Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

Director:

David Yates

Writers (WGA):

Steve Kloves (screenplay)
J.K. Rowling (novel)

Release Date:

15 July 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Family | Fantasy | Mystery | Romance

Tagline:

Once again I must ask too much of you, Harry

Plot:

As Harry Potter begins his 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he discovers an old book marked mysteriously "This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince" and begins to learn more about Lord Voldemort's dark past.

Plot Keywords:

Book | Harry Potter | Dark | Blood | Barefoot

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Daniel Radcliffe	...	Harry Potter
Rupert Grint	...	Ron Weasley
Emma Watson	...	Hermione Granger
Jim Broadbent	...	Professor Horace Slughorn
Elarica Gallacher	...	Waitress
Robbie Coltrane	...	Rubeus Hagrid
Michael Gambon	...	Professor Albus Dumbledore
Maggie Smith	...	Professor Minerva McGonagall
Alan Rickman	...	Professor Severus Snape
Bonnie Wright	...	Ginny Weasley
James Phelps	...	Fred Weasley
Oliver Phelps	...	George Weasley
Julie Walters	...	Molly Weasley
Mark Williams	...	Arthur Weasley
David Thewlis	...	Remus Lupin

Also Known As:

HP and the HBP (International: English title) (informal short title)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Hong Kong: English title)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: An IMAX 3D Experience (USA) (IMAX version)
The Half-Blood Prince (USA) (short title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for scary images, some violence, language and mild sensuality.

Runtime:

153 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English | Croatian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG (certificate #45077) | UK:12A | Ireland:12A | Finland:K-11 | Norway:11 | Hong Kong:IIA | Australia:M | South Korea:All | Singapore:PG | Brazil:12 | Iceland:10 | Canada:G (Quebec) | New Zealand:M | Japan:G | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Netherlands:12 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Sweden:11 | Philippines:G (MTRCB) | Portugal:M/12 | France:U | Germany:12 | Argentina:13 | Peru:14 | Taiwan:GP | Mexico:B

Filming Locations:

Bjorli, Norway

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Jamie Campbell Bower hoped to be cast as a young Riddle. He was instead cast as the teenage Gellert Grindelwald in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During the scene in Professor Slughorn's lesson, the students are told to make a Draught of Living Death, the recipe for which "can be found on page 10". During the lesson, it is quite clear that Hermione has her book open somewhere in the middle (circa page 200).

Quotes:

[Harry gulps down the Felix Felicis]
Hermione Granger: How do you feel?
Harry Potter: Excellent... really excellent!
Hermione Granger: Remember, Slughorn usually eats early, takes a walk, and then returns to his office.
Harry Potter: Right. I'm going down to Hagrid's.
Hermione Granger: What? No! Harry, you've got to go speak to Slughorn! We have a plan.
Harry Potter: I know, but I've got a really good feeling about Hagrid's. I feel like it's the place to be tonight. Do you know what I mean?
Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley: No.
Harry Potter: Trust me! I know what I'm doing, or Felix does.
[walks past two people]
[...]

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Electric Spoofaloo: Harry Potter and the Ooh Something Shiny! (#1.4)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

The Quidditch March

My favorite Potter movie (coming from an avid fan)

Let me start off by saying, I am a huge HP fan. I have read the books countless times, am a daily visitor on MuggleNet, and have subscribed to Mugglecast for four years. The books are definitely where it's at, and the movies are so-so. I can still remember storming out of the theatre after OOTP two years ago, yelling the whole way home about how David Yates screwed everything up and how awful of a movie it was altogether, story line and directing style. However, the Half-Blood Prince surpassed each of the last 5 movies greatly in almost aspect.

I came into the movie theater completely stoked because of all of the positive reviews it was getting on Rotten Tomatoes. After seeing all the previews last fall, I thought the general look of the movie was just overall better. And it was. I owe David Yates a huge apology for cursing his name so many times over the last two years. This was a great picture and I know the next two will be great as well. I also owe Michael Gambon a bit of an apology, but WHERE WAS THIS DUMBLEDORE THE LAST 3 MOVIES?? Gambon totally exceeded my expectations, he was so good in HBP! I could not stand him at all in the previous three, he was just a grumpy old gray man. In HBP he was old, wise, with his white shiny hair he was supposed to have the whole time. A great performance out of him, so great I really really wish we had seen this out of him in the other movies.

When I first saw Slughorn in the previews, I was completely irritated. He was supposed to be a largely obese man with a big mustache? But then I got to thinking, how many quality actors are actually really fat? There's only two answers- Richard Griffiths and that fat guy from the Diabetes commercial. Neither of them could play Slughorn. Broadbent made this movie, I love that dang cooky smile he always had on and how his eyes just always looked so crazy...I can't describe it but I loved it. He performed amazingly.

I know people are upset about the omission of the battle and confused on the burrow scene, and I will say I partly agree with you. The Burrow scene was in there to show that the death eaters were f***ing s**t up this whole time. Remember in the book how they read the paper every morning and reading about everythign that was happening? That scene was a lot better than having stupid newspaper flashbacks or whatever they had in OOTP.

For me, it was the little things that made this movie. When they include tiny details from the book, it really makes it special to me. I was ecstatic that they had the whole Aragog burial scene, it was so well done and I was glad to see Hagrid get some screen time. Also, just random little lines that were so similar to the book, it makes the movie that much more special.

For everyone who's complaining about how funny it is- lighten up! This is how it's supposed to be. I catch myself laughing out loud whenever I read the books, they're hilarious. JK just has a writing style that can be so serious at one point and hilarious the next, I was laughing and enjoying myself the whole time, it just really made me feel good.

Overall, really spectacular movie. The people complaining about how they left too much stuff out are also the ones complaining that it jumped around. I liked how they focused on central things and really got deep into them, instead of going ADD and showing every little possible thing for 30 seconds. Whether you liked it or not, you really do have to admire the trio growing and Gambon and Broadbent's performances, they were so outstanding. Go see it again! I know I am.