snape's dilemma, Dumbledore's death - wish and most definitely the deadly horcruxes planted by Voldemort to gain immortality. Rowling had very cleverly also entwined a precursor of a wedding and the sweet sixteen romance in it. But sadly the film turned out to be the worst in the series and worse still became a high school drama director David Yates was only too busy to portray a love story.
For me who is not even the greatest fan of the books it was a heart breaking movie to watch as neither the characters were established nor any reasons justified to the substitution of characters all over the place. Ironically the success of the book lies in just that, it is just not about Harry, Ron and Hermione but it is about all the friends and foes at Hogwarts including the House Ghosts; the teachers; the Aurors (who at best are marching up and down showing off their long coats!); it's about familial love in the Weasley family and of course Tom Riddle and his famaily, who are all missing in this film. Still don't know why Luna Lovegood rescued Harry instead of Tonks; why Neville was only hovering in the back ground and did not even have a single line; why Snape just walked in and matter of factly declared he was the Half Blood Prince. Fred and George make a brief appearance but the Weaseley family was cut down to the minimum. Minister of Magic never even made any appearance, we don't get to know which are the Horcruxes which Harry wants to go hunting for in the next school year; we don't even get to see the Sword of Gryffindor!
I seriously advise Mr. Yates to watch "The Lord of the Rings" a zillion times before embarking on the next two films. I am sure his tactic of the love angle has done wonder for the cash registers world wide but it has definitely killed the book for us. Here Bollywood can definitely take pride for teaching the British directors a thing or two. I think David Yates got the idea from one Mr. Danny Boyle, who had a runaway hit with a film on a Slum Dog narrating a heart wrenching love story and Bollywood has proved it over and over that romance is one thing people just can't say no to. We should not forget the baggage of Romeo and Juliet too!
If you love the characters and the book and you have not seen the film yet I strongly advise that you give this one a miss. Otherwise you might end up wondering should you watch the next two films at all! This would go down as the worst ever made film on a best seller ever. As a friend said correctly as so much liberty has been taken to turn around the story they might have even spared Dumbledore's life and probably in the next two films we would have actually something to look forward to, an alternate end to the mega series.
For me who is not even the greatest fan of the books it was a heart breaking movie to watch as neither the characters were established nor any reasons justified to the substitution of characters all over the place. Ironically the success of the book lies in just that, it is just not about Harry, Ron and Hermione but it is about all the friends and foes at Hogwarts including the House Ghosts; the teachers; the Aurors (who at best are marching up and down showing off their long coats!); it's about familial love in the Weasley family and of course Tom Riddle and his famaily, who are all missing in this film. Still don't know why Luna Lovegood rescued Harry instead of Tonks; why Neville was only hovering in the back ground and did not even have a single line; why Snape just walked in and matter of factly declared he was the Half Blood Prince. Fred and George make a brief appearance but the Weaseley family was cut down to the minimum. Minister of Magic never even made any appearance, we don't get to know which are the Horcruxes which Harry wants to go hunting for in the next school year; we don't even get to see the Sword of Gryffindor!
I seriously advise Mr. Yates to watch "The Lord of the Rings" a zillion times before embarking on the next two films. I am sure his tactic of the love angle has done wonder for the cash registers world wide but it has definitely killed the book for us. Here Bollywood can definitely take pride for teaching the British directors a thing or two. I think David Yates got the idea from one Mr. Danny Boyle, who had a runaway hit with a film on a Slum Dog narrating a heart wrenching love story and Bollywood has proved it over and over that romance is one thing people just can't say no to. We should not forget the baggage of Romeo and Juliet too!
If you love the characters and the book and you have not seen the film yet I strongly advise that you give this one a miss. Otherwise you might end up wondering should you watch the next two films at all! This would go down as the worst ever made film on a best seller ever. As a friend said correctly as so much liberty has been taken to turn around the story they might have even spared Dumbledore's life and probably in the next two films we would have actually something to look forward to, an alternate end to the mega series.
Comments
I would, however, mind if they twisted Les Miserables while making a movie out of it (the movie was largely a disappointment though). Thankfully they didn't.
The latest disappointment I had was Peter Brook's 1989 adaptation of Mahabharata. My own six-pence on that:
http://allthetiredhorsesinthesun.blogspot.com/2009/07/shakespearean-mahabharata-with-peter.html#links